Suicide pacts. Medical ethics. Children conceived to provide bone marrow for siblings.
Bestselling author Jodi Picoult’s previous novels are centered on a plethora of fascinating topics that are usually controversial in nature. It is this tendency that typically makes her books so attention grabbing.
Leaving Time, Picoult’s 23rd novel, parallels elephant inter-species connections and the relationship between a young girl and her mother. Set partially at a New England elephant sanctuary and in the wilds of Africa, this book surrounds the reader with the complicated lives of elephants.
Jenna Metcalf is a young teenager tired of not knowing what happened to her mother, a renowned elephant researcher. She seems to have vanished into thin air. Is she alive or dead? Everyone, except Jenna, has accepted that Alice Metcalf ran away and never wants to be found, but Jenna is unable to accept that her mother would just leave her. Confidence in her mother’s research hypothesis of an unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters, no matter the species, leads Jenna to search for someone who can help her figure out what really happened. I am always impressed by the amount of research that goes into a Picoult novel and this one is no different. The sometimes-puzzling plot is woven around some very notable research about elephants, which at times, is a little too detailed, reading like a zoology textbook.
There are many narrators in this story, and while Jenna is witty and reflective, the other cast members are not nearly as interesting with Alice speaking via journal entries that come off as almost clinical.
The underlying theme, which is always prevalent in Picoult’s books, is unfortunately not as artfully integrated this time around, and frankly, not as interesting. I found myself having to power my way through some of the more detailed scientific information. Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite contemporary mystery writers, and while Leaving Time would not be my first choice of her novels, there were parts of this mystery that I found quite engrossing, as Jenna’s memories dovetail with her mother’s writing a mesmerizing finish is reached.
If you are a fan of Picoult’s style and have enjoyed her other books, or are a lover of elephants, you should give this novel a read. But, if I were you, I would borrow instead of buy.
