Review; Handle with Care

Authorà Jodi Picoult

Reviewà 3.5/5

Release Dateà March 3^rd 2009

Product Description from Amazon.ca

"Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby,

just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, well, funny as it seems, perfect. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health." Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte should have known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life?

Pros;

I have read several of Jodi’s novels, and her novels My Sister’s Keeper, and Plain Truth are among my favorite novels of all time. These books however are not my favorite because of their writing style or even their ability to draw me in like a crack addict waiting for her next hit (I know this is a odd simile, but yes this is how I describe most of my book addictions), these books are among my favorite because Jodi has a raw power to pick subjects that will eat away at your most guarded emotions and make you ball like a baby. This book was no different

What I liked about this book; Willow has to be one of my favorite characters, she made me ache and laugh and I especially like her spews of useless information (for example did you know that the average women consumes 6 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime? I didn’t). This book was also an interesting read because it taught me about the disease featured in this book.

Cons;

There were a lot of things that bothered me in this book. The biggie? The ending. It was totally uncalled for and left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Also, this book is not a happy book. Do not pick this book up looking for a relaxing, light read. That is not this book. There’s also a lot of legal jargon in this book that makes some scenes boring to those of us who didn’t attend law school. I also wasn’t a fan of Charlotte, one of the main characters. I found her greedy, cold and standoffish. Another thing to be aware of, this book switches characters and times every chapter. This technique is hard to adjust to but adds to the final impact of events at the end. Was this my favorite book? No. Will I read another Jodi Picoult book? Definitely!