Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Jodi Picoult - Why must you make me cry?

So, yes, we are at the beach.  We are having a fabulous time.  One of the fantastic things about vacation for me is reading.  I get to pour through several huge tomes and I love it.  I was frugal this time and checked out a couple of books from the library instead of going to the store.  I didn't do any research before I went so I just snagged one book that look like chick lit (this is what I read at the beach, sue me) and another that was chick lit but I knew the author, Jodi Picoult.  Well Miss or Mrs Picoult, I have now, after reading/watching two of your stories realized there is a pattern.  You have this thing for writing about kids that die.  Humph. 

I'm sorry.  You are a talented and beautiful writer, why must all of your stores be so tragic?  (Because it sells, OR you find it therapeutic because you have suffered some horrible tragedy or another.)

I read, "Handle With Care", which is about a mother who sues for wrongful birth because she can't see a way financially to handle the care of her disabled daughter.  Basically the suit is against her OB saying that if she had diagnosed the disability sooner she would have been able to terminate the pregnancy. But supposedly, this mother was just trying to do what was best for her daughter and earn a bunch of cash in order to make sure she could pay the bills, feed the kids, buy a wheelchair, that kind of stuff.  However, she ends up almost tearing her entire family apart, her husband files for divorce, the person she is suing is her best friend who obviously isn't her friend anymore, her older daughter becomes a cutter and bulimic and finally the daughter that she is supposedly doing this all for ends up thinking her mother wishes she was never born and that she is going to get shipped off somewhere.  Oh my.  If I hadn't been reading this on a public beach I would have been boo hooing like nobody's business.

Did I mention I was pregnant?  I know.  What a way to announce this on my blog.  Here you go, is this better?  I AM PREGNANT!  I am knocked up, I have a bun in the oven, a pea in the pod, I am preggers, I am making another human as we speak, with child, in a delicate condition, expecting, in a family way, folks, I am having a baby.

I must tell you that one should not read this type of book while one is cooking a baby in utero.   SPOILER ALERT**************************************************************************


The kid dies, in the end she dies.  She doesn't die from her disease, oh no.  That would be too easy.  No, she dies because she has always wanted to ice skate and her back yard New Hampshire pond isn't frozen completely yet, so when her six year old brain tells her to try it out, she actually cracks through the ice and drowns.  Lovely.  I only recommend this book if you need a good cry, otherwise, go rent My Sister's Keeper and get all your Jodi Picoult needs met, at least then you get to look at Cameron Diaz.

If I am wrong about Jodi, somebody tell me.  I would love to read her again, as long as no one under the age of 20 dies!

More to come on the baby and the other crazy book I read on vaca.  But I am on vacation, so that's all for now.

1 comment:

Daphne said...

This author is on my bad list as well. One thing you should know is My Sister's Keeper was not the same as the movie. In the book the healthy sister dies in a wreck and that is how the sick sister ends up living by getting her sisters organs. I threw the book across the room, vowed I would never read another one of her books. My friend talked me into reading House Rules. It is about a kid with Aspergers. Good read. Very true pic of Aspie kids. She was redeemed but I tread carefully when reading this author.