Customer Reviews

Songs of the Humpback Whale: a Novel in Five Voices

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

But I have to confess ~~ while I am a huge fan of Picoult's books, this book took me forever to get me interested in the characters. It's not badly written, nor was it boring ~~ it just didn't capture my interest like her recent books did. I am a speed reader and a book of this size normally would take me two days to read ~~ but it has taken me over two weeks to read. So beware when you pick up this book ~~ it's not the book you've come to expect from Picoult.

Jane and Rebecca Jones leave husband/dad Oliver, a world-known marine biologist behind and traveled the country to visit Jane's brother Joley. In the novel, five people offer up their versions of what happened one fateful summer. There's Joley, Sam ~~ who owns the apple orchard that Joley works at and where Rebecca and Jane find refuge in, Rebecca, Jane and Oliver. They all offer up their voices as if they wanted to leave their impressions on the reader. And it is very well-written ~~ especially for a first book. One can almost smell the apples growing, feel the hot sting of the summer sun beating down upon you, the despair and anger Oliver felt when he realized his family deserted him. Or the heartache Rebecca experiences when her first boyfriend died in a tragic fall. The stories just tumble out from each of them and you don't want to rush your way reading through it. It is murky in some places ~~ but isn't that how life is supposed to be sometimes? Sometimes, we can't figure out the path we're on or where we are supposed to be ~~ but there comes a moment where you can seize the moment.

If you're a die-hard Picoult fan, then I highly recommend you try to read this book. I have a suspsicion that not all of us are going to come to the same conclusion with this book. But it is interesting and well-written. I may have to struggle with finishing it, I did and am glad that I finished it. It is Picoult's debut novel and you can see the beginnings of a long literary career that started with this book. Enjoy.

I've only read one other book by Jodi Picoult (Plain Truth) that I absolutely loved, so I wasn't sure what I would think reading her debut novel. Most authors get increasingly better and more honed writing skills with each novel, so I wasn't expecting Songs of the Humpback Whale to live up to my Plain Truth expectations. However, even though I still liked Plain Truth better (gripping and compelling), Jodi Picoult's debut effort was nothing short of wonderful.

Unique in its telling, Songs of the Humpback Whale portrays a woman, Jane Jones, whose marriage to Dr. Oliver Jones plays second-fiddle to his lucrative career as a San Diego marine biologist. The fact that Oliver won't be around to share in his daughter, Rebecca's, 15th birthday, strikes a nerve with Jane, and after a devastating argument, Jane and Rebecca are in the station wagon preparing for a cross-country escape to Jane's brother, Joley, in Massachusetts. Interesting people are met along the way as Joley's letters waiting in different post offices assists Jane's and Rebecca's journey. But the most surprising is what awaits for Jane and Rebecca once they arrive in Massachusetts.

Songs of the Humpback Whale is a novel told in five different perspectives. What is unique, however, is Rebecca's tale, which is told from end to beginning. Sounds confusing, but after a few of her chapters, the reader will be resting comfortably in the story. Songs is an omnipotent tale with awakenings around every corner. I highly recommend this book to all Jodi fans -- no courtroom drama here, but fascinating nonetheless.

Like some of the other reviewers, I initially found it difficult to 'get into' the characters, the story itself, and the plot. However, once I did, and once I was able to imagine myself in the dance Picoult's writing takes, I was mesmerized. I have never felt the kind of connection with characters in any novel as I have with this one.

That said, it is far different from Jodi Picoult's other novels. I'm glad that was not my first Picoult novel to read. But, I feel honored to have been able to read this one when I did.

This is a magical book, if you give it the chance.

I am a huge fan of Ms. Picoult's work but her first novel, while good, didn't win me over like her other works of fiction.

I liked the idea of writing the story from five different points of view but unfortunately parts of the book became repetitive. While we did get to know the characters very well and were able to understand why they acted the way they did, I found parts of the book a little confusing. Having Rebecca's character tell the story backwards took away from the ending. I knew what was going to happen.

Jodi does come through however in her beautiful and lyrical writing. She has a way of conveying a feeling that is both touching and honest.

While this book is not my favorite by this author, I will continue to read her novels. Her work only got better from here. Harvesting the Heart is a shining example of her true writing ability.

I bought this book when it was first published basically because I liked the title, and I thought it would be interesting to read a book that is told in five different voices. I was right. This is an excellent book, and, I think, the most overlooked of Jodi Picoult's novels. All of the characters are refreshing and new. It is not a story that is recycled from someone else's story. In other words, it is an original.

It starts out with a fight between husband and wife, which causes the wife and daughter to "run away." The trials and tribulations that mother and daughter go through are at times heartbreaking, educational, and sometimes just downright goofy.

I think the most interesting part of this book is that while the story is told chronologically by four of the characters, it is told backwards by the daughter.

I just love this book and have now read it four times. I also had Jodi Picoult sign it when she was doing a reading of "The Plain Truth" at our local bookstore. She told me that a signed copy of "Whales" sells on the internet for about $100. I told her that I would not part with it for any amount of money!

Picoult is one of my favorite authors. This is her first book. I liked the style in which she wrote it, letting all the characters have a voice in the story, it is a good way to really get to know the characters, where they are going, and what they are thinking. She has a real knack for dialogue, and is a very talented writer... this is a must read!

I read through the other reviews, and it's amusing that so many other readers had the same opinion about this book as I did. I have been a Jodi Picoult fan for several years, and I have never been disappointed with any of her titles. "My Sister's Keeper," "The Pact," and "Nineteen Minutes" were all amazing. My favorite aspect of Picoult's novels is that each seems to have a surprising twist at the end that I was not expecting. For this novel, I was expecting the twist that never came.

Like other readers, I was frustrated with some of the main characters. I liked Jane and Rebecca, and I enjoyed following their relationship, but the secondary characters were annoying. I was very confused at the beginning of the novel when some of the characters were introduced. For awhile, I thought that Sam might have been Jane's father. Joley was also a little creepy to me. I thought that there would be some crazy unexpected twist with his relationship with his sister. I didn't really make the connection between some of the things that he wrote about and the relevance with the rest of the plot. For example, the part that he wrote about the family in their childhood town who got the new windows for their house. Usually I can catch the analogies, but I must have missed that one.

While abuse was clearly a major theme in the book, I think it would have been fine if Picoult had left the abuse that Jane suffered from her father as physical and not sexual. It seemed as though that part was just thrown in, and there were not really any major ties to the rest of the novel. The physical abuse was easily related to Oliver hitting Jane as well as Jane hitting Oliver.

As for the telling of the story in five perspectives, I was initially excited about the idea. But it was confusing that Rebecca went backward, and I had a really difficult time following the chronological order of the story. Knowing so early on about Hadley's death made it seem as though there was nothing left to anticipate. The climax and the finale were the same, and I was disappointed that there wasn't really anything left to keep my attention. It was incredibly repetitive, and I think this could have been avoided if the situations that were described by different characters had not been so scattered, with each character giving varying information.

This is the first time that I have been anxious to finish a Picoult book because I was getting bored. The others that I have read have been fantastic, and I'm glad that she kept writing after this first book.

I am a HUGE fan of Jodi Picoult and found it necessary to read her first book. This was my least favorite of her books.

I could definitely tell this was her first book. It was a little hard to follow at first, because she switches time in illogical order. There are quite a few times where the book becomes redundant, causing me to suffer through deja vu. There are several conversations that take place several times in the novel because you are reading from the point-of-view of a different character, and I found this confusing.

The plot idea is interesting, but the presentation was a disappointment. Unless you are an avid fan of Picoult's and have read several of her books, do not let this be your first experience with her. She is a phenomenal writer and simply struggled through this first novel.

Story of a family breakdown. After a fight, the mother sets out on a cross-country road trip with her teenage daughter to her brother's house. As we follow them on this trip, we learn about the mother's struggles with her marriage and family life. Simultaneously, the father, prominent whale expert who would rather watch whales than take care of his family, sets out to find them. While the multiple perspectives give a different style to this book, I still found it hard to empathize with the characters and their struggles. I do admire Picoult's work, especially as this was her first book, but it lacks some deeper layers and psychological insight.

I had heard that Jodi Picoult is one of the best fiction authors out right now, so I decided to pick up one of her books. Not knowing that it was her first novel, I grabbed Songs of the Humpback Whales. I thought the story sounded interesting and the idea of the five perspectives was interesting to me...well, I couldn't even finish this book. I usually become very involved in the stories I'm reading and often read late into the night and this book did NOTHING for me...it was work to get through a few chapters at a time. As I said before, I thought the idea of the following the different characters from chapter to chapter would be interesting...and it wasn't. It made the book very choppy and hard to follow...especially considering that the girl's story was written from the end to the beginning. Because of the lack of flow, I found myself completely disconnected from all the characters and I really didn't care about what happened to any of them...which is why I didn't finish the book.