I first read the two prequels to this book: "Where There's Smoke" and "Larger than Life". I enjoyed both of them, but I really loved "Larger than Life", so I knew right away I wanted to read this novel. Alice, the main character in "Larger than Life", is a Scientist who studies grief among elephants. She has mysteriously disappeared over ten years ago, and her daughter Jenna is determined to find her or find out what has happened to her mother. The parallels between mother/daughter relationships with humans and elephants was so wonderful! Leaving Time is a 2014 novel by American writer Jodi Picoult. It is the twenty-third novel written by the author. The first edition was published on October 14, 2014, by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Plot summary [ edit ] Jenna meets up with another character at the very end of the book. (pp. 394–395) Were you surprised to see who that was? Why or why not? Emily Dwass (April 10, 2015). "Q&A: Author Jodi Picoult on balance, exercise, kids and elephants". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 14, 2021. A truly engaging read that crosses through the genres of mystery and the supernatural. The interspersing of elephant behavior information and Alice's journal entries about her subjects provide just the right amount of parallelism." - Library Journal

Leaving Time Series by Jodi Picoult - Goodreads Leaving Time Series by Jodi Picoult - Goodreads

It’s true that the bond between a mother and her child is unbreakable and I can attest to that wholeheartedly. Being an immigrant who left hers behind six years ago, to take up residence on the other side of the world, was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But the difference between me, Jenna and Alice, was that I was an adult and mine was planned and, although I suffered severe personal trauma and grief for the first two years, nothing can be worse than your mother being wrenched from you and not having any answers to the questions that linger but remain unspoken. I really loved the story lines with the elephants. I give the elephants 5 stars, but I don't know enough about elephants to know how much of what Picoult writes is factual and how much is anthropomorphism. The blurb of the book speaks of this book being about the mother/daughter bond. I get that with the elephants - completely demonstrated with the examples from the elephant world. I'm guessing Picoult wanted the experiences of the elephants and of Alice/Jenna to be reflective of each other but it doesn't really happen. For us to believe in a bond between Alice and Jenna that transcends death we need to see that loving bond. Instead, we see Alice regularly dump Jenna on others, or leave her alone, so her mother can attend to the elephants or . The problem is we don't see Alice spend any quality time with Jenna or show that she loves her. We see far more love and concern for the elephants. Best-selling, reliably entertaining, and thought-provoking Picoult's newest multifaceted novel is redolent with elephant lore that explores the animals' behavior when faced with death and grief, and combines a poignant tale of human loss with a perplexing crime story that delivers a powerhouse ending. Boston Globe ...the writing and storytelling compelled the suspension of disbelief and acceptance of the unimaginable. And in the end an amazed and admiring gasp—‘I did not see that coming.’ NY Journal of Books The story is told with skillfulness and elegance whilst the pacing kept me intrigued and the suspense almost killed me as I was captivated by Jenna’s unrelenting search for her mother. What was she going to uncover? Would she find Alice? Were all her questions finally going to be answered?While pouring over one of Alice’s elephant research journals, Jenna discovers a dollar bill in the origami shape of an elephant bookmarking her mother’s passage about 2-3% of science not quantifiable. Taking this as some sort of cosmic sign, Jenna seeks the help of Serenity Jones, a once famous, world renown psychic who has lost command of her Gift, fallen on hard times and settled in quiet obscurity in Boone. New evidence in hand and with a new sense of hopefulness, Jenna seeks out Virgil Stanhope, a private investigator who was a detective in the Boone Police Department involved in the botched investigation of Alice Metcalf’s disappearance a decade earlier. Virgil is a broken man, plagued by troubles with the bottle, but in the end agrees to work with Jenna and Serenity to find the missing Alice Metcalf and end his despondency over his incompetence and failure in the initial investigation. This is how, at age nine, I became an elephant advocate. After a trip to the library, I sat down at my kitchen table, and I wrote to the mayor of Springfield, MA, asking him to give Morganetta more space, and more freedom.

Jodi Picoult · Leaving Time (2014) Jodi Picoult · Leaving Time (2014)

After ten years of her mother going missing, Jenna sets out to find her mother with a retired detective and psychic. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Emily Kert (August 15, 2014). "Review of NH Author Jodi Picoult's Latest Novel Leaving Time". New Hampshire Magazine . Retrieved August 14, 2021.Alice says that 98 percent of science is quantifiable, leaving 2 percent “that can’t be measured or explained. And yet that does not mean it doesn’t exist.” (p. 392) Do you agree or disagree? Can you think of examples from the book or from your own experience of something that fits into that 2 percent?