Sort of in the Nicholas Sparks vein: surviving loss, overcoming obstacles. Supernatural events. LOTS of unrelated threads as multigenerational aspects come together in a very satisfying read. Picoult's true talents shine when she weaves people personalities emotions mysteries families and events better than the most complex of finely woven tapestries. HIGHLY recommended.
This book was dynamite. A little fast pasted and confusing in the beginning. It is definately a favorite on my list and I will be rereading because I think I missed some of the subtle hints and details in the beginning. There are so many twists and turns in the book it keep you guessing until the end.
Can love survive across time? The author's first foray into the world of the paranormal is a stunning success. When a developer tries to develop an ancient Abenaki indian burial ground for a strip mall, strange things start happening in Comtosook, VT. This is a stunning novel that threads together several lives to a stunning climax. Something for everyone here...love, loss, mystery woven into the shameful history of the Vermont Eugenics Society. A good ghost story for the fall season.
I like to read books before bed and I could not get into this book b/c it is about ghosts. Also, it is really slow to start. I have read most all of her books and have loved them and read them very quickly because I could not put them down, but this one I just can't get into for some reason.
What a delight this book is! This is one of my favorite authors. She manages to entertain and educate at the same time. After the first 100 pages I couldn't put it down until I finished it.
This is possibly the best of Jodi Picoult's novels that I've read to date. Much different from the convention of different viewpoints used in My Sister's Keeper and Vanishing Acts, the book begins slowly - a bit too slowly, it seems, in the first part. Picoult introduces a vast range of characters, and it can be hard to keep track of who's who and who's related to who. Then the novel backpedals seventy years to the story of young 1930s wife Cecelia Beaumont Pike, whose husband is a cutthroat scientist intent on enacting a eugenics law in Vermont, and the story smashes ahead, quickly weaving the threads laid out in the first part. While the end of the book finishes up with a few too many coincidences to swallow all at once, the newly-formed bonds between the many characters are extremely satisfying, and no thread of plot is left untied.
I looked over this book many times at the bookstore and always passed over it because the plot description seemed a little thin. It's anything but. Highly worth a read.
It was a decent read - not one of my favorite Picoult books but I got through it.
probably one of my favorite Picoult novels. It is definitely a lot different than her other novels, in many of her other books, the controversial issue she is addresses is right upfront, whereas this one is more in the back seat to the narrative, but still very compelling. She definitely did her research with this one, I learned so much about the eugenics movement in the 1920's and 30s and the way she compares it with today's human genetic engineering with embryos is absolutely brilliant. The ending does make you go "oh come on really, you're going go with that?" But overall it is wonderful how she intertwines the stories between the two different decades. I do agree that it is a bit confusing at first, bouncing back and forth between time periods can do that, but stick with it! You won't regret it!
This is my absolute favorite Jodi Picoult book. I could read it again and again and again and never get tired of it. It is simply amazing, and I think everyone should read it.
This one was okay... not one of her best.
This is probably my favorite book by Jodi Picoult and I love most of her books!
