Book Thirty-Four of the Book-a-Week QuestHandle with Care
by Jodi Picoult (2009)
So, I've never read anything by Jodi Picoult, but I did see My Sister's Keeper (and enjoyed it) in theaters this year. Handle With Care is essentially the same story as that movie, with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI -- a severe brittle bone disease) taking the place of cancer (Granted, I didn't read the novel My Sister's Keeper, but there were an abundance of similarities between this book and that movie, and I imagine that My Sister's Keeper the movie is somewhat similar to the book). Still, despite the likeness, I couldn't help but enjoy this book (for the most part). It was a breeze to read and honestly kept me on the edge of my seat wondering the outcome.
Told from five different perspectives, this is the tale of Willow, a young six-year old girl with OI -- a disease that could cause her bones to break with a single sneeze. What was unique to me about the novel is that Picoult switches between five narrators, a technique that she apparently used in My Sister's Keeper, as well. Charlotte is the mother who decides to sue her ob-gyn for "wrongful birth" for supposedly not giving Charlotte the choice of terminating her pregnancy once it was discovered that Willow had OI in the womb. Piper is another narrator and Charlotte's best friend...and also her ob-gyn. Suffice it to say, suing your best friend doesn't go over too well. We also see the perspective of Sean, Charlotte's husband who doesn't agree with Charlotte's litigious mindset which causes a huge rift in their marriage. Marin, Charlotte's lawyer, is narrator #4 (my least favorite) who has a backstory with her trying to find her birth mother via various adoption agencies. The last narrator is Amelia, Willow's sister, who is a thirteen-year old girl having to deal with the fact that all her family's attention is focused on her ailing sister. From the very beginning, the reader sees that Amelia is in trouble emotionally and it becomes evident when she begins to cut herself and develops an eating disorder.
Jumping back and forth between these five narrators certainly provided an interesting perspective for me, and it was enjoyable. There's a somewhat different "voice" for each of the characters and Picoult does a good job of spending just enough time with each narrator before switching to someone else.
Picoult's writing style is a breeze to read and she really does make this emotional story a page turner. However, my biggest issue with the story is that I feel like it wrapped up much too quickly. The book is nearly 500 pages, yet I can't help but think that the ending felt tacked on as an afterthought. I've invested a ton of time with these characters, I'd at least hope for a decent build up to the ending...and it just kind of happened, causing all that build-up and tension to vanish. Plus, and this irritated me to no end, there's a "surprise ending" that was so ridiculously unnecessary that I was literally angry when I closed the book when I read the last page. There was absolutely no reason for the conclusion except to yell "SHOCKED YOU, DIDN'T I?" It left such a bad taste in my mouth after I had enjoyed the book immensely up until that point.
Nevertheless, despite the fault (and it's a huge one, in my opinion), the book (at this point) is still gonna make the Top Ten list over on the right-hand side of the blog. I would certainly pick up another Picoult novel in the future, however, I have heard that a lot of her books follow this same pattern of various narrators and this surprise ending. I'm unsure whether that's true (and, while this various narrators thing was fun for one book, the gimmick may get old), but I wouldn't be opposed to reading at least one more book by the author.
Told from five different perspectives, this is the tale of Willow, a young six-year old girl with OI -- a disease that could cause her bones to break with a single sneeze. What was unique to me about the novel is that Picoult switches between five narrators, a technique that she apparently used in My Sister's Keeper, as well. Charlotte is the mother who decides to sue her ob-gyn for "wrongful birth" for supposedly not giving Charlotte the choice of terminating her pregnancy once it was discovered that Willow had OI in the womb. Piper is another narrator and Charlotte's best friend...and also her ob-gyn. Suffice it to say, suing your best friend doesn't go over too well. We also see the perspective of Sean, Charlotte's husband who doesn't agree with Charlotte's litigious mindset which causes a huge rift in their marriage. Marin, Charlotte's lawyer, is narrator #4 (my least favorite) who has a backstory with her trying to find her birth mother via various adoption agencies. The last narrator is Amelia, Willow's sister, who is a thirteen-year old girl having to deal with the fact that all her family's attention is focused on her ailing sister. From the very beginning, the reader sees that Amelia is in trouble emotionally and it becomes evident when she begins to cut herself and develops an eating disorder.
Jumping back and forth between these five narrators certainly provided an interesting perspective for me, and it was enjoyable. There's a somewhat different "voice" for each of the characters and Picoult does a good job of spending just enough time with each narrator before switching to someone else.
Picoult's writing style is a breeze to read and she really does make this emotional story a page turner. However, my biggest issue with the story is that I feel like it wrapped up much too quickly. The book is nearly 500 pages, yet I can't help but think that the ending felt tacked on as an afterthought. I've invested a ton of time with these characters, I'd at least hope for a decent build up to the ending...and it just kind of happened, causing all that build-up and tension to vanish. Plus, and this irritated me to no end, there's a "surprise ending" that was so ridiculously unnecessary that I was literally angry when I closed the book when I read the last page. There was absolutely no reason for the conclusion except to yell "SHOCKED YOU, DIDN'T I?" It left such a bad taste in my mouth after I had enjoyed the book immensely up until that point.
Nevertheless, despite the fault (and it's a huge one, in my opinion), the book (at this point) is still gonna make the Top Ten list over on the right-hand side of the blog. I would certainly pick up another Picoult novel in the future, however, I have heard that a lot of her books follow this same pattern of various narrators and this surprise ending. I'm unsure whether that's true (and, while this various narrators thing was fun for one book, the gimmick may get old), but I wouldn't be opposed to reading at least one more book by the author.
I just finished reading my second jodi piccolet book and I agree with the ending issue. I read the pact, which was really good and a heart tugging love story. but the ending felt like it was just tacked on there last minute. It did not wrap up anything I wanted to know or really seem appropriate. I have another book of hers I havent started yet, but I am hoping this bad ending trend is not her style.
ReplyDeleteApparently, it is, though. You said that was the case with My Sister's Keeper, too. There was no need for her to go with the shocking ending in this book because the book, overall, was pretty impressive until literally the final ten pages.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've heard all of her books are like that. I really just want an ending that doesn't leave so many unanswered questions. My books was the same way. It was great and then the last few pages kind of just messed it up because she just ended it. This book had a good ending tho considering the alternative.
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