Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 496
Summary:
For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty-- they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born.
So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet-- a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described.(Goodreads)
My Thoughts:
Chris and Emily have been friends since the day they were born and their friendship evolves into a more romantic relationship. Everyone believes that they are soul mates and that they will eventually get married. So when Emily ends up dead from an apparent suicide pact the family is shocked. But there are doubts to this story and Chris becomes a murder suspect.
I believe this is the first Jodi Picoult book that I have read and I really enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down. I easily fell in love with the main character, Chris, and felt that he was very well-developed. It is a heartbreaking story and it is horrible to see how one very sad event can completely tear families apart.
The trial that goes on in the story really kept my interest. It was probably the most interesting part of the book in my opinion. The suspense kept me reading. I do have some complaints about this book though. I wish that Emily would have been developed a little more and that there would have been more to her side of the story. I would make the whole story a little more complex and believable. Especially the part about her wanting to commit suicide. I really didn't like her at all and found her to be selfish. Yes, her reason for suicide would have been life changing but it would have turned out just fine. Perhaps she just sees it as the end of the world as a lot of teens do. But what makes me even more aggravated is the situation she put Chris in. You don't do that to somebody you love and care about!
The ending left me happy but is it realistic? I don't know. I don't want to go into too much detail about it thought so I don't spoil it for anyone. So yes I enjoyed reading it, some things could have been better, and I will check out more books by this author. Do any of you have any books to recommend to me by Jodi Picoult? Are you a fan?
* I paid for this book with my own money.
ADD IT ON GOODREADS
AUTHOR'S GOODREADS
AUTHOR'S WEBSITE
GET A COPY
I read this book some time ago and remember having liked it. Perhaps JP didn't develop Emily more because she wanted to keep her thinking process a mystery until the end of the novel. What is revealed at the end is poignant for everyone who knew her.
ReplyDeleteThis is true! Thank you very much for your thoughts. :)
DeleteIt certainly sounds like not at all light reading. I hadn't heard of it.
ReplyDeleteYes it is not light reading at all.
Delete