Product Description

Back in print by popular demand, national bestselling author Jodi Picoult's acclaimed debut novel treats fans old and new to a beautiful, poignant story of family, friendship and love. Jodi Picoult's powerful novel portrays an emotionaly charged marriage that changes course in one explosive moment. For years, Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned San Diego oceanographer Oliver Jones. But during an escalating argument, Janes turns to him with an alarming volatility. In anger and fear, Jane leaves with her teenage daughter, Rebecca, for a cross-country odyssey. Charted by letters from her borther Joley, they are guided to his Massachusetts apple farm, where surprising self-discoveries await. Now Oliver, an expert at tracking humpback whales across vast oceans, will search for his wife across a continent, and find a new way to see the world, his family, and himself: through her eyes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #366775 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Jodi Picoult grew up in Nesconset, New York. She received an AB in creative writing from Princeton and a master's degree in education from Harvard. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Her website can be found at http://www.jodipicoult.com.

Customer Reviews

Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices
For years, Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned San Diego oceanographer Oliver Jones. But during an escalating argument, Janes turns to him with an alarming volatility. In anger and fear, Jane leaves with her teenage daughter, Rebecca, for a cross-country odyssey. Charted by letters from her borther Joley, they are guided to his Massachusetts apple farm, where surprising self-discoveries await. Now Oliver, an expert at tracking humpback whales across vast oceans, will search for his wife across a continent, and find a new way to see the world, his family, and himself: through her eyes. The story is told in five different voices which at the start i found a bit difficult to understand as this is a very unusual way of writing, especially with Rebecca telling the story backwards: ) but once you get into the novel it becomes more clear. A very good read and i will read more of Picoults books.

Really disappointed
I love Jodi Piccoult and I've read all her books. I bought and read this the day it came out and was really disappointed with it. You never get to see the rteal people in the book, its like Jodi skimmed over their personalities and the book never really recovered.

Really awful - Picoult at her worst
I've read all of Jodi Picoult's books, and generally love them (apart from the usually predictable endings) but I really couldn't get on with this one. It jumped from narrator to narrator, and also around in time so I didn't have a clue what was going on, and didn't care enough to try and work it out.
It just didn't draw me in as the rest of her books have, and I abandoned it about 60 pages in. It's a good job she improved with her later novels, if I'd read this first I'd never had bothered with the others.