Jacob Have I Loved

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I didn't quite know what to expect. I was braced for another Terabithia, a closely observed portrait of childhood friendship disrupted by a gut-wrenching plot development near the end. In fact it's very different - Jacob Have I Loved is a story of sibling rivalry, or rather of how the narrator is completely overshadowed by her twin sister. Where the relative normality of the families in Terabithia were a reassuring anchor for the narrative, here the awfulness of Louise's family surroundings, which start bad and keep getting worse, actually makes one almost wish for a Terabithia-style climax. The actual happy ending felt a bit rushed and tacked-on, part of a different story.

But it's still show more beautifully observed. In the BBC radio series Clare in the Community, there's a hilarious moment in episode 3.2 where Clare's mother is bewildered by Clare's resentment of her sister: "We always were careful to treat them both the same - the plain one and the pretty one!" Jacob Have I Loved isn't a comedy; it's a great portrayal of a despairing teenager, isolated in her own family, which itself is on an isolated island in the Chesapeake Bay, and how she finally gets away. show less

This is not your typical story of sibling rivalry (and believe me, I've read plenty of these) The title is intriguing, and the way it figures into the story makes it especially poignant, since one girl in a set of twins has to deal with constantly living with how her twin manages to get much of the attention and is prettier, more talented, etc etc. And it's not just over trivial things, so it's not hard to feel bad for Louise. She has to struggle to make a life of her own, and the ending is quite satisfying though not what you might expect. Overall a good book.

I read this book on my slow but sure quest to read the Newbery winners. There were parts of the book that made me say, "Wow - they classified this as a CHILDREN'S book?" Maybe some of the things that made me cringe would go over a young person's head, but I'm not entirely convinced. Having said that, the book was a good read, and found the way things wrapped up very satisfying.

Caroline is beautiful, musically gifted, and good; she is the shining star of a small town on the water. The story is told by her twin sister Louise, who is almost sick with jealousy and longing. Louise is not a flawless person, but I loved her just the same: her work-roughened hands, her terrible puns, her puzzlement at her anger when a friend falls in love with her sister. It's a good book about complicated family relationships, and Paterson never pulls back on showing the truth of it. In the end, both sisters manage to break free and become their own people.

Paterson is one of the few recipients of two Newbery Medal Awards. This winner in 1981 follows Bridge to Terabithia. While I enjoyed the first, I found Jacob Have I Loved more profound.

Set in the 1940's small island located on the Chesapeake Bay, this thought provoking book is a tale of twin sisters, one plain and one beautiful. One is musically gifted with a beautiful voice, the other rough and jagged from the constant comparison leaving her missing the mark and not quite as pretty, as talented, as smart, as alluring.

The story is told from the voice of Louise who, from her birth, was treated differently than her twin. As she struggles with second best, the perception is cruelly confirmed in a moment of vulnerability as her bitter bible show more quoting, misguided grandmother whispers "Jacob have I loved, but Esau Have I Hated."

The analogy of the bible reference is woven throughout the book as the family sacrifices for the one, leaving the other to feel emotionally neglected.

While Caroline is known for her incredible musical talent, Louise is a tom boy who works with her father in fishing and crabbing.

As Caroline develops a sense of self, unconnected to her sister, she leaves the island and finds her own voice. show less

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 show more 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. show less

her books always give me such a feeling of weight, of something squeezing the breath out of me, and this one is the heaviest so far, i think: the terrible loneliness of it, the suffocating confines of a little island where everybody knows everyone and there's no space for any difference, the jealousy, the terrible, heavy want to be loved, to be known. i loved how there was no catharsis, no magical moment of being right with the world, just sort of grim, terrified hanging on until managing to let yourself go, finally, for your sake and not others'. i'm not quite sure how to feel about the ending, about recreating the same closed-off space you ran from - though it probably says more about me than sarah - and would it be enough, and would show more her own children be telling same story sometime down the line - but even so, getting there was a relief, an exhale: she survived herself. what's more to ask? show less