Rating: 
Summary: Jacob Have I loved
Review: "Jacob Have I loved"
By: Katherine Paterson
... Louise hates her twin sister Caroline Bradshaw. They live in a small Chesapeake Bay island, Rass Island, in the mid 1900's. Caroline is loved by everyone because of her sweetness and voice, and Sara Louise is always ignored, even her family always ignores her. This book is the story of the twin's lives. When Sara Louise, also called "Wheeze" was 14 years old, she wanted to own a boat and be just like her father, but at Rass Island, women are not allowed to own boats, they are housewives. Louise goes with her best guy friend Call, who is also always ignored, to look for crabs and make money off them. They stay with half of the profit and give the other half to their families.
One day when Louise was helping her mom and Caroline with the groceries, a weird man came out of the ferry. Only the old people knew him. His name was "Hiram Wallace" and Louise did not believe that he was the real Hiram Wallace; she thought he was a spy. Call and Louise visited Hiram Wallace, the captain, every day. And as each day passed he convinced them he was Hiram Wallace. Hiram Wallace was the Captain Wallace son, who died a long time ago. He was coming to the island because his father's house was still there. Later on Caroline started visiting the captain. Louise fell in love with him. The captain was a 70-year-old man! A hurricane came to Rass Island and the captain had to stay at the Bradshaw's house because his house flew away. Louise's grandmother did not want the captain there because he was sleeping in her bed and she knew Louise had fallen in love with him. So, the captain decided to leave and got married to Auntie Braxton because he realized they needed each other. Auntie needed someone to take care of her since she was sick, and the captain needed a home. Auntie Braxton died and left lots of money to the captain. The captain said that since Auntie loved hearing Caroline sing that she would love for him to use the money to send Caroline to Baltimore Boarding school and continue singing. That's what Caroline had always wanted but her parents did not have the money. What about Louise? Cant her wish also come true?
Louise missed Call, since she only saw him on Sundays at church. He was becoming a real waterman. One afternoon Louise heard her grandmother say, "Jacob have a loved, but Essau have I hated." Which has to do with this twins from the bible like Caroline and Louise. Jacob was the hated one. Louise came with the conclusion that God hated her. She decided not to pay much attention to school and do what she wanted, which was to pay more attention to the water. She was becoming a man while Caroline was in Baltimore. Louise's mom offered her to go to Crisfield, but Louise got it the wrong way and thought her family wanted to get rid of her, since God already hated her. AT age 17 Caroline and Call got married in New York for Christmas and Louise parents went to the wedding. Louise stayed with her grandmother in the island. For Christmas, the captain went to have dinner with them and convinced Louise to go study what she really wanted to which was to be a doctor. When Louise told her mom, her mom said she would miss her even more than Caroline. Louise went to study nursing to a mountainous island, which was her dream. So later in the future she could study to be a doctor. Her grandmother, the captain, and her father died while she was in this island. The only persons funeral she could not go to was her fathers. What happened to her in the island? Did she have a better life?
This has been one of the best books I have ever read, since it is a total page-turner. The best thing about the book is that if you don't understand something, it will be explained later in the book, so you will not miss any special details Word Count: 697
Rating:
Summary: Welcome To Rass Island!
Review: Sara Loise Bradshaw is feeling lonely and unloved in her home Rass Island.While her sister Caroline as she did since she was born hogs all the love and praise. Sara finds herself hating her sister, and trying leave all her painful memories behind. A great book with a suprising ending.
Rating: 
Summary: beautiful book - tepid ending
Review: I found myself moved by this book - or by the first nine-tenths of it. I loved the portrait of the rough, conservative, yet caring island people and for the most part I found the characters and their interactions believable. Where I think the book failed, however, was in its treatment of the main theme - everyone's favoritism of the talented twin over the narrator. I not only think the author went overboard (pardon the boating pun) with the cruelty, but then trivialized it at the end by attempting to wrap it up sweetly and tie it in a neat bow. It lacked emotional resolution, and I felt cheated. The girl was practically driven crazy by her family's neglect and not once in the book does anyone but herself ever acknowledge it. And then the author has the audacity (or lack of emotional insight) to "make it all alright" at the end by having the mother say, in so many words, "but we really loved you all along - we just knew you could take care of yourself, and didn't need our special attention." Well, this just doesn't cut it for me, but for some reason it does for the narrator. SHE ACCEPTS IT at face value and then goes on to live happily ever after. Yeah right! What happened to all those years of pent up rage? Don't tell me it disappeared - she just buried it! That family messed her up, and her acceptance of her mother's lame explanation is just a sign of how shut-down and compromised a life the narrator will go on to live. For this reason, I would never want to read a sequel to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Got lost in the pages...
Review: I read this book several times between 4th and 6th grade. I loved the words and the images-they were put together like magic. I am now 30 and still get excited when I see this book pop up on children's reading lists, because I hope that others will feel the same drawing in that I experienced. I recommend this book highly.
Rating:
Summary: My fave. book
Review: I read Jacob Have I Loved when I was in third grade, in an advanced reading group. I, like some others, thought that it would revolve around a love story. But it's VERY different from my first thoughts. I'd reccomend this book to any girl, it quickly became my favorite book. I bought it, and I now read it constantly...almost once every day. This is one of the greatest books you'll ever read, believe me.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: I think this book is a very emotional story that might somewhat be hard to understand for younger childeren . At first, I thought the story was going to be about a girl who falls deeply in love with, of course, a boy named Jacob. but after I read this book, I knew that I had been totally wrong! But I would recommend this book to a challenger to reading.
Rating:
Summary: Jacob Have I Loved
Review: I feel that Jocob Have I Loved was a great book. It is about a girl named Sara Louise Bradshaw who has a twin sister named Carloine. Every since Sara was born she has felt that her parents loved her sister more than her. Her sister has always been perfect at everything. Sara enjoys going out crabbing on a boat with her best friend McCall Purnell. Sara starts to feel lost when the war comes. Her teacher has gone to join the army and everyone at school feels she's weird. So she decides to run away. She comes up with a plan to fund her excape but then a strange old man moves into town. All the town people thought he was Hiram Wallace( a man who had left the island a long time ago when the elders where young). Sara and Call thought otherwise. In their minds he was a spy from the opposing side of the war. They set out on an adventure to catch him but what they found was shocking. A little after they met Mr. Wallace everything went weird. Sara is feeling more ignored than ever by her parents and now by her best friend. Mr.Wallace, Sara, Call, and Caroline experence many emotions together and it sometimes brings them closer and sometimes tears them apart. In the end Sara finds out alot about her self and about the people around her. She has moved on from most of her insucurities and has found another life for herself out side of Rass Island. I thought that this book wonderful and i would advise all teenagers to read it. It will teach you how to deal with inscurites about your parents, yourself, and life. In my opinion the moral of this story is to love yourself for who you are and dont try to be like anyone eles, just be your self.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional!
Review: I read this book as a young teenager and, although I was older than the recommended age, I still loved it. I agree that it is meant for an older audience, however. Not only is the main character in the book fourteen, but she deals with some very adult issues. Also, my mother bought this book from a religious bookstore and my family was very religious. I think that some of the religious conflicts the character faces would be confusing to young children if they have a religious family. It might be upsetting to them. Still, I would recommend this book to anyone fourteen and up.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I got this book when I was 11 years old and it is one of my favorites. Because I was younger when I read this, I could only relate to things that were relevent to my eleven yr old existence. But now over the past seven years, I "rediscover" themes in the book. I can relate to Sara Louise "finding" her true self and forgeting others expectations and coming to peace with her parents. This book is very profound and inspiring.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good--But Written For Mature Readers
Review: I read this book growing up and recently re-read it. It is an excellent story of an independent teen who feels her younger twin sister receives all of the spotlight and her parents concerns. It is a coming of age book, and is very moving. The age listed begins age 9, but I feel a more accurate range would be 16+. There is a section that deals with her unexpected feelings towards a much older man. At the end of the book, it refers to her breastfeeding a baby that is not hers. Again--it is a wonderful book, but I personally feel it is for more mature audiences.
| 
