A Must Read!

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I cannot recommend Leaving Time highly enough. This is the kind of book I always look for. The one that beckons you to ignore every other thing in your life but finding out what happens next! In fact, because I couldn't keep my eyes open past 11:30 pm, I indulged in my bad habit of reading the end so I wouldn't go to bed not knowing. Although this never ruins a book for me, in this case I would not recommend it.

Jenna's mother, Alice, disappeared from the elephant sanctuary where they lived when Jenna was a toddler. Jenna is desperate to find her. So desperate, she hires a psychic and an alcoholic detective to help her. Jenna searches for clues on the internet, and by reading her mother's research on elephants. As a result, you will also learn a lot of fascinating information, in particular as to how elephant's grieve.

As usual, Picoult weaves all this factual information into the story expertly. It becomes a seamless part of the life of Alice and Jenna. Picoult's prose is also lovely:

You have to understand--there is a romance to Africa. You can see a sunset and believe you have witnessed the hand of God. . . In Africa, there are iridescent blues on the wings of birds that you do not see anywhere else in nature.. .When you are in Africa, you feel primordial, rocked in the cradle of the world.

or

It was almost as if there was a tear in the fabric I was made of, and he was the only color thread that would match to stitch it back up.

I had read the prequel to this story, Larger Than Life, some time ago. This novella gives you a little more background information on Alice, but is not necessary to the story. It is however, what made me interested in reading Leaving Time.

Treat yourself to a reading weekend and pick this book up soon!


View all my reviews