Until a few years ago, I'd never even heard of Jodi Picoult.
One of my colleagues had just finished reading My Sister's Keeper by Picoult and thrust it into my hands, demanding I read it right away.
So, I did.
And only then did I understand the urgency in her voice – she had to discuss this powerful novel with someone else who'd read it. I'd torn through the book in less than a day, staying up late to see how the story would draw to a close, distraught at the ending, and at losing the characters I had grown so close to during my journey through the story.
My Sister's Keeper became one of my favorite books, and Picoult one of my favorite writers, one I recommend over and over to patrons who come into my library on the hunt for a good read.
Clearly, I'm not alone, as her most recent publication, Change of Heart, had a publication day run of a million copies.
That is more than a typical Harlan Coben. More than the upcoming Danielle Steel. More than most of the fiction writers on the shelf these days.
A million copies.
Clearly, Picoult has arrived.
Picoult is known for tackling pressing moral/medical/ethical issues of the day, and pushing and pushing them to a head, and always having a "twist" at the end of her novels, one the reader often doesn't see coming. She's taken on a school shooting, strained family ties, hidden pregnancy, a suicide pact between two teenagers and many more, always with a deft hand and a sympathetic tone, showing all sides of the drama, of the tragedy from all different viewpoints.
Picoult again tackles tricky issues in Change of Heart, employing her trademark rotation of narrative voices to tell the story.
Shay Bourne has been on death row for years after being convicted of killing a cop and his step-daughter, thus shattering June Nealon's life forever. Eight months pregnant when her husband and daughter were killed, she now has a beautiful little girl who happens to be dying of heart disease, desperate for a transplant to save her life.
Shay wants her to have his heart.
What follows is an investigation into capital punishment (lethal injection wouldn't preserve the heart, so less humane alternatives have to be explored), faith, forgiveness, the legal system, the fallout of a family, and redemption...
And did I mention that suddenly "miracles" keep happening in the prison tier where Shay is staying?
Water to wine, bringing a bird back to life, the sudden remission of a terminal AIDS patient…all happen on the prison floor where Shay is quietly waiting for his life to end, so that he can save another. Is he a killer? Or a savior?
Throughout, Picoult begs the question of the reader: what would you do in the same situation? Would you take the heart of the man who destroyed your life in order to save your daughter? Would you refuse to have the heart of a killer in the body of your angelic daughter?
What would you do?
This is a wonderfully woven, elaborate story with so many angles. As in other books, each chapter Picoult writes rotates to a different narrator - a device that I love because you get so many perspectives from all the character's points of view. At times, though, I get aggravated - "No! Go back! I wanna know more about…!" And yet, you get into the next person's head, and you forget about going back, drawn further along in the story with a different voice leading you. The only person who doesn't have a narrative voice in Change of Heart is Shay himself. Instead, his minister, his lawyer, June Nealon, and his closest ally in prison tell his story from their own viewpoints.
Though My Sister's Keeper is still my favorite Picoult novel, I really, really loved reading this one as well - great characterization, great plotline, great delivery. I stayed up past my bedtime to see how things would resolve, and as always, there's a twist or two at the end.
You simply CANNOT go wrong reading Picoult – all of her titles are powerful, lyrical, thought-provoking and worthy of a few hours of escape.
In addition to Change of Heart and My Sister's Keeper, Picoult is also the author of The Pact, Plain Truth, Salem Falls, Second Glance, Vanishing Acts, The Tenth Circle, Nineteen Minutes and six others. Interestingly, Picoult is also the author of Wonder Woman: Love and Murder, a hardcover from DC Comics.
The Tenth Circle has been filmed for television, and will broadcast on Lifetime Television in 2008, with Kelly Preston and Ron Eldard in the main roles. My Sister's Keeper recently began filming for New Line Cinema starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin, directed by Nick Cassavetes. The movie is due for release in 2009.
If you enjoy the novels of Jodi Picoult, you may also want to try stories by Anita Shreve, Anna Quinlen, Sue Monk Kidd, or Ann Patchett.
Questions and comments may be to sent to marissa.priddis@crucialpop.com.
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