Jacob Have I Loved audiobook

This book should be read without the presentiment that the heroine is going to be heroic, selfless, lovely, or even pleasant.To judge the book based on that is to completely miss the point of this novel.No, Sara Louise isn't a pleasant heroine. She is eaten up with neglect, bitterness, jealousy, and it's difficult to tell whether she has more self-loathing or loathing for anything or anyone who isn't herself, at least for childhood through adolescence.With that said, it is vitally important that this book exist. I can't think of a single book I had throughout school that had such a heroine or hero, and which carried such a message or perspective. No, the books were about the Carolines--people who were pretty and/or talented, so very different and special, meant for so much more, and by work they eventually earn their happy endings. And in those books, the Wheezes maybe got some redemptive character arc that is meant only to support the primary heroine's character arc from struggle to triumph.And since I just finished an entire novel from the perspective of the lesser sister, that disgusts me. Don't get me wrong--there was not a single moment reading this novel where I was not acknowledging the fact that the image I was given through Sara Louise's eyes had a greater slant than your average flying buttress. However. That is important. It is important that we not fetishize the "outcast" in our literature--and let's be perfectly honest, how the hell many books exist that tell us "It's good, preferable to be weird, to be the outcast, to be strange and unlike anyone else." Except that's hard, lonely, isolating, and the normal populace will always still choose the Carolines over the Wheezes among us.Which brings us to question the heroine's value. Where is she being Sara Louise, the heroine we wish to see redeemed on a cold night, wondering as she wanders, and where is she Wheeze, so eaten up with hatred of her own sister and mother and everyone else that she will destroy her lotion and scream that she doesn't want to go to the boarding school she'd been saving and saving for just because she wants to be alone when she really doesn't? It's complicated, and that's the value: being a girl is complicated, self-loathing is complicated, and trying to love yourself and your family is complicated.There aren't perfect characters in this novel. Wheeze is a chore, but you are a liar if you say you didn't think Grandma was a bitch. You're also a liar if you didn't feel at least a tiny bit of sympathy for her when Louise did.I was assigned this book as an English Education major in a class on Adolescent Lit, looking forward to novels and classes. This is a great novel for paying attention to perspective. This is a great novel for looking at the value of a novel even when the main character isn't "pleasant," because not every main character is meant to be pleasant.I'd reccommend this book to anyone with the ability to process that novels with unpleasant characters can still be fantastic novels, filled with well-crafted characters.

I read this book several times as a teen. I was drawn to the story of the two sisters. I found myself both disturbed and fascinated by the cleft between them, and nursed Sarah Louise's injustices as if they were my own. I was also captivated by the beautiful imagery and the setting along the Chesapeake Bay that was, to me, strange and fascinating.Recently I returned to the book, reading it for the first time as an adult. It was a completely different experience. It became a story about how we perceive ourselves, and how intricately that is linked to how we believe we are perceived by others. I saw how Sarah Louise's perception of reality becomes what is real to her. It shapes the decisions she makes, how she defines herself, how she relates to her sister. As a teen reader, I failed to see the growth and resolution that come into Sarah Louise's life when she learns to set aside her perceptions and accept what is the truth. Once she finally listens to the Captain telling her, "You don't need anything given to you," and then accepts her parent's love for what it really is, she is free to leave her island home and find herself, and her destiny.Destiny might seem a strong word to use. Sarah Louise herself is furious when Joseph Wojtkiewicz suggests that her arrival in the mountain-locked Appalachian community she eventually calls home has been predestined. But there is a wholeness and beauty to Sarah Louise's life, a calmness and completeness that is unmistakable. And echoing that is the cycle of life and death that is repeated in the images of the crabs, in the story Sarah Louise's birth, and in the death and life that occur in the book's final scenes.I think Patterson expects a lot from her teen readers. As the story begins, an adult Sarah Louise acknowledges, "Life begins to turn upside down at thirteen. I know that now." That is not something I could have understood as I teenager, at least not with the same perspective as Sarah Louise. I was still there. Now it is different. Now I read those words and feel a pang in my chest because I know how true they are. But I'm glad I had the experience of reading this book both as a teenager and as an adult. It made Sarah Louise's story more meaningful and poignant to be able to see it both as she experienced it, and as she processed it later in life.

I must have read this girlhood favorite a dozen times, the tears dropping onto the pages regardless of how familiar the words and storyline had become. Something about Sara Louise's intense sibling rivalry and inability to recognize her parents' love for her spoke to me, a second child who frequently felt overshadowed by my older brother. Her earnest desire for God's love amidst fear of His disapproval also reflected my search to feel God's love for me in all my messy imperfection.20+ years have passed since my last reading. It almost embarassed me that the rawness of her emotions still pulled tear after tear from my eyes. Her blindness to the love of her parents struck me more strongly, along with her slowness in recognizing her ability to change her situation. That is part of the essence of all true tragedy, though: as humans we see through a glass, darkly, imperfectly, and cause the majority of our own sorrow.

Lines that I loved:It would have been harder to stay away and imagine what people were staying about me than to go and face them.How could I face a lifetime of passive waiting?For a moment is our sorrow. Joy forever in the sky.But to fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.Annoyance drove out panic.But I was not a generous person. I couldn’t afford to be. Call was my only friend. If I gave him up to the Captain, I’d have no one.She would not fight with me. Perhaps that was the thing that made me hate her most.Sometimes I would rage at God, at his monstrous almighty injustice.My spiritual health was about on a par with a person who’s been dead three days, but I wasn’t about to admit it.Real intrigue was far more delicious than the pretend kind.It didn’t seem right to me that the Captain should be robbed of the chance to tell his own tragedy. He had nothing else to call his own. He should have at least had his story.Is the world so short on trouble that you two crave to make more?A man with strong clean hands would never look at me in love. No man would. At the moment, it seemed worse than being forsaken by God.One must face facts no matter how unpleasant.Crazy people who are judged to be harmless are allowed an enormous amount of freedom ordinary people are denied.No one on the mainland had ever invited me to talk about home before, and the longer I talked, the more I wanted to talk, churning with happiness and homesickness at the same time.

Who is Sara Louise's biggest enemy?1) Caroline, her twin sister. Sara Louise is unhappy because Caroline is so happy, so talented, so loved. The reason Sara Louise is unhappy is because Caroline was loved more than her, from birth.2) Her parents and grandmother. They just don't love Sara Louise. They are ever trying to find ways to give Caroline more privliges, stealing what little Sara Louise has.3) Call and the Captain. Both, in different ways, cast their ballot with Caroline, not Sara Louise.4) God. Even God said, "Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated." Jacob is the favored twin = Caroline.5) Sara Louise, herself.This book was almost painful to read. From the beginning, I sympathized with Sara Louise. Over and over again, she is being forgotten about, and I did want to hate Caroline for always getting the attention. Sara Louise's parents (and Caroline, I think) are blind to the effect their words and actions are having on Sara Louise. As the novel progresses, Sara Louise takes this painful sense that she is unloved, and turns in upon herself. At this point, she starts to see nothing but UNLOVED, stamped on every action of the people around her. She even deliberately rejects the opportunities her friends and family take to show their love for her. I am trying to decide what is most tragic about the book - is it the fact that those around Sara Louise don't adequately show her their love for her? Or is it Sara Louise's response to this? I guess, as I think about it, both are tragic. The message of this story can relate to so many different situations in life - many people come from very painful circumstances, suffer horrible injustices, or are not loved as they deserve to be. If we internalize these hurts and never allow them to be healed, at some point we make a choice to perpetuate the bad - to let the evils we have received continue to live in us. Sara Louise is given a painful childhood - in which she perceives that she is worth less to her parents than her sister. But when it begins to look as though there will never be anything that belongs only to her, she loses all hope, and lets her pain wreak havoc on her life. Unfortunately, no one feels the effects of this muted life as much as she does.Sara Louise's struggle is to come to know and love who she is, or to live far below her potential. It is so interesting that envy is really, at heart, self hatred - it doesn't really have anything to do with another person - just as, in Jacob Have I Loved, Caroline for Sara Louise is not really the problem - she is just the symptom.

I highly recommend this book to teen girls and their parents. The central girl is foiled at every turn in her life by lack of money, lack of parental support, lack of beauty... and also by her overbearing and truly gifted sister. When she connects with her grandmother, listens to her and learns to let go of all these restrictions, to let go of any resentment, frustration or bitterness and to get out and do what she needs to do to live her own life, she does! She finds peace, happiness and eventually a love of her own not through any fairytale romance or knight on a white horse, but through searching out the path best for her and then working with dedication. I do not intend to make parents think they need to learn a lesson about parenting from the book, rather, it would just be a lovely story to be able to talk about with your daughter.

I read this beautifully written book in one sitting. It's the story of Louise, a young girl growing up in the shadow of her beautiful, talented twin sister. In the course of the book, Louise endures the youthful tribulations of falling in love (first with a man who's almost old enough to be her grandfather, then with a childhood friend who used to seem "second-rate" to her) and finding a place for herself doing "man's work" in the tiny, insulated island community in which she lives.The book doesn't have much of a plot, but the characters are so realistic and balanced that you do care about what happens to them. The Chesapeake Bay setting is finely drawn, and the descriptions of oyster culling and crab netting are interesting -- and might make you hungry.The book's emotional achievements are great. Jacob Have I Loved accomplishes subtly what so many other YA books shove down the reader's throat -- sibling rivalry, the uncertainty of first love, the frustration and excitement of figuring out who you are & where you might want to go in life -- all of this and more are presented with just enough drama to make them interesting, but never so much that you feel you're reading anything less than a Newbery winner.The book also reminded me of one of my favorite books -- Madeleine L'Engel's A Ring of Endless Light, for a few shared themes, most notably sibling rivalry, the role of religion, and first love, not to mention a very similar setting. I highly recommend Jacob Have I Loved. It's a little gem that I wish I'd read sooner, and will probably reread in the future.

I have heard of this classic for decades, but not only never read it, but was totally mistaken about its essence. I thought this 1981 Newbery Award winner was about an American or English girl falling in love with a German prisoner of war, the titular Jacob. Nothing could be further from the truth! I clearly am mistaking it for some other award-winning middle-grade novel.Louise Bradshaw lives in the shadow of blonde, talented, beautiful, sweet twin sister Caroline. Caroline, having nearly died at birth, has been delicate and cosseted ever since — much to her plainer, more awkward sister’s jealousy. The twins live in a remove Chesapeake Bay island called Rass Island with their boatman father, their schoolteacher-turned-housewife mother and their hellfire-and-brimstone Methodist grandmother. (I was a member of the United Methodist Church through three decades and never heard such. Times have changed!) The story begins in 1942 when Louise is 14 and continues through World War II and into the 1950s. Louise finds her way, but I won’t spoil it by saying anything more. What I can say is that I loved the book, but I am surprised that, as harsh as it is, that tweens love it as well. Adults, the novel well deserves its Newbery Award, but those younger than 13 or 14, caveat emptor.

It was a very joyful book and a bit different from the normal coming-of-age sibling rivalry story. It was different.I enjoyed how it was part of Delmarva peninsula crabbing and fishing scene. I related to that because my dad and his later years would take a weekly day trip down to the Delmarva area for fishing and to catch crabs. I’m not really sure if he cared if he caught anything he just loved being out on the water.So this book brought back nice memories for me.Recommend

This book makes a great case for the importance of guided reading, as well as getting the age group right on the audience. While Sara Louise is thirteen, the themes are not really appropriate or understandable for younger kids. I was given this book as a gift (I forget at what age- maybe 11?) and hated it when I read it because I couldn't understand it. Reading it for the second time in an adolescent literature class, I loved it. The discussion and classroom questions helped focus my thoughts and discover some great symbolism and understandings of the book. However, most of the teachers in the class didn't end up really liking this one, so it may not be appropriate for a wide variety of audiences. The themes of sibling rivalry and making a way for oneself are things that most can identify with, but are rarely as potent as the feelings of the main characters in the book. It also contains some interesting things bits on religion, which might limit the potential reading groups, but would be really great to talk about with the right group of people.June, 2010I think that the more times I read this book the more I love it. However, I also still firmly believe that it's a book written by a woman that speaks to women, rather than the girls that often read it. It is really beautifully written and the perspectives so heart-wrenchingly real. The more I recognize Sara Louise's unreliability as a narrator, the more I can understand and like her despite her faults as a person.1/16/12

In keeping with Annalynn’s post about classics, I wanted to post about one of my favorite YA classics.It isn’t often that you read a book as a teen and love it then come back to it as an adult and love it even more. This book is my own personal Catcher in the Rye. Louise gave my adolescent self a voice that I didn’t know I needed. Synopsis ala Amazon: Louise has had enough of her twin sister. Caroline is beautiful. Caroline is talented. Caroline is better. Growing up on the small island of Rass in Chesapeake Bay, Caroline seems to do nothing but take from Louise: their parents’ love, Louise’s chances for an education, her dreams for the future. They have spent their lives entwined — sleeping in the same room, eating at the same table, learning in the same classroom — and yet somehow nothing can bring them together. Louise’s only hope lies in seeking a place for herself beyond the stretch of Rass’s shores and her sister’s shadow. What will it take for her to break free? The relationship with Caroline is complicated, layered, and gorgeous. Don’t get me wrong, the favorite twin is a horrible human being, and wonderfully easy to hate. But reading it as adult made me wonder how much of Caroline’s terrible behavior is slightly misrepresented by Louise’s bitterness and jealousy. Louise is so committed to the fact that everyone loves Caroline more than herself and in a way, almost ensures that. I certainly believe that is the case with Call. This book is incredibly atmospheric. To the degree that the small island of Rass becomes a character, forcing its inhabitants to make decisions and come to terms with themselves. In the story, the island is losing a battle with the ocean, quickly becoming too small. Simultaneously, Lousie begins to realize that her family, her island, her home is not where she belongs. She fights the feeling of growing up, in the same way that the inhabitants of Rass board up their windows and rebuild after tumultuous storms, fighting back the ocean. But each force is unrelenting. The best part of the book, however is her friendship with the Captain. By turns compelling, endearing, and slightly disturbing Paterson brings her readers on the emotional roller coaster of a sexual awakening. Reading the book at 14, much of this went over my head at the time, but now as an adult, I appreciate the delicacy and reverence with which she writes. Louise becomes conflicted in her relationship with the Captain, suddenly wrestling with feelings and urges that she does not understand. I love that the Captain does not reciprocate any of these adolescent fantasies. He is simply an unflappable, asexual friend to her. Jacob Have I Loved won the 1981 Newberry Award and that shouldn’t surprise anyone. It is one of the most honest, beautiful, and daring portrayals of adolescence and coming of age that I have ever read. [LOVE YA BOOKS? CHECK OUT YAKETYYAKS.COM FOR MORE REVIEWS AND AWESOME STUFF! :)]

Characters:Sara Louise (or Wheeze) has lived in her sister's shadow from the moment Caroline was born. She doesn't feel like she's ever anything special and all she's seen as in Caroline's twin. She dreams of beauty and grandeur, but always compares herself to her sister. Sara Louise was not a likable character. She had a lot of griefs and very little confidence in herself. I think that she went through a lot of things that teenagers go through, with the added problem of having a prodigy sister. (This reminds me of Umbrella Academy!!!)Call was really stupid, and I didn't like him much. But he was still an excellent character with a lot of life in him.Caroline was as described, an angel. But, I thought she was bratty and full of herself. She was also an awesome character, and I'm glad she got to live her dream. Plot:There wasn't too much of a plot, just the girls growing up and stuff like that. I didn't mind it because it was easy to follow!Final Review:I really enjoyed this. I think it's an important book to read and everyone should read it at some point in their life.4.5 Stars.