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Second Glance: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
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Second Glance: A Novel (original 2003; edition 2004)

by Jodi Picoult

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3,471683,666 (3.67)50
Fiction. Literature. HTML:This breathtaking novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult asks: Do we love across time, or in spite of it?
"Sometimes I wonder....Can a ghost find you, if she wants to?"

An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal, Second Glance begins in current-day Vermont, where an old man puts a piece of land up for sale and unintentionally raises protest from the local Abenaki Indian tribe, who insist it's a burial ground. When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtosook, a ghost hunter is hired by the developer to help convince the residents that there's nothing spiritual about the property.

Enter Ross Wakeman, a suicidal drifter who has put himself in mortal danger time and again. He's driven his car off a bridge into a lake. He's been mugged in New York City and struck by lightning in a calm country field. Yet despite his best efforts, life clings to him and pulls him ever deeper into the empty existence he cannot bear since his fiancée's death in a car crash eight years ago. Ross now lives only for the moment he might once again encounter the woman he loves. But in Comtosook, the only discovery Ross can lay claim to is that of Lia Beaumont, a skittish, mysterious woman who, like Ross, is on a search for something beyond the boundary separating life and death. Thus begins Jodi Picoult's enthralling and ultimately astonishing story of love, fate, and a crime of passion.

Hailed by critics as a "master" storyteller (The Washington Post), Picoult once again "pushes herself, and consequently the reader, to think about the unthinkable" (Denver Post). Second Glance, her eeriest and most engrossing work yet, delves into a virtually unknown chapter of American history—Vermont's eugenics project of the 1920s and 30s—to provide a compelling study of the things that come back to haunt us—literally and figuratively. Do we love across time, or in spite of it?
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Member:lovelivetoreadbooks
Title:Second Glance: A Novel
Authors:Jodi Picoult
Info:Washington Square Press (2004), Paperback, 448 pages
Collections:Your library
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Second Glance by Jodi Picoult (2003)

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English (67)  German (1)  All languages (68)
Showing 1-5 of 67 (next | show all)
Picoult is truly a master storyteller. Murder, the spirit world, love and misunderstanding mix in a cauldron of suspense. ( )
  ben_r47 | Feb 22, 2024 |
One of my least favourite books by Jodi Picoult, just did not engage me quite like her other books. Still worth reading though. ( )
  LisaBergin | Apr 12, 2023 |
If you're going to write a book from the perspective of a dozen different characters, then you better do it right.

Unfortunately, Picoult doesn't do it right. Not even close. I only got as far as Chapter 3 or so and couldn't stomach the obviously dated speech and unconvincing behaviors of the characters. No self-respecting teenage boy would use the phrase "As if" or still use a Game Boy. [Editing this in 2020 to say this incredibly sexist and narrow-minded of me to say.] And how can Ross just abandon his camera equipment most likely worth thousands of dollars and blithely refer to them as replaceable. On the minimum wage he was getting? On what planet?

The only storyline that had some potential was the doctor, Meredith, and her work with genetic engineering embryos. There was nothing about this book that felt believable, I just kept thinking "Who would do that? Who would say that?!" No one.

I actually really liked My Sister's Keeper so I was really disappointed to trudge through brief paragraphs of characters that I didn't give a damn about. Who the hell is Winks again? Who is Lucy? Who the hell is Stuart? Whatever, pass. ( )
  MC_Rolon | Jun 15, 2022 |
I don't know how to properly review this book in a way that can fully describe how fantastic this book truly is. One of the most underrated books that Jodi Picoult has ever written by far. This book drags me in and spits me out in the best way possible and the only way to read this, in my opinion, is to dedicate a whole weekend to fully imerse yourself in it. I've lost track of how many times I have re-read this book at this point and that is this only way I can describe how I really feel about this book. ( )
  autumnpressley | Jan 19, 2021 |
I don't believe in ghosts and generally don't care for supernatural themed stories but I found Second Glance to be a surprise. The story follows multiple characters, most of them damaged in some sort of way. Ross Wakeman lost his fiancee in a crash and longs to find her again. Multiple suicide attempts have convinced him that he just can't die. He meets a strange and beautiful woman named Lia, who seems to appear and disappear at will. Ross has been working with a “ghost hunter” and is offered an opportunity to investigate a string of events involving an old house. He knows this might finally be his opportunity to communicate with his late fiancee.

Picoult has done a wonderful job of creating a fairly wide range of characters and making their interactions believable. It's a combination of ghost story, murder mystery, and historical fiction. The book is quite long at almost 500 pages but I still found it incredibly readable. I'm a long time Jodi Picoult fan but this is one I long avoided because I just didn't have any interest in ghost stories. I'm glad I finally had a chance to read and enjoy this fascinating book. ( )
  Olivermagnus | Jul 2, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 67 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
What if you slept?
And what if in your sleep, you dreamed?
And what if in your dream, you went to heaven
and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?
And what if, when you woke, you had the flower in your hand?
Ah! What then? - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Dedication
For Sammy, who is both a reader and a writer. I love you to the moon and back. XOXO, Mom.
First words
Ross Wakeman succeeded the first time he killed himself, but not the second or the third.
Quotations
Love's not a because, it's a no matter what.
This is my land, and frankly I don't care if it's owned by retarded bald eagles in wheelchairs - I paid for it, fair and square.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fiction. Literature. HTML:This breathtaking novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult asks: Do we love across time, or in spite of it?
"Sometimes I wonder....Can a ghost find you, if she wants to?"

An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal, Second Glance begins in current-day Vermont, where an old man puts a piece of land up for sale and unintentionally raises protest from the local Abenaki Indian tribe, who insist it's a burial ground. When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtosook, a ghost hunter is hired by the developer to help convince the residents that there's nothing spiritual about the property.

Enter Ross Wakeman, a suicidal drifter who has put himself in mortal danger time and again. He's driven his car off a bridge into a lake. He's been mugged in New York City and struck by lightning in a calm country field. Yet despite his best efforts, life clings to him and pulls him ever deeper into the empty existence he cannot bear since his fiancée's death in a car crash eight years ago. Ross now lives only for the moment he might once again encounter the woman he loves. But in Comtosook, the only discovery Ross can lay claim to is that of Lia Beaumont, a skittish, mysterious woman who, like Ross, is on a search for something beyond the boundary separating life and death. Thus begins Jodi Picoult's enthralling and ultimately astonishing story of love, fate, and a crime of passion.

Hailed by critics as a "master" storyteller (The Washington Post), Picoult once again "pushes herself, and consequently the reader, to think about the unthinkable" (Denver Post). Second Glance, her eeriest and most engrossing work yet, delves into a virtually unknown chapter of American history—Vermont's eugenics project of the 1920s and 30s—to provide a compelling study of the things that come back to haunt us—literally and figuratively. Do we love across time, or in spite of it?

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