Songs of the Humpback Whale (by Jodi Picoult)

(Amazon UK link)

I have collected quite a few of Jodi Picoult’s books over the years, many of them from church book sales or similar. I usually like the writing and find them gripping; they can be quite tense at times. So more often than not I look for something lighter. However I decided it was time to tackle one of the four on my to-be-read shelf. I chose ‘Songs of the humpback whale’ which was, apparently, the author’s first published novel.

The story is told in five different voices, distinct enough that I easily remembered who was whom. However, the time-line is quite confusing. Jane is really the main character; she is 35, and married to Oliver. He is a marine biologist who specialises in humpback whales, and particularly their songs which are passed down from generation to generation. He’s a nice enough guy, but rather distant, and tends to take her for granted.

Jane and Oliver are two of the voices of the story, and their daughter Rebecca is another. But Rebecca’s narrative happens in reverse order. Her short chapters are dated, to make that clear, but other characters have flashback sections to their childhood, or early adulthood, and they’re not dated, so the chronology is at times confusing.

The other two viewpoint characters are Joley, Jane’s brother, and Sam, Jane’s boss. They live in Massachussetts, on the East Coast of the United States. Sam owns an apple orchard. His other employee is called Hadley, but we learn very early in the book that disaster is going to befall Hadley, and he doesn’t have a voice in the book.

These six are the main cast, and most of the narration involves a long journey Jane and Rebecca taken when they leave Oliver (in California) and set out to stay with Joley for a while. Joley and Jane are clearly very close, and, as we gradually discover, Jane - who is older - protected him during their childhood from an abusive father.

I was a bit confused by the byline, which implied that Jane was in danger of abuse from her father, but that clearly isn’t the case. Oliver is neglectful, and somewhat emotionally abusive to his wife; but he’s mostly absent as far as his daughter is concerned. He certainly isn’t violent or abusive in any other way. But Jane sees a lot of herself in her daughter; perhaps they are too close, too caught up in each other’s lives. Rebecca turns fifteen during the book, and grows up in several ways.

I didn’t understand why Rebecca’s narrative was in reverse; it meant that there weren’t any surprises, as we knew what was coming right from the start. It’s cleverly done, and I liked the way that the the storylines converge when the timelines meet; but Rebecca’s narrative that’s chronologically prior to that - towards the end of the book - seems a bit pointless.

There are some issues at stake, as is usually the case with Picoult’s novels, but they’re not explored all that seriously. The novel looks at age-differences in relationships, considering whether a ten-year age gap matters, and also touching on a relationship which is quite mature - as we see from one viewpoint - but illegal, as is clear from the other viewpoints.

The story takes place in 1992, which, I realise with shock, is nearly thirty years ago; so technology is inevitably dated, although the emotions and people are entirely up-to-date. Everything would have been much more straightforward with mobile phones and the Internet.

The writing, as I expect with Jodi Picoult, is excellent. The pace is good, the conversations believable. The characters are distinct and reasonably likeable too, although I didn't really empathise with any of them, or care too much what happened to any of them. That's possibly because so much is revealed in the first chapters, so I knew the worst before I had started.

I'd recommend it in a low key way to those who like this author; it's interesting to see the author’s first book. However it’s not one I will be rushing to re-read.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's Book Reviews