I absolutely LOVE reading Jodi Picoult books. I got hooked when my supervisor gave me one of Picoult's books for my birthday last year. This author writes about heart-wrenching situations that really force me to wonder what I would do in the situations she creates. I know I sound like a nerd, but I have gotten so emotionally involved in these books! Picoult deals with tough situations of morality, of character and of justice.
I am proud to show off my stack of ten books that have been read and loved.
I just finished reading
The Pact. Ugh. I could hardly read the book without getting tears in my eyes. It talks of the deep and pure love between a boy and a girl, never having known themselves without the other. They grow up together and become romantically involved when they are young teenagers. The girl ends up getting pregnant and is devastated with the thought of failing to live up to the high expectations of her parents and is terribly afraid to tell the boy. She becomes obsessed with ideas of suicide, living in so much agony that death seems the only way out. She pleads with the boy to help her die. He doesn't want to do it, but sees that it is the only thing that will make her happy. He notices she is more afraid with the idea of staying alive than she is with the act of dying. He brings her a gun. She can't do it herself, claiming to be too cowardly, and begs him to do it for her. She helps him raise the gun to her head, but he refuses to pull the trigger. She puts her hand over his and helps him fire the shot that kills her.
Ugh. Heavy stuff.
The other part of the book is about the boy being on trial for first-degree murder.
SPOILER ALERT [but I'm assuming no one will read this book, so I will continue]...
The jury finds the boy not guilty of Murder One. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief here, and now I expect the boy to go back home and all to be well again. No. He goes back home but things just are not the same, and never will be, without the girl. There is no color in his world, no life in his bones, no motivation. He has lost the love of his life - the only love he has ever known, and he goes on living, all the while knowing things will never ever be the same.
I have to remind myself that this is a fictional book, in the hopes that I don't stay awake all night dwelling on the sadness of it. I suppose the author did her job, though. She made me go "awww" and "hmmm." I felt like I went through the entire spectrum of emotions and I walked away wondering, "What would I do in that situation?"
This is a long post for just a book. But a GOOD book :)
