Book Review: Leaving Time

From Goodreads: For over a decade, Jenna Metcalf obsesses on her vanished mom Alice. Jenna searches online, rereads journals of the scientist who studied grief among elephants. Two unlikely allies are Serenity Jones, psychic for missing people who doubts her gift, and Virgil Stanhope, jaded PI who originally investigated cases of Alice and her colleague. Hard questions and answers.

Thoughts: With this book, Picoult continues to win back my trust. I think it's hard for prolific authors to not become formulaic. For a long time Picoult managed it, but it had started t creep in. Her last book The Storyteller let me know she was able to break away from it.
Leaving Time is a good read. People who don't like the book are drawing comparisons between it and a well known movie (which I won't name as it will give away too much about the book) and I can see where those comparisons come from. However I see it more as a variation on a theme and if she has drawn inspiration from the movie, she has made the story her own.
I am pleased that Picoult seems to be moving away from what I call her mother issues, for which I am eternally grateful, as this was becoming my biggest sticking point with her writing. 
For me though, Picoult has a solid writing style and a great storytelling ability. I love that her books make me think without taxing my brain too much. As before, I will continue to watch out for new books from her and read them safe in the knowledge that I will most probably enjoy it.

Leaving time gets 3 stars.

*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it
*****   It was amazing

Did you know Little Black Marks is on Facebook? I'd love for you to join us! Click on the link and like my page. Thanks.

Book Review - The Storyteller

From Goodreads: Sage Singer befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses…and then he confesses his darkest secret - he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.

What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who's committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And most of all - if Sage even considers his request - is it murder, or justice?
  
Thoughts: To tell you the truth, after the last couple of Picoult's books, I've been tempted to give up on them, but this latest one has gone some way to restoring my faith. In this Picoult seems to be back to her best. I think it's partly because there are no mother issues for me in this one. 
Sage Singer is the grand daughter of a holocaust survivor who meets and befriends an elderly man called Josef. AS the friendship continues, he asks Sage to help him die - something he feels he deserves for his role as a soldier in the SS during World War II.
It's hard to discuss this book without giving too much away. Needless to say, if you have been feeling disillusioned with Picoult, this may be worth the read. It is in no way perfect, but it's closer to what I use to feel about her work than I have recently. There is, of course, the trademark twist at the end - in fact there is two - one I picked, one I didn't. I felt the romance between Sage and the man who worked for the Justice Department to track down and prosecute Nazi's (see, I can't even remember his name!) was pointless and added nothing to the story -  it was simply there because I story apparently must have a romance. What I am pleased to say is that this surprised me and I will now be more willing to pick up a Picoult book.

Between The Lines

Title: Between The Lines

Author: Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

Genre: Fiction
Audience: Young Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: What happens when happily ever after... isn't?

Delilah hates school as much as she loves books. In fact, there's one book in particular she can't get enough of. If anyone knew how many times she has read and re-read the sweet little fairy tale she found in the library, especially the popular kids, she'd be sent to social Siberia... forever.

To Delilah, though, this fairy tale is more than just words on the page. Sure, there's a handsome (well, okay, hot) prince, and a castle, and an evil villain, but it feels as if there's something deeper going on. And one day, Delilah finds out there is. Turns out, this Prince Charming is real, and a certain fifteen-year-old loner has caught his eye. But they're from two different worlds, and how can it ever possibly work?

What I thought:  Any one who reads this blog knows my love/ hate relationship with Jodi Picoult - love her stuff, but find her mother characters incredibly annoying! So when I heard she had written a book with her daughter, I must admit I was interested.
The idea is interesting - falling in love with a story book character, having them fall in love with you and needing to find a way to get him out. And lets face it, haven't we all wondered what happens when we close the book?
Unfortunately, I don't think Picoult and her daughter, van Leer, pulled it off. Plot holes, inconsistencies and writing that just wasn't up to what I expect from a book with Picoult's name on it. I'd be interested to see something van Leer has written herself, just to see if it was the collaboration thing that didn't work. 

I like Jodi Picoult books but...

Yesterday I posted a review of Jodi Picoult's latest book Lone Wolf. In that review I said that I frequently have issues with Picoult's mother characters. I mentioned it here, in my review of House Rules. I also know I got frustrated with the mother's in My Sister's Keeper and Handle with Care. And here is my issue - in books where there is one child with a condition or disability that requires more of a mother's time than usual, the other child is all but discounted and shoved to the side. I'm not unrealistic - I know that a child with special needs takes more of a parent's time - there are appointments and treatments that have to happen - and is can mean other children in the family miss out on things, do not receive the same portion of time. Picoult's characters though seem to take it to the extreme and, as a mother, it annoys the hell out of me!
So it was quite nice with Lone Wolf to actually quite like the mother - to not feel she was putting one child in front of the other. In fact, she was conflicted because she could see both sides and wanted to support them both. Her relationship with both Edward and Cara was fractured and she was trying to work out a way to repair and support, while still dealing with their younger half siblings who, simply by their young age, also needed her. In fact, if anything, I was annoyed at what I felt was Cara's self centred feeling that the moment her mother's attention was not focussed solely on her, it meant her mother no longer wanted her.
And then, as if she had heard my complaints, Picoult, in my mind, tried to justify the actions of all her mother characters with this passage.

It's not politically correct to say that you love one child more than you love your others. I love all of my kids, period, in different ways. But ask any parent who's been through some kind of a crisis surrounding a child - a health scare, an academic snarl, an emotional problem - and we will tell you the truth. When something upends the equilibrium - when one child needs you more than the others - that imbalance becomes a black hole. You may never admit it out loud, but the one you love the most is the one who needs you more desperately than his sibling...
For years after Edward left us, I use to wake up in the middle of the night and imagine all the worst things that could happen to him...I loved him most because I thought that might be the spell that would bring him back to me.
                             - Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult pg263

There is one statement in the above quote I agree with. I love all of my kids, period, in different ways. Yep, absolutely agree! I love my son's quick wit, his insatiable curiosity, his random acts of affection. I love my daughter's cheekiness, her perpetually happy nature, her inability to walk past me without giving me a kiss or a cuddle. I do not love one more than the other - ever.

I know what Picoult is trying to say - when one of your kids is in trouble, needs support, that is the child you spend the time on. I don't agree that at that point you love that child more, or you completely block out your other child's need for you. Families ebb and flow - at no point will you kids get equal time. Someone always needs it more than the other, but you always consider the other child/ren and try to make sure they get something from you - a cuddle, a bed time story, an explanation of why you can't be the one to take them to swimming today - but you (or at least I)NEVER love one more than the other.

As for the second part of that quote, here is my big problem with it. Edward was gone for 6 years. In that time, the mother had another 2 children, as well as the child she had before he left. She spent 6 years loving an absent child more than the ones who were present - no wonder her daughter felt like a 5th wheel and went to live with her father. And while I know the mother in this book would never had said out loud that she loves one child more than the other, kids are not stupid and they pick up on a million different things. The daughter may not have consciously known Edward was loved more than she was, but I do believe she would feel it.

I may be wrong. Picoult's words may ring true for you. I also know that if you do love one child more than another, for whatever reason, for whatever amount of time, societal beliefs means that you most probably cannot voice that without fear of condemnation. But my truth is that when my mother says she never loved one of her three daughters more than the other, that she loves all eight of her grandchildren equally, I believe her. My truth is I could not love one of my kids more than the other, and when my friends tell me the same, I believe them.

Lone Wolf

Title: Lone Wolf
Author: Jodi Picoult
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: Edward Warren, twenty-four, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara.
With her father’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?
Lone Wolf explores the notion of family, and the love, protection and strength it’s meant to offer. But what if the hope that should sustain it, is the very thing that pulls it apart?

What I thought: Jodi Picoult is one of those authors I can't seem to stop reading, even though in recent years I have not been highly impressed with her books. (Look out for tomorrow's post about some issues I have with her mother characters) I have got to the point where I no longer buy her books, but I still borrow them from the library and when I heard there was a new one out, I put it on my request list immediately. What she is good for is making you think about unusual situations and a read that is quick and moves along at a good pace. Now that I approach them this way, I'm not as disappointed as I have been in recent years.
The premise of Lone Wolf is two children - one an adult, the other very close - who need to decide the fate of their father after a car accident leaves him comatosed. Both have different reasons to feel guilt, both have different views on what should happen. Add into this feelings of abandonment, a new family for their mother and secrets that have been held for too long and you have a story that keeps you guessing about everyone's motives. The story is told from multiple view points, including Luke's - the man comatosed. His chapters explain his connection to the wolves and his life researching them. I thought a lot of his interactions with wolves seemed far fetched, but then I looked into one her main sources of information Shaun Ellis, a man who has made his life study wolves and living with them.
In the end, I enjoyed the book, but I now approach Picoult books with lower expectations than I use to. Now I view them as good, easy reads that raise issues a lot of other books in this category don't. I would recommend it if you are a Picoult fan - it won't disappoint.

Sing You Home

Title: Sing You Home
Author: Jodi Picoult
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Book and CD - Library

Synopsis: When Zoe and Max's most recent attempt at IVF fails, Max decides he can't go on and asks for a divorce. Through her work as a music therapist, Zoe meets and falls in love with Vanessa. Together they decide to use the remaining frozen embryo's to have a child. But Max's new found faith means he is not happy to let two women raise his child. Instead, he and Zoe end up in a battle for the right to decide what happens to the embryos.

What I thought: This is the best Picoult book I have read in awhile. For the first time in a long time there was no mother neglecting one child for the love of another. Instead there was an incredibly controversial issue that is sure to spark a wide range or reactions. Although still an easy read, it's the first Picoult in a long time I would consider for a book club - but only if you knew people would respect others opinions! Regardless of whether you agree with same sex marriage, or the right for homosexuals to have children or not, this book will provoke discussion. For the record, I believe in both the right to marriage and children for same sex couples. As far as I am concerned, love is love and a loving house is the most important thing in a child's life.
As with the last book I read , The Taste of Apple, Sing Me Home has a CD that goes with it. In fact, I'm listening to it as I write this review. As interesting as the idea is, I didn't find it as important to the story as the one it The Taste of Apple. A nice touch, but if you lost it, you wouldn't change the feel or meaning of the book.
As with all Picoult books there was a twist at the end. Not the one I was expecting, but one I liked. My only issue with the book was the last chapter that I just didn't see as necessary. In particular, where Max ended up. Just too twee for me.

Recommended for: those who like Picoult and would like to see her move back to her best.

 

100+ Challenge,  A-Z  Challenge, TwentyEleven Challenge,

House Rules

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

From Goodreads:

Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself to others, and like many children with Asperger's, Jacob has an obsessive focus on one subject - in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room. But then one day his tutor is found dead, and the police come to question him. Reluctance to make eye contact, stimulatory tics and twitches, inappropriate gestures, all these can look a lot like guilt. Suddenly, Jacob finds himself accused of murder.

House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, and at the extremes of love and loyalty a family must call upon to overcome impossible circumstances.

So here's the thing. I use to love Jodi Picoult. It started with The Pact, which I will admit at a second reading this year it wasn't as good as I remembered. I know I  enjoyed Keeping Faith and Songs of the Humpback Whale, both earlier Picoult books. I know Nineteen Minutes it had been coloured by the prior reading of the much grittier We Need to Talk About Kevin. So, taking all of this in to account, I approached House Rules hopefully, but with some doubts.

And once again, here is my problem with Picoult - I don't like her mother characters. In House Rules, the neglect of the lesser, more normal child was not as obvious. While Jacob's brother, Theo seems to have a better understanding and reason to be pushed aside at times for Jacob, I still feel the expectation put upon him by his mother, Emma is unreasonable. Then again, I have taught children who have siblings with a disability and to an extent, this is a given. As the teacher and parent of neurotypical children (a nice term for what is considered "normal"), I found it offensive that there did not seem to be one single adult in the whole book who was willing to find their child's or student's treatment of Jacob. As far as I could work out, no one had ever stepped in and dealt with a child who had called Jacob a retard or picked on him in any way. I know it's certainly something I would not tolerate in either my own kids or students. On top of that, in House Rules, Emma seems completely oblivious to how the legal system works and how it cannot be adjusted simply because Jacob is on the spectrum. Yes, allowances need to be made for his disorder, but it can't be a case of oh he has Asperger's off you go.

Which brings me to another point. I know Asperger's is a relative new diagnosis (it wasn't formally recognised as a separate syndrome until 1994), but, and maybe this is my issue, I would assume most people when they heard the term would register this person was different and may react differently to the general population. There seemed to be no attempt to understand or find out or listen to Emma about Jacob's issues.

My other issue is the social isolation Picoult seems to assume is the norm for families dealing with a child with Asperger's or Autism. Emma has no friends, either does Jacob or Theo. I have friends who have children with Asperger's and Autism Spectrum Disorder. They have friends. So do their kids. Picoult seems to assume that anyone else who is not dealing with these conditions on a daily basis is an uncaring, unsympathetic, judgmental asshole who makes no attempt to understand what their fellow mother/ parent is going through. Sure, I have thought "Thank god it's not me" and have felt guilty every time I have said it. Have I cut contact because their child refuses to make eye contact or has lashed out at my child? No. Then again, I have friends who accept their child's condition, but also work really hard at not using that as the excuse for their their child's behaviour. No eye contact acceptable, biting not!

So apart from these issues, the book was ok. I enjoyed it although I did pick the twist. (really, wasn't that hard) Is it worth reading? Yes, if you are a Picoult fan. I won't be recommending it to friends who have kids with any type of Autism Spectrum Disorder. If I got annoyed at what I think are the inaccuracies, I can only imagine how they would feel.

The Pact

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

I chose this book for our book group to read. I have read it before and enjoyed it and thought it would bring up some good discussion.

From Goodreads:

Until the phone calls came at 3:00 A.M. on a November morning, the Golds and their neighbors, the Hartes, had been inseparable. It was no surprise to anyone when their teenage children, Chris and Emily, began showing signs that their relationship was moving beyond that of lifelong friends. But now seventeen-year-old Emily has been shot to death by her beloved and devoted Chris as part of an apparent suicide pact -- leaving two devastated families stranded in the dark and dense predawn, desperate for answers about an unthinkable act and the children they never really knew.

 I know this is one of the first Jodi Picoult books I read and I remember being bowled over by the twist. Any one who has read a few of Picoult's books know there is always a twist. I only vaguely remembered what the actual twist was this time, but was still taken back by it a bit when it came.

For me, this is one of Picoult's earlier books. The mothers in this are less objectionable to me than mother's in later books. I often find myself getting incredibly annoyed with Picoult mothers who routinely ignore any other child they have for the one who has the "issue."

Picoult keeps the book moving along. You never have time to stop and wonder too much as you want to reach the end, you want to know what happens. As you read, you realise things are not all they seem and there is great danger in placing expectations on your children. I can't say too much else without revealing too much about the book, so I have started a spoilers page. If you want to read more, click here, but be warned - there are big spoilers there!