Name: Leaving Time
ISBN: 9780345544926

Leaving Time

Lauren Grey

I have been highly anticipating this novel. I bought an e-reader, so I could read the prequel. I went to a meet-and-green with Jodi. I have a signed copy of the book. But I have to admit that it is not my new favorite. I just didn’t love it. Being an avid Picoult reader, I love how she never fails to deliver a twist ending and I must say that this one really threw me for a loop.

What I liked:

I found the incorporation of elephants to be a refreshing addition to the story. It was packed full of facts that I thought were very interesting. I don’t want to give too much away, but a couple of my favorites facts are that elephants hold grudges and have trunks that stretch like accordions.

The relationship between Thomas and Alice in the beginning. Thomas was so nerdy and cute with his glasses fogging up when he came to Africa for the first time; plus his adorable little trick with the origami elephant. “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.”

The twist ending was completely out of the blue… well at least for me. I won’t give it away. I will say that I don’t think it was one of her most creative plot twists, but it was definitely one that I didn’t see coming. I always try to figure out where she is headed, but for some reason what she picked never crossed my mind. Which was a nice surprise.

Jenna and Virgil’s friendship was really genuine to me. There is just something about a washed up, old detective and a preteen hanging out and having some good laughs that is just so sweet. I love weird, unexpected friendships and this one had moments that really made me smile. As the story progressed, I really liked how he became protective over her, like the father figure she never had.

What I disliked:

The characters in general were not very likable. There is a preteen, a psychic, and an ex-detective. Yep, I know, a bit cliche. Then add the missing mother and crazy father who both happen to be scientists, and throw in the extended family consisting of the three others who work with elephants. Jenna- I felt for her wanting to find her mom and everything, but I thought her character was a bit far-fetched. She was thirteen years old, but came across more like eighteen. She just seemed to be a bit too mature and was just way too street smart and book smart to be taken seriously. Serenity- I am not one for psychic stories, but I liked her the most from the beginning. I felt she had the most character development and I could really see her story being real (minus the actually believing in psychic things). I found her to be funny, confident, and maybe I’m biased, because she drove a yellow VW bug and I am obsessed with those. Virgil- I don’t care much for drunk characters, but I thought it was a bit lazy to create a character with the alcoholic ex-detective stigma. He was just too easy and not very original. Alice- the mother; I thought she was great in the prequel and in her younger years having so much attitude and spunk, but I started to dislike her as the story progressed. Thomas- I liked him in the beginning and I never actually came to a point where I hated him, but I felt he was doomed from the start. He was extremely smart, had a mental disorder, his disorder causes him to have an abusive lapse, and then ends up being cheated on. “A bruise is how the body remembers it’s been wronged.” Poor guy. I would crack too.

 Infidelity is not something I necessarily like to read about. I understand that not all relationships are perfect, but even when things get tough, I don’t think it is ok to just peace out and find the next best thing. Or not peace out and just do in secret. The relationships were pretty messed up in this story and I partially blame Alice for this; she didn’t really seem to understand what marriage means. It seemed to me like she gave up too easily.

The storyline is really quite confusing. It was so full of theories and subplots that I just found it to be really hard to follow at times. Once I made it past the halfway mark, it started to pick up speed and make more sense. But then you hit the last fourth of the book and the twists start coming out and the confusion comes back.

What I thought overall:

It was a good novel, but not a Picoult masterpiece. If you want to learn a little about an amazing animal, while reading an interesting book about a young girl searching for her long lost mom… then I would definitely look into it. It provides some great laughs, lots of interesting facts, and a few smiley/teary moments. Was this my new favorite Jodi Picoult novel? No. Will I read her next book? Yes. Do I recommend reading it? Yes (specifically for avid Picoult readers).

Lacy W

This! This is why I read Jodi Picoult!  

I'm going to be completely honest. I have been reading so many rocking books (excluding  The Last Star ) that I was starting to wonder if I was finally going to find a book that put me in a slump. Because I have the worst luck of any human being, I knew that this was going to happen.

We have four POVs: Jenna- who is desperately trying to search for her mom after 10 years of her being missing, Alice- Jenna's mom, Serenity- a psychic that Jenna enlists to help find Alice and Virgil- a detective who first worked on Alice's case when she went missing. 

I don't want to spoil the plot because it gets insane. Everything you thought you knew would turn out to be wrong. That is what Picoult does best. She lures you into a false sense of security, makes you believe that you are right, that everything is okay and then BAM! Everything that you knew was wrong. And not just wrong. Super incredibly wrong. And I love that!

Jenna's POV was okay. I think I'm starting to grow out of teenagers being the main characters. While I appreciated her desperate search, at times she was just really annoying and literally did not obey anything. She lied a lot and made people feel really uncomfortable. Alice's was interesting. I learned quite a bit about elephants. I liked the fact that she related what was going on in her life to elephants because that is the only thing she knows.  Serenity's was probably my favorite. She was honest...well I shouldn't say that. She knew when she was lying and never tried to justify it. There was just something that I liked about her.  Virgil's  was okay as well. His landlord was pretty funny and I liked that he was determined to do right. 

I think the plot and how it went did it more for me than the characters. I wasn't eagerly awaiting a certain person's POV for what they had to say. I was waiting to see how the story would progress. I wanted to know the history of everything that happened and I wanted to know what was happening in the now. 

If you want to start reading Jodi Picoult, I suggest with this one first. The subject matter isn't controversial like her others but it really showcases what she does best which is the multiple POV's and the false sense of security. It was really just an outstanding book!

Whitney Pickle

I can't remember the last time I got so emotional while reading a book. Oh yeah, I can remember now. It was when reading Jodi Picoult's The Storyteller. This one, I was crying at the end and needed to work through my emotions before going to bed. 
If you have absolutely no interests in elephants, I wouldn't read this. I enjoyed learning and hearing about them, but it is really elephant content heavy. Picoult finds a way to really make the information gel with the emotional story unfolding.

Sonja H

Es ist eine ganz nette Geschichte, aber sie ist voller "kluger Sprüche" und Kaninchen, die aus einem Hut gezaubert werden. Die Auflösung fand ich dann auch zu schräg. Lässt sich aber gut über Feiertage lesen.

Savannah Wells

This book had me captivated. It took me a minute to get into it, but once it did I couldn't set it down. The amount of research Jodi Picoult clearly did for this book is respectable, I felt I learned a lot about elephants and their relationship with grief. This book had a plot twist I didn't see coming. I loved the ending, it left me thinking about it for days. Will reread someday!

Jo Young

** spoiler alert **
           I really enjoyed this book. The characters were so interesting and were very three dimensional. I was so surprised by the twist, and how it came about. I cried a lot when Serenity and Alice were talking at the end. I couldn’t believe that Neve (who lost her daughter) would kill another persons daughter? Why didn’t she kill Alice instead? I enjoyed the twist but found it weird that everything was backwards. Definitely worth reading.

Nav 

I read this book a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed it. Filled with unexpected twists and turns, mystery, suspense, and empathy. I learned a great deal about elephants from this book and I can guarantee it wasn't boring because the facts about elephants were woven beautifully with the main storyline. This book is also very emotional.