'Wish You Were Here' ... Stranded with me in the Galapagos Islands

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2021

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

Have you ever wanted to get stranded on a beautiful island? Maybe at the end of a vacation when you think you never want to leave. Well, that's what happens to the protagonist in Jodi Picoult's new novel, Wish You Were Here. It's a little less glamorous than what you might be picturing. It's March of 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic traps Diana O'Toole in the Galapagos Islands with very little wifi or cell service. Picoult told NPR's Scott Simon that this extreme isolation forced her main character to reevaluate how she really wanted to live her life.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Jodi Pico's new book, Wish You Were Here, takes place right at the beginning of the pandemic. Don't worry, it's not about like endless Zoom calls or stocking up on toilet paper or anything cliche like that. Instead, it's about something more timeless, being stuck. Sure, physically, in that the main character can't leave the island she's on, but also emotionally.
0:26.3	In this interview with NPR Scott Simon, Pico brings up Darwin and the idea of adapting and changing in the face of adversity.
0:33.7	It's a major theme of the book, and through all that adapting and changing, she has her main character ask herself a tough question.
0:42.0	Why do I even want the things I want?
0:44.6	This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.
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0:55.9	customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from NPR sponsor, Subaru.
1:03.3	Join Subaru in celebrating their seventh annual National Make a Dog's Day on October 22nd, a day to do
1:09.6	something special for all dogs. This day,
1:12.2	combined with the Subaru Loves Pets Initiative, has helped many shelter animals find loving homes,
1:17.5	including hard-to-adopt underdogs. Learn more at Subaru.com slash pets.
1:24.0	Done anything special during the pandemic? Jodi Pico, who's already written 25 novels, was pretty much locked down at home,
1:31.9	but she didn't use the months to perfect a recipe for sourdough bread
1:35.8	or binge watch a new 12-part Scandinavian detective series.
1:39.8	She wrote what will probably be another bestseller,
1:42.5	Wish You Were Here, About a woman who thought
1:45.1	her life was all going according to plan until March 2020. And then, Jody Picoe joins us now
1:53.5	from Hanover, New Hampshire. Thanks so much for being with us, Jody. Thanks for having me, Scott.
1:59.6	So, Diana O'Toole, she's an associate specialist at Sotheby's on the crest of a huge deal.
2:04.7	She's about to fly off to the Galapagos with her boyfriend Finn, who was a physician.
2:10.3	But remind us of what happened that week, March 2020.
2:13.6	Well, the book opens on March 13th, which is the day, of course, that New York City shut down.
	...

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