Tag: Jodi Picoult

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Book Review: Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

i love Jodi Picoult’s books. i have a collection. Her stories have such a big heart at the center of them and they usually make me think about the issues they touch on.

offthepage20191009This one, however, i feel, is more light-hearted than usual. This is, of course, aimed at the YA reader rather than her usual adult audience. It still has a ton of heart in it but the issues are different from what she usually tackles and i feel that is what makes it refreshing.

i also wanted to read this book because it is a collaboration between Picoult and her daughter, what an interesting prospect; to be able to work with and create something with your own child.

Off the Page is the sequel to Between the Lines, however, it does well as a stand-alone. i have not read the prequel but now i want to.

Which young person does not dream of a happily-ever-after? Almost everyone does. But this book explores what one might have to give up for that happily-ever-after? Would you still want the happily-ever-after, even if it’s different from your ideal vision of it?

It takes the classic story of The Prince and The Pauper and turns it into a modern fairytale with quite a few unexpected twists and turns. Oliver, a prince from a book, and the love of his life, Delilah, are finally together, in the real world. But strange things happen which seem to indicate that the universe is pulling them apart. Edgar, who agreed to switch places with Oliver and go live in the book-world, is less than happy as the book seems to not want him to dictate how the story goes. Delilah’s best friend is also pulled into the book, literally. To complicate matters, Edgar’s mother, who is the author of the story Oliver is from, needs saving too.

i really love how they wrote the story from different perspectives and show us how different characters felt and wanted. It really built a fuller story. i also like dedication at the end, it talks about how every one of us has a story, whether or not it’s written yet.

So if you are up for an easy read, which has a bit of excitement, a fair bit of romance and lots of emotions, this is one for you.

Happy Reading!

syc

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Book Review: Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult…

This is my 4th review of a Jodi Picoult book so you can say i like her books… a lot. i have read way more than four of her books and have liked each one. But i have only started writing reviews a few years ago.

This one took me a long time to finish because i got really emotional about the story and the characters; so much so that i had to stop a few times, take a break from it, then carry on again.

Picoult’s books are always emotionally draining to read (not a bad thing) because readers will come to care for her characters very much.

51a3hqmpafl-_sx315_bo1204203200_The gist of this story involves Paige, whose mother left her when she was five, and she always felt like she is missing something because of that. Her father tried his best but being a man from a generation which did not express themselves very much, it was hard on Paige. She leaves her hometown, hoping to get into art school in Chicago but ends up falling in love and marrying an ambitious young doctor, who seemed the perfect man. But when they have a baby, her past secrets and doubts about her self-worth and ability as a mother cause her to run as she tries to find answers in her past in order to come back a better mother/person.

This story hits close to home for me because which woman has not doubted herself when she first became a mother. i doubt myself, even now, sometimes. While Paige struggled with her doubts, i remembered how i felt when struggling with similar issues. i also got really angry at her doctor husband who seemed so absorbed in his career and his own family issues. i wished i could have gone into the book and shaken him awake, and i wished i could have said to Paige, “You are doing just fine.”.

If you are a first-time mother reading this, please know that you don’t struggle alone and that you are doing just fine.

By the time i was half-way through the book, i was begging for a quick resolution. But Picoult was not done. There was more to explore and it is worth the effort to stay with the story and worth the wait as the resolution is good.

Picoult has done well exploring the theme of motherhood, not just from Paige’s point of view but also from the viewpoint of her run-away mother and her rather famous and strong-willed mother-in-law.

i am not going to say much more about the story because i want you to enjoy it for yourself. So go read it and let me know what you think.

Here are some other reviews of Picoult’s books: 2013, 2015, 2016.

syc

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Book Review: Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult…

This is not my first Jodi Picoult book… it is my 10th read by Picoult. However, i have only written 2 reviews on her books so far, mainly because i read the others before i started blogging or reviewing regularly.

So here’s my 3rd review of a Picoult book and i love it!

Now it was a difficult read because of the subject matter it deals with, however, she does a great job of telling the story of how a mother deals with her 5-year-old boy being sexually abused. And what makes it even more interesting is that this mother is a district attorney, who handles such cases in her job. So she knows the system, she knows how it works, she knows what young children have to go through if they were to get a conviction and she doesn’t want that for her boy.

The prologue gives an idea of what this mother might do in the name of getting justice for her boy so it was no surprise to me when she does it. But what follows certainly kept me reading and reading.

i don’t want to give anything away so i’ll just say that there are a few twists in there which are quite unexpected and the final spanner in the works really made me sit up.

This book not only explores what a mother would do, it also touches on a mix-up of traditional father-mother roles as well as how deep down we are all the same, we all want justice when injustice happens but how we get it is where the line is drawn; we never know what we would do until we are actually faced with the circumstances.

i also like the way the little boy has been given a voice in the story.  It is so important to hear from the victim and see his point of view of, not just of the “bad thing which happened to me”, but also of his view of the process which follows after.

i would definitely recommend this for when you are ready for a serious read with great storytelling.

syc