Sometimes finding your own voice

is a matter of listening to the heart....

I am truly glad that this wasn't the very first Jodi Picoult book that I had the pleasure of reading. Because if it were, I really don't have a clue whether I would have bothered to pick up another one of her works.

This is the very first book she ever penned, and you can most definitely tell. However, in saying that, I am really delighted that I have read this, along with her other books. Because now I can clearly see and fully appreciate just how far she has come!

Regrettably, this story simply fell extremely flat. The characters, the writing style, the overall storyline... it was all just a huge letdown, unfortunately.

I can't even begin to accurately state what the story was actually about, because it was quite perplexing. We would jump erratically from the present to the past, then randomly to the future, then back to the past again, and then to the present. And, well, it was just far too difficult to keep up with.

It truly makes me feel sad to have to say anything negative about a Jodi Picoult book. But you could just sense that this was her first attempt, and that is completely understandable! After all, practice makes perfect.

Nonetheless, I still did like certain aspects of this story, and I was never bored while reading it. Therefore, I awarded it a 3-star rating.

Had this been the first Picoult book that I had ever read, I feel certain that it would have been my last.

Fortunately, for me, I had read others of her titles and, generally, thought they were well done. In particular, "House Rules" was a great read. The story was engaging, the characters were complex and well-developed, and the plot was full of twists and turns.

The only redeeming quality of "Songs of the Humpback Whale" was the information about the humpback whale. The characters, by and large, were flat and uninteresting. They lacked depth and personality, and it was difficult to connect with them on an emotional level. The repetitive aspects of the plot line didn't work and were just annoying. It felt like the author was going in circles, repeating the same ideas over and over again.

Picoult's editor should have done a more thorough job, particularly with transitions with time settings. The story jumped around in time, and it was often difficult to keep track of when things were happening. Altogether, this was a disappointing read. I had high expectations for this book, but it failed to deliver. I would not recommend it to others.

This book is truly awful. Jodi Picoult seems to have written an excessive number of books in a short span of time. As a result, she lacks a captivating story and apparently doesn't conduct proper research on her material. The book is written from five different perspectives, which could have been interesting. However, she doesn't present the events in chronological order, and she inconsistently dates the entries. This forces the reader to guess the time frame, which is quite frustrating.

Next, when the mom and daughter arrive in Salt Lake, her description of the people and the main attraction, the Great Salt Lake, is terrible. She claims that the religion is stifling but provides no explanation as to why. The mom faints in the post office and wakes up to a polygamist doctor and his three wives, one of whom is a nurse. They don't have any children with them, which makes it obvious that she hasn't really met polygamists. Then, they take a ride to the Great Salt Lake with the polygamist doctor and his wives, who just happen to be going there for a swim. As they arrive at the lake, she mentions all the people swimming. What? When was the last time you went for a swim in the lake or met anyone who was going to the beach for a day? Also, she fails to mention the stench or the annoying bugs that surround this lake! (I've ridden my bike around Antelope Island, which is probably a more popular tourist attraction than the fine swimming.)

Next, we come to the part where 15-year-old Rebecca gets involved in a sexual relationship with Hadley, who is 10 years her senior. In my opinion, this is statutory rape, and I'm done with this book. I've officially lost interest. I don't think I'll read another book by this author.

This book is both offensive and poorly researched!

Quite a story indeed!

The concept presented in this book is very interesting in its format. It tells a story in opposite directions simultaneously, with one going from the present to the past and the other from the past to the present, through the eyes of different characters.

I can imagine how difficult it must be to keep all of that straight. I did experience some moments of confusion myself.

Overall, however, it is very well done. Especially considering it is a debut novel. The two-way timeline adds an extra layer of poignancy to certain events. After reading one character's account from one timeline, you kind of have an idea of what's coming in the other character's telling from the opposite timeline.

But what's really fascinating is that different facets of the story come out from each character's perspective.

I would have liked to have heard Hadley's perspective as well, but perhaps having six voices would have been too much. Five might be just the right number.

This was my first book by Jodi Picoult, and I am really looking forward to reading more of her work. Maybe I'll pick up her most recent novel next.

What a hot mess this book is!

Thankfully, it's Picoult's first book and I've had the pleasure of reading something much better by her, namely My Sister's Keeper. I do have more books by her in my collection and I'm willing to give them a try. However, this particular book has several disturbing elements.

It contains themes of familial abuse/child molestation, which is truly heart-wrenching and difficult to read about. There's also spouse abuse, which is equally concerning.

Adultery is another aspect that is explored, adding to the complex web of relationships. Additionally, the presence of statutory rape is a serious issue that cannot be overlooked.

Moreover, the excessive cussing and unnecessary detailed sex scenes make the book rather uncomfortable to read at times.

Based on all these factors, I simply cannot recommend this book.

I hope that Picoult's other works will prove to be more engaging and less disturbing.

Turns out this was JP's "debut" novel.

It's a good thing it wasn't the first book of hers I read. Otherwise, I probably would never have read another, which would have been a shame because generally I really like her books.

The writing style is that the chapters alternate between the main characters and also jump about in time.

The different character voices don't bother me much. However, there were a few scenes where the same scene was told by 3 different voices across different chapters, making the reading rather dull.

It's not as if we couldn't figure out on our own that the scene would be interpreted slightly differently from a different viewpoint.

The jumping about in time was especially aggravating at the beginning of the book. The jumps weren't just to a different year, but the days were out of order, which was really confusing.

Who wants to read a book where they have to keep looking back to see whether the last chapter but one was before or after the current one (29th July 1990? 20th July 1990?).

The main problem with the time jumping was that about halfway through the book, we knew from the jumping forward chapters what the main plot lines were!

So we knew who died, who fell in love with whom, etc.

So the second half of the book was just filling in the gaps to get from A to B.

This was all quite boring, and the writing was repetitive and laborious.

The story itself was a bit unappealing.

I think maybe JP wanted to write an insightful book about domestic abuse and its effects on relationships, but didn't quite have the courage or didn't know how to approach it.

It was an issue in the book that was constantly referred to but not really addressed or meaningfully dealt with.

The relationships themselves didn't seem very realistic to me, and I don't think the characterizations were consistent.

The way Oliver flipped from being an absent husband/father to being so desperately in love with Jane that he couldn't live without her was not believable.

I also thought the "mother - daughter" relationship was oddly revered.

At one point, one of the characters (Sam) said to Jane, "It must be incredible being a mother" - no sarcasm - and Jane replied, "It's pretty incredible."

This summed up a total over-the-top depiction of that relationship.

I don't think my 3 children will be offended when I admit that I have never thought being a mother was "incredible."

Not everyone becomes a mother, and it doesn't make them a lesser person.

I'm glad JP's books improved over her career.

The only reason for finishing this book was my fascination with its total failure on almost every level.

As I read, I continuously shared with my husband the ridiculous situations and stupid errors that seemed to plague nearly every chapter. I couldn't help but wonder if there had even been an editor. The plot was rather average, and the concept of multiple voices in different chronological orders had the potential to be interesting. However, the author unfortunately did not manage to create a truly readable novel.

The characters were inconsistent and unlikeable. Many of them were mere stereotypes, lacking depth and authenticity.

The quality of the prose was also inconsistent, sometimes flowing well and at other times feeling disjointed and awkward.

The geographic descriptions were inaccurate, which further detracted from the overall believability of the story.

On the audio version I listened to, the narrator said it was 118 degrees in Indianapolis. I had to wonder if I had heard incorrectly, as that would be about 10-15 degrees hotter than the record temperatures in that city.

The daughter was portrayed in such an inconsistent manner. Sometimes she was described as looking older than her 14/15 years, while at other times she was simply a skinny child. It was also rather concerning that she got her first period in one chapter and was looking forward to developing breasts, yet was having sex with a 25-year-old within a month of that!

The 25-year-old was supposed to be smart and mature, yet he had sex with a runaway who was barely 15 just days after meeting her.

I could go on and on about the flaws in this book, but suffice it to say that reading it is like watching a train wreck - you can't believe the horror of it. Aspiring authors should definitely read it as an example of what not to do, and writing teachers might even consider using it for that very purpose.

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for Jodi Picoult.

No matter how much her books may frustrate me, I'm always ready to pick up her latest release and let myself get sucked in all over again.

I read my first book by her in the late 90's, "The Pact" and then "Plain Truth" and pretty much everything that followed.

However, I had never read this one (her first) or a few of her earlier works.

Some of them just didn't seem overly interesting to me.

But we're doing a challenge with my book club and one task is to read a popular writer's first novel, so this won out.

Now, you may not love Jodi, but reading this, you have to admit that her writing has improved vastly.

This book was not good.

The structure was totally confusing.

Everyone's story goes from past to present except for Rebecca, whose story goes backwards.

Knowing that, it shouldn't be that hard to follow, yet somehow, it is.

I also feel like Jodi couldn't quite make up her mind about certain characters - are they good or bad? Abusive or not? Pedophiles or not? Is it statutory rape or are we all just too closed minded?

I was so happy when this book was over.

I have an absolute adoration for Jodi Picoult's novels. However, this particular book has given me the most significant and worst case of a reading slump that I've experienced in quite some time.

To my dismay, I found every single character to be completely insufferable. I simply couldn't bring myself to root for any of them, which made the entire reading experience extremely boring.

What's more, with Rebecca's point of view in this novel, we find out very early on what occurs at the end. This revelation effectively ruins the mystery and, dare I say, the fun(?) of it all.

I really should have heeded Tara's advice when she told me that this was not her favorite Picoult novel.

Jodi Picoult's debut novel, "SONGS OF THE HUMPBACK WHALE", written in the early 1990s, presents a challenging task when it comes to reviewing. Some of the relationship issues explored in the book seem rather dated in today's context.

The story is filled with highly dysfunctional relationships. It revolves around Jane and Oliver Jones and their tumultuous marriage. Additionally, it includes their teen daughter Rebecca, Jane's younger brother Joley (who has an uncomfortably unhealthy attachment to his older sister), and Jane's so-called "instalover" Sam.

The use of shifting narrators and timelines initially had me confused. However, I later realized that Rebecca's point of view was presented in a reverse chronological order, from the end to the beginning.

One cannot accuse Picoult of being timid when it comes to addressing difficult topics. For instance, the situation of barely 15-year-old Rebecca falling in love with a man ten years her senior is a sensitive and controversial one. While such a relationship was not unheard of in my younger days, it is now considered statutory rape. I appreciate that Picoult included this situation as it does occur in real life. Nevertheless, I am not advocating for such relationships or the way they were handled in the book.

Overall, I did not particularly like the choices made at the end of the story. However, I don't think as a reader I was meant to believe that the decisions were entirely right.

I truly desired to have a greater affection for this book than I actually did.

There were just a few concerns that I had with it. It was rather bothersome that frequently I had the impression that the dates or ages of the people did not align. In the book, Rebecca (the daughter) was 15 and Jane (the mother) was 35. This implies that Jane gave birth to Rebecca when she was 20. The age at which Jane got married was never actually stated, but she began dating her husband at 15. Later in the book, it is mentioned that Jane had Rebecca after she had been married for some time, obtained her masters, and so on. And I simply don't understand how she could have accomplished all of that by the time she was 20.

As much as I simply wanted to believe in love, the age differences of all the summer relationships irritated me. Additionally, I had an issue with Joley (Jane's brother) secretly being in love with his sister, Jane; it was a bit strange.

Despite those things and a few others, I truly did enjoy the book. It was beautifully written, as Jodi Picoult's books typically are, and always in a somewhat interesting manner. I am glad to have read her first book, and I eagerly anticipate reading more!

I really had difficulties with this book, just as I had with the other two Picoult books that I've read.

Part of the story came together towards the end because she employed an unusual technique of having one narrator begin at the end and work backwards, so that the motivations were gradually disclosed. That was quite interesting and functioned well.

However, throughout the entire book, I just had the feeling that the characters did things solely because the author desired them to. It simply didn't make sense. Some of these issues were resolved by the end, but not all.

Also, the characters kept contradicting themselves. I understand that this can happen in real life, but there was no indication of "I've rethought this" - just a completely different assertion.

Okay, I admit that Picoult lost some points with me for a scene in Salt Lake. In that scene, of course, the only people the protagonist encounters are a polygamist and his three young and pretty wives, who are going to swim in the lake without any children.

This seemed rather contrived and didn't add much to the story in a believable way. Overall, while there were some redeeming qualities in the book, such as the unique narrative technique, there were also several aspects that left me dissatisfied.