I was first attracted by the novel’s title Jacob Have I Loved.  The title comes from a story in the Bible.  In the story, God loves Jacob and hates Esau. It is like the situation that the protagonist in Jacob Have I Loved faces.

 Louise Bradshaw grows up on a small island.  She thinks people all love her twin sister Caroline and ignore her.  She always tries to get away from the shadow of her sister.  Call, a boy, is one of her friends who never understands her jokes. Call and Caroline, Louise's best friend and her imagined rival, become very close before they leave the island.  Eventually, Call and Caroline are married, Louise feels more depressed than before.  After her own marriage, she gives birth to twins.  Though the baby boy is strong and healthy, the baby girl is near death. She takes good care of the baby girl and lets her family look after the baby boy.

Self-discovery is one of the themes in this novel. Unlike other main characters in stories，Louise is not a very intelligent girl, but she is jealous.  She only sees herself as living in the shadow of her sister's talents and beauty. She can’t figure out her own life path. She can’t feel love from others.  Luckily, Louise realizes the truth and gives her love to her babies. She doesn’t want her babies to be like her. In my opinion, Louise’ s unhappiness comes not only from her jealousy of shining sister，but also her self-consciousness about her intelligence.   

Jealousy can make someone feel abhorrent of others and the world. Meanwhile，others will be abhorrent of a jealous person，too.  A good way to reduce our jealousy is to change our attitudes to life.  We should be optimistic and warm-hearted.  If we open our minds to others，others may open their minds to us.  If we always think of sunshine，we can feel the sunshine all the time.