Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

I can say one thing about Jodi Picoult - she's definitely not afraid to broach the "hot" topics of our time. This time around, Picoult covers gay marriage, embryo rights, alcoholism as well as infertility. Zoe and Max were married for several years, trying valiantly to conceive, spending thousands of dollars on IVF treatments. When they divorce, neither of them gives any thought to the 3 fertilized embryos that are frozen in storage. However, Zoe (a music therapist) eventually falls in love with Vanessa, a school guidance counselor and the two desparately want to start a family with those frozen embryos. The only problem is that also during this time, Max has become deeply religious and refuses to give away the embryos to a homosexual couple, preferring instead to give them to his older brother and sister-in-law. What follows is par-for-the-course Picoult (tense courtroom scenes and back and forth perspectives). All in all, a good read. The most interesting aspect of Sing...

One of the best things about reading Jodi Picoult is that she's so consistent. You always know what you're going to get whenever you read any of her works: the family drama (usually involving a fiercely devoted mother, an ignored sibling and some poor child with a disability or medical problem), the lawyer-with-a-heart-of-gold character, a tense courtroom scene and some contemporary references sprinkled here and there. And while some might say that "consistency" is just a nice way of saying "formulaic," I would argue that there is something quite comforting in being able to rely on a decent reading experience. This time around, Picoult focuses on her attention on Aspergers Syndrome, which occurs on the low end of the autism spectrum. Jacob Hunt is an 18 year old kid trying to fit in with everyone else. His social skills teacher, Jess, encourages him to ask girls out, make normal conversation and eye contact and attempt to empathize with others. His mother, E...

I'm not going to lie - I think Jodi Picoult kind of phoned in this novel, mainly because she blatantly recycled parts of My Sister's Keeper and Change of Heart . I don't know, when I read Picoult, it's always the same - the lawyer with a turbulent past, the family in crisis, a depressing ending - and while sometimes, I like the familiarity, sometimes, it just gets on my nerves. In Handle with Care , Charlotte and Sean O'Keffe have a daughter, Willow, who is born with osteogensis imperfecta, or brittle bones disease. Their financial status is spiraling downward due to high medical costs, so Charlotte decides to sue her OB for wrongful birth - meaning that her gyno should have told her about Willow's condition in utero so Charlotte would have had the option of abortion. Of course, this being a Jodi Picoult novel, Charlotte's OB is her best friend. Despite the intriguing plot potential (the O'Keffe's have another daughter who has A LOT of issues that s...

Despite the fact that I like to think of Jodi Picoult's books as "Lifetime TV movie" fodder, every time she has a new one out, I always try to snag it (working in a Library definitely has its perks). At any rate, with Change of Heart , we have the usual suspects - the devoted and emotionally torn mother, the lawyer/public defender/judge with a heart of gold and a controversial theme with an emotionally charged ending. This time, it's concerning organ transplants, the death penalty and the potential reincarnation of Jesus. Shay Bourne is a convicted murderer on death row when he declares that he wants to donate his heart to the girl whose family he killed eleven years earlier. Now that he's made this decision, strange "miracles" have been occuring throughout the prison. Pretty hefty stuff. If you're in a book club, this one will be sure to spark many debates. Despite the soap opera feel that Picoult's novels ALWAYS seem to have, I can't p...