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.
After driving aimlessly for a while, Jane stops and calls her brother Joley who works on an apple farm in Massachusetts. Jane and Joley are soul-mates and best friends, and he guides her across the country in a series of letters which are sent to post offices in towns that he thinks she should stop in.
The book is told through the voices of Oliver, Jane, Rebecca, Joley and eventually Sam, the owner of the apple farm. Jane and Rebecca share many adventures and soul-searching conversations while on the road while Jane tries to fathom what has gone wrong during their 15 year marriage. She was so in love with Oliver when she first met him at age 15 and married him at age 20, but now he seems only to care about his whales and his career. He barely knows his daughter, and has been out of the country for 7 or her 14 birthdays. As Jane reveals to Joley, "I want to be able to catch myself in the act of being one hundred percent alive."
Oliver pursues them across the country, and eventually realizes how important his family is to him. When Jane and Rebecca finally reach Massachusetts they both fall in love with men at the apple farm, but Rebecca's first love dies a tragic death. The suspense of whether Jane will go back to Oliver or stay with Sam is maintained until nearly the end of the book.
"Songs of the Humpback Whale" is a remarkable first work from novelist Jodi Picoult. The characters are painted vividly, and you become so involved in their lives that you don't want the book to end. The descriptions of the whales and how and why they sing are also fascinating. However, the literary tactic of having Rebecca tell her story backwards is confusing and gives much of the suspense of the novel too early. At one point I thought that I had misplaced my bookmark because I felt I was reading the exact same passage again.
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!