From Publishers Weekly
As Picoult uses five voices to tell a complex tale of love, friendship and a Faulknerian family history, her mastery of language strongly individuates her characters. The primary voice in this accomplished first novel belongs to Jane Jones, a speech pathologist living in San Diego, Calif. Other narrators are her daughter Rebecca; her husband, Oliver, a marine biologist renowned for his research on the songs of humpback whales; her brother Joley; and her lover, Sam. When an argument between Jane and Oliver culminates in her striking him, Jane is shattered. A childhood victim of physical and sexual abuse, Jane has tried to submerge her memories, but this outbreak of violence causes her to reexamine her life. On a cross-country automobile trip, Jane and Rebecca travel to Stow, Mass., where Joley is living and where each woman meets the man she believes is her destiny. Jane relates the events that occur from San Diego to Stow, while Rebecca tells the story in reverse, flashing back from the climax. Their stories intersect in an Iowa cornfield that still bears the wreckage of the airliner on which then-three-year-old Rebecca was being sent back to her father during her parents' earlier separation; she was one of five survivors. This powerful and affecting novel demonstrates that there are as many truths to a story as there are people to tell it.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This uniquely constructed first novel, the literary equivalent of counterpoint in music, is told in five voices whose polyphonic development delineates a multifaceted love story on different levels for different individuals. These voices belong to five characters--Jane, who has sacrificed her life to her oceanographer husband's career; her daughter, Rebecca, whom Jane seeks to protect; and three very different men in their lives. As Jane heads east from San Diego with her daughter, having abandoned her husband to his whale tapes, the characters' contrapuntal recollections offer psychological insights into their lives. These insights lead to growth, second chances, and love. Charming and poignant, Picoult's novel is even better after a second reading.

I finished this book within a week while we were on our Disney cruise. I enjoyed it very much, even though it greatly differed from three of the Picoult books I'd read that were courtroom dramas. I liked the variety of characters in the book, though the timeline going forward, and at the same time, reverse, in the book can be a little disconcerting and confusing. The plot also seemed to be somewhat contrived, BUT the romantic touches and mother-daughter connection made up for that.

I liked this book a lot and I'm looking forward to sharing it with the bookray, starting out with vzfamily in Canada.

This bookray will go out as soon as I hear from the first person. Here is the shipping order; I believe I have been able to accomplish everyone's shipping preferences.

username location (shipping pref)

1. vzfamily OH (US)
2. dg7500 PA (US)
3. awakeagain NJ (US or Canada)
4. SapphireFaery22 MA (US or Canada) (did not respond to PMs)
5. collectorkerri IL (US or Canada)
6. cyber-librarian IL (US or Canada)
7. flakes IL (US or intl if necessary)
8. Mamikaem MO (intl)
9. taaza WI (US or Canada, intl if necessary)
10. DianaCoats OR (intl)
11. olered OR (US or Canada)
12. tranq1 FL (US)
13. valentina1209 NY (US)
14. dospescados NY (NY, or intl if necessary)
15. timollie5502 PA (US)
16. knitwit PA (intl)
17. arcticgirl64 Norway (Europe)
18. Fantasma Portugal (Europe or intl if necessary)
19. Virgulina Portugal (intl)
20. mrspopoff UK (intl)
21. Hellie UK (UK)
22. Scarlett17 UK (Europe or intl if necessary)
23. ktwalker UK (intl)
24. Simmer UK (intl)
25. MooMoo1977 Australia (Australia or intl if necessary)
26. hshah India (Asia)

RELEASE NOTES:

Received this in today's mail. I should be starting it within the next day or two! I'll PM the next in line today to get their address! THANK YOU for letting me join your bookring!

This is my 2nd Picoult read, and in the most profound way - this book reminded me of the other. That is, the whole thing is a huge grey area. No one is right. No one is wrong. It's just people trying to deal with their lives and come out 'OK' on the other side. All of the characters had their good points and dark points. Joley, however, distrubed me. There seemed to be more going on in his mind other than a brother/sister relationship. I wish there would have been a (better) explanation for that. The only thing I would have changed would to have been for the Novel to have been in 6 voices - adding Hadleys. On one hand, I do understand NOT having him speak for himself - so we could come to our own conclusions about his motives - but he was also a large character in this book that deserved it. This solidifies my wanting to read all of her books!

This should be in Friday's mail to dg7500!

RELEASE NOTES:

Our post office was closed Friday - so this will be in the mail TODAY! Enjoy!

Arrived in today's mail. I need to finish up the book I'm currently reading, but hope to get started on this by early next week.

All in all, I have to say I enjoyed this one...although it was slow going for me during the first 1/3 of the book, as I got accustomed to the unusual writing style. Picoult goes back and forth (not only from 'voice to voice', but also in the timeline), making it very confusing to follow. Once I worked through the initial rough going, and got into the rhythm of this touching story, I was greatly rewarded. It's a love story within a love story, and in the end, left my heart aching for all involved. As someone mentioned before, Picoult does not cast judgement, but allows the story to play out as it would in real life.

I'll be sending this out to awakeagain in tomorrow's mail.

RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to awakeagain. Mailed out today via media mail w/ dc.

Rec'd as a bookring. I'd heard some mixed reviews of Jodi Picoult's first book and I realized when I read it that her style of writing in five separate voices and changing the time frame from section to section might be confusing enough to turn some people off. I picked up the rhythm quickly and enjoyed it very much although she'd definitely gotten smoother as a writer.

Mailing to collectorkerri 5/26/06

This book seems to have gotten lost. I'm in the process of finding another copy.