Book Review: The Pact by Jodi Picoult

The Pact- Jodi Picoult

Synopsis:

Emily Gold and Christopher Harte have known each other their whole lives, having grown up next door to each other in the small town of Bainbridge, New Hampshire. Virtually inseparable, the two are best friends and soul mates, with their friendship blossoming into a romantic relationship when they reach their teens. Their parents, Melanie and Michael Gold, and James and Gus (Augusta) Harte, are just as excited at the romantic union between their children- unsurprised at the turn that their friendship has taken- and impatiently wait for the day when they will be able to call each other in-laws, rather than just best friends.

But everything changes one night when Emily and Chris are admitted into hospital- Emily with a fatal gunshot wound to the head. The gun, belonging to Chris’ father, is found at the scene, with one unspent bullet still remaining in it. Chris tells police that the second bullet was intended for him, to complete the suicide pact he made with his girlfriend, but that he fainted before he could take his own life.

Doubting Chris’ story, the police decide to launch an investigation, naming Chris as the main suspect, and treating Emily’s death as a homicide…

What I gained from reading this book:

As with all of Picoult’s novels, The Pact raises some serious issues- most notably issues regarding teen suicide and love- and challenges the sincerity of the old saying, ‘Innocent until proven guilty’.

Chris’ life is irrevocably changed as he finds himself on trial for his beloved’s murder. His intense love for Emily, and his willingness to see her happy -whatever the cost- is his ultimate downfall. He learns who his true friends are, and discovers just how far his mother is willing to go to show her unwavering support for her son. Similarly, he sees how, despite his distancing himself from the problem, his father still tries to show compassion for Chris’ cause.

All of this is in direct contrast to Melanie Gold’s reaction to Chris’ involvement in her daughter’s death. Melanie, despite knowing Chris his whole life, is unable to comprehend that her daughter was suicidal, instead preferring to pin the blame on Chris, labelling him a murderer. She refuses to believe that her daughter wouldn’t talk to her about any problem that she may have had. This raises the question: How well do we ever really know our friends and family? There is always the perception that we should know when something is wrong, but in actuality, sometimes these problems can remain a secret until it’s too late to do anything about them. This book highlights the anguish faced by two grieving families, and serves as a lesson to readers that sometimes we don’t know people as well as we’d like to think we do.

Positives:

This novel is beautifully written- Picoult makes it easy to understand and feel the conflict that Emily experiences in her relationship with Chris. Similarly, the tension and the emotion surrounding Emily’s death and Chris’ subsequent incarceration and trial, is extremely life-like, and draws us into the characters’ world.

Negatives:

This novel could be a little bit depressing for some people. Emily believes that all of her troubles will disappear if she can find a way to end her life, and as we progress through the book, we can see that this belief is what pushes her to make the decisions that she does- ultimately turning Chris’ life upside down. People who are looking for a light and fluffy read should steer clear from this novel.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: People who would do anything for love, even if the end result involves serious repercussions.

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Book Review: Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler

Back When We Were Grownups - Anne Tyler

Synopsis:
From a young age, Rebecca is destined to marry her sweetheart Will Allenby, graduate from college and start a family.
But meeting Joe Davitch changes all of that. Thirteen years her senior, Joe already has three young daughters and becomes smitten with Rebecca after seeing her laugh at a friend’s engagement party, which is being held at his family’s house, The Open Arms.
Within weeks, any future with Will is forgotten as the new couple fall madly in love with one another and marry. It’s not long before Rebecca becomes a part of the Davitch clan, looking after the children and taking control of the festive parties that the Open Arms hosts every week.
However, everything takes a turn for the worse when Joe is involved in a car accident. Rebecca finds herself widowed, juggling the family business, looking after the children and assorted family members, and dealing with the chaos that is her life.
Although she loves her family dearly, she struggles to find her place, and by the age of fifty-three, begins to wonder what her life would have been like if she had never met Joe and instead stayed with Will.

What I gained from reading this book:
This is a novel that very much deals with the question of ‘what if?’
Rebecca, or Beck as she is called by the Davitch clan, wonders whether she would have gradually developed an outgoing persona after being shy for so much of her life, or whether she is only pretending to be so joyous because she knows that is what her family expects of her. She also wonders whether a life with Will would have been as rewarding as her current life or whether she would have fallen into a different kind of bliss. These are questions that many people ask themselves when they find themselves at a crossroad, or even when they are long past the moment and are re-evaluating their life and the place that they hold in it. The characters in this novel are very true to life, in that they too question what could have been, had their circumstances turned out differently.

Positives:
The characters’ arguments and grievances with one another are just as realistic as the harmony that they share. The author is able to portray a strong portrait of the dysfunctional family- one which many people will be able to relate to.

Negatives:
The storyline is a bit slow in some parts and sometimes it is difficult to keep track of who all the characters are, as there are just so many of them (and most are introduced at the same time).

Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: Fans of Anne Tyler’s novels.

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Book Review: The Magpie Bridge by Liu Hong

The Magpie Bridge - Liu Hong

Synopsis:
Jiao Mei is a young Chinese national, studying in England and living with Barbara, her late father’s female companion.
Despite bouts of homesickness, and a longing for the salty and spicy Sichuan food of her homeland, Jiao Mei is enjoying her time in London, has made friends at the university she attends, and is in a new and promising relationship with an architect named Ken.
However, life as she knows it is about to change when she is one day woken by a young Chinese woman who claims to be her grandmother. Despite her disbelief about the apparition’s declaration, Jiao Mei finds herself conceding that the woman is who she says she is, despite having been dead for several years.
The woman, Tie Mei, not only calls Jiao Mei by her childhood nickname, but she imparts knowledge about their family’s painful and complex past and reveals secrets that not even Jiao Mei is aware of.
Tie Mei also gives her granddaughter a message that is becoming increasingly hard to ignore- Jiao Mei is pregnant with Ken’s child, and she has the family reputation to uphold.

What I gained from reading this book:
This novel gives a fascinating insight into Chinese culture, and the way that Jiao Mei assimilates into the English way of life is representative of how so many foreigners have had to adapt to the Western world. Readers are able to see London from the point of view of Jiao Mei, but also through the eyes of her grandmother, who had never encountered ‘foreign devils’ before her death. Tie Mei’s reluctant acceptance of her granddaughter’s choices, and her gradual recognition of a life far different from her own as a young woman are also represented by the author, who is able to tell the story by shifting between the imperial gardens of nineteenth-century Beijing, and the grey bleakness of modern-day England.

Positives:
This novel is filled with old Chinese folklore, all of which contributes to the storyline, and gives the story a unique edge over others that have similar plots. Even the title of the novel, The Magpie Bridge, is taken from one of the folk stories that Jiao Mei recounts to her boyfriend Ken. It’s refreshing to see new literature mixed in with remnants of old stories that have been passed down through time.

Negatives:
Sometimes Jiao Mei’s representations of the characters in the novel seem contradictory, and although this is similar to real life, it can be disconcerting to readers. An example of this can be seen in Barbara’s boyfriend Bill. At times, Jiao Mei seems to despise him for always being around the house and being so sarcastic, yet she also seems to respect him for the way he treats Barbara, and she even appreciates how he sometimes smells of cigarettes. But even though she professes to sometimes like him, in actuality she barely tolerates him and goes out of her way to avoid him. While these actions may not be a problem on their own, Jiao Mei’s indecision about him tends to annoy after a while, and is also a common thread among several of the other characters in the story.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: People who are interested in old Chinese legends and superstitions, mixed with the reality of modern life.



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Book review: The three day rule by Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees

The Three Day Rule - Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees

Synopsis:
Every year the Thorne family travel to small and isolated Brayner Island, just off the coast of Cornwall, to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
However the bonds that once tied the family together have unravelled over time, and long-held rivalries, jealousies and arguments lay under the surface of what looks like a happy family unit.
Elliot is having a secret affair with one of his colleagues, Kellie, and his wife Isabelle is oblivious to his betrayal. His teenage daughter Taylor is rebelling after being sent to boarding school, and her acts of rebellion impact on her over-protected cousin Simon, and local boy Michael, who lusts after her.
Simon’s mother, and Elliot’s sister, Stephanie, is dealing with a grief that she can’t let go of, and blames her husband David for their loss.
Despite their problems, they all congregate on the island to celebrate Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day- only three days that they have to endure together before their lives can return to normal.
But when a violent storm crops up, bringing with it snow and furious winds, the Thornes find themselves cut off from society, and those three days seem to drag on forever as they find themselves struggling to cope in their close confines.

What I gained from reading this book:
This novel brings up the topic of affairs and how they can affect different people, whether they are part of the relationship or not.
Kellie plays a major part in this story, being the mistress of Elliot, and the reader often sees the story from her perspective. As much as she loves Elliot, she doesn’t want to be known as the ‘other woman’, and begs Elliot to end his marriage so that they can be together and start a family. But Elliot is hesitant and keeps breaking his promises to Kellie that the relationship with his wife will soon be over. She longs to be accepted by his extended family and create a friendship with his daughter Taylor, and her yearning to be a part of the family is what makes her accept Elliot’s proposition- that she stay in a hotel on the mainland so they can be near one another over the Christmas break. However, her meeting with Ben, whose father owns a water taxi service, makes her begin to re-evaluate her relationship with Elliot, especially after she finds out how his ex-wife’s affair ruined their marriage.
Through these situations, readers are able to grasp a different perspective on affairs, and see how sometimes love, while special, can be the cause of many problems.

Positives:
The characters in this novel are interesting and very true to life. Who doesn’t have at least one family member who they can’t tolerate? The authors’ are also very good when it comes to portraying the events in the novel, writing from the view of a cheating husband, a grieving mother, a lustful teen and a couple of people in search of love, while still keeping the reader involved in the story.

Negatives:
For some people, the events in this story might strike a little close to home, with grieving, jealousies, betrayal and lust being a major part of the novel. But these characteristics are also what make the novel so enjoyable to read.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: People with families like the Thornes- you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.


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Book review: Anybody out there? by Marian Keyes

Anybody Out There? - Marian Keyes

Synopsis:
Anna Walsh may have The Most Fabulous Job In The World- working in the marketing department of one of the best cosmetic lines on the planet- but she is living a shattered existence.
While she once spent most of her time wining and dining with big-shot magazine beauty editors in New York, and finding zany outfits to wear that were symbolic of her brand, her days are now reduced to laying in bed at the family home in Dublin, Ireland, while she recovers from the physical and emotional scars that have changed her life forever.
When Anna is finally able to return to New York, she is treated like a china doll that has just been meticulously glued back together after falling off a shelf. Her best friends are sympathetic but can’t truly understand what she’s been through. And despite her attempts to contact him, her husband Aidan, who she’s missed the most, appears to have vanished.
Everybody who knows her thinks that it’s time Anna moved on. But is that really the answer?

What I gained from reading this book:
This novel primarily focuses on people’s ways of dealing with unfortunate events. Aidan’s absence, at the beginning of the novel, is dealt with in several different ways by the different characters. Anna’s parents and sisters think that simply avoiding mentioning Aidan is the best way to help Anna cope. They involve themselves in various plots, including spying on dog-walkers, to lighten the mood and take her mind off her dilemma. Similarly, her best friend Jacqui, who moved to New York with her, insists on regaling her with stories about the celebrities who frequent the posh hotel she works at, in an effort to help her forget about her missing husband. Anna even encounters an eclectic group of people intent on communicating with the dead, who try to help her in their own ways.
By using all of these examples, the author is highlighting that there are many ways for people to deal with their problems, with no path to resolution being the right one.

Positives:
Anna’s family is as crazy as they come, and provide quite a few entertaining moments. Her oldest sister Claire is pushing forty years of age but still acts like a young party animal, despite having a husband and three children. Rachel is a former cocaine addict who lives with her boyfriend Luke, and works at a rehab facility in New York. Anna’s youngest sister Helen has her own detective business, where she is hired to trail people suspected of cheating on their partners. Surprisingly, the ‘Black Sheep’ of the family is the second eldest, Maggie, who refuses to be ‘deliberately obstructive’ and is known as the ‘lickarse’ of the family. Yes, these are strange notions but are funny all the same.

Negatives:
Anna’s repetitive struggles to contact Aidan begin to grate after a while, especially since the reader is still unaware about what happened to him, and haven’t yet found out the reason why Anna is so physically and emotionally broken. But her actions are understandable when you consider that he is her husband and she is unable to locate him- most people would be doing the same thing.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: People who want to read a heartfelt novel that features loss but is also filled with laughs.


Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book review: The unexpected elements of love by Kate Legge

The Unexpected Elements Of Love - Kate Legge

Synopsis:
Janet presents the weather on television and although she enjoys her job, she finds it difficult to balance her home life and work life.
Janet’s young son Harry is extremely temperamental and fears changes in the weather that could bring on floods and tsunamis.
Janet’s friend, a psychologist named Dale wishes to have children, but her lone existence evades her wishes.
Dale’s mother Beth, crippled by arthritis and longing for grandchildren, is witness to her husband Roy’s mental deterioration and feels helpless to prevent it.
Roy, a renowned sculptor, is working on his final commissioned artwork, but his forgetfulness is threatening to ruin his hard work, and splinter his relationship with Beth.
Throughout all these trials, each has to struggle with their place in life, and the problems and successes that come with living.

What I gained from reading this book:
Despite the strong emphasis on global warming and its effect on changing climates, there are also strong references in this novel regarding whether drugs are the right solution to some childhood disorders, in particular Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Janet is told several times that pills will be the solution to Harry’s behavioural problems, and she has to make the difficult choice about whether she should sacrifice his outgoing and admittedly hyperactive personality for the sake of peace and quiet. Another issue raised is that of ageism and all its resulting problems- including public perceptions of the elderly, searching for the right nursing home, dementia, and the stark possibilities of euthanasia. All of these themes are designed to make the reader think about the issues that many people deal with on a daily basis.

Positives:
This novel is challenging, in that it takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you think twice about some of the things you may ordinarily ignore. This novel also deals with taboo topics such as euthanasia- making the reader look at the issue from a different perspective, and not simply as a way of getting out of an unsatisfactory life.

Negatives:
With all the characters whose stories are shared and interwoven in this novel, it is sometimes difficult to keep a grasp on all of the people in their lives and their significance to each other. But people who persist with this will find that this is what makes each moment in the book so important to the overall story.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: People facing similar personal hardships in their day-to-day lives.



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Book review: The piano man by Marcia Preston

The Piano Man - Marcia Preston

Synopsis:
When 17-year-old Nathan O’Neal is killed in a tragic car accident, his young mother Claire is left to cope with the loss. As a way of dealing with the trauma of losing her only child, Claire shifts house and creates a shrine to her beloved teenage son. She also encounters strange hallucinations of him, where they are able to talk about what’s happening in their lives, but never anything about the night of the accident.
Three years after Nathan’s death, Claire comes across a forgotten letter tucked away in a photo album. The letter, sent by the wife of a man who received Nathan’s heart, fills Claire with the hope that by seeing the heart recipient, a talented violinist named Mason McKinnon, she will be able to feel closer to Nathan. But when she finds Mason, she discovers that he is playing piano in a seedy bar, having given up his symphony career, and survives on cigarettes, beer and the occasional frozen meal. Claire takes it upon herself to look after the cynical man and change his attitude towards his second chance at life.

What I gained from reading this book:
Claire’s grief in this novel is overwhelming and I think Preston has done very well in portraying some of the different ways in which people deal with loss. Not only does she focus on Claire’s way of recovering, but she also approaches the grieving processes followed by Nathan’s former girlfriend, his usually absent father, his best friend who suffers survivor’s guilt following the crash and the man who feels responsible for the way that Nathan was killed. Preston also provides an insight into how Mason feels regarding Nathan’s death, providing another angle to the story and helping readers to see both the strains of guilt and relief that come from being an organ recipient.

Positives:
This novel is special, in that it tackles the very real situation that some people find themselves in regarding organ donorship. At the time of Nathan’s death, Claire is distraught and although she is not happy with Nathan’s prior decision to be an organ donor, she allows the doctors to take his heart and pass it on to somebody who needs it. It isn’t until three years later that she finds the letter that reminds her that Nathan’s heart is still out there and she seeks to find it, in order to give Nathan’s death some meaning. Claire’s resulting relationship with Mason is touching and heartfelt and shows that sometimes the biggest tragedies for some people can be the biggest stroke of fortune for others.

Negatives:
Some people may wonder how a seemingly strong character like Claire can seem so fragile and weak at times, especially when she hallucinates and sees her deceased son. The way I see it, this is simply Claire’s way of coping with Nathan’s death, despite how strange it might seem to some people.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: Anybody who is dealing with the loss of a loved one, or is interested in seeing another side to organ donation.


Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book review: Late Night Talking by Leslie Schnur

Late Night Talking - Leslie Schnur

Synopsis:
Jeannie Sterling is the host of a late-night New York City radio program, where she discusses topics to do with bad behaviour and everyday social injustices. Having grown up as the only child of free-spirited parents in California, Jeannie believes it is her duty to change the world, one annoying person at a time, and she vents with her listeners about poor gym etiquette, negligent pet owners, and bad drivers. But when she has a run-in with business mogul Nicholas Moss, who later buys the radio station that she works at, everything begins to unravel. Jeannie is encouraged to push her show to the limits, and although she has no qualms about doing so, she finds that it is at the expense of her long-standing alliance with best friend Luce, her relationship with her wayward father, and her new romance with old friend Tommy.
Jeannie has to decide which is more important in her life- adjusting the world by changing morals and attitudes, or adjusting herself to suit the world that she already lives in.

What I gained from reading this book:
Jeannie is a firm believer in what is right and wrong behaviour. I think this is a valuable lesson that the book teaches although the author shows that having such a black and white perspective on things can also create problems. Jeannie’s sense of what she believes helps create a more vigilant public, but it also helps to create barriers between her and the people she cares for. This book highlights the balance that needs to be drawn when considering what is right and wrong, and determines how far moralistic behaviour can be pushed before it can turn into chaos or provoke vigilantism.

Positives:
This novel has several interesting storylines, including Jeannie’s relationship with her parents and the way that it has shaped her life. Flashbacks to Jeannie’s childhood show how her feminist and hippy mother handled her life in a way that not many other mothers would- she allowed her daughter to grow up in a regime-free and unconventional way but wouldn’t allow her the privileges of an ordinary teenage girl like wearing makeup, or going to the prom. The reader is shown how this affects some of Jeannie’s judgements in her adult years.
Jeannie’s friendships with Luce and Tommy, and her agitation with Nicholas Moss also provide some interesting storylines- all of which tie in with one another, and show that not everyone is who you think they are.

Negatives:
Some of Jeannie’s ‘moral’ rants can be annoying, and sometimes even hypocritical, especially when she picks on things that everybody has done at one time or another, herself included. But reading the lists of immoral things also highlights some of the annoying behaviours that people have to put up with every day, and may not even think of until they see it written. So maybe this ultimately isn’t a negative if people read the list and try to avoid doing the things on it.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Romance/ Relationships

Recommended for: People with a strong inner moral compass who are similar in character to Jeannie and who want to make the world a better place, free of rudeness and bad etiquette.



Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book review: The birdman's daughter by Cindi Myers

The Birdman’s Daughter - Cindi Myers

Synopsis:
After champion bird-watcher Martin Engel suffers a debilitating stroke, his daughter Karen rushes back to the family home in Texas to take care of him, despite the fact that Martin has never shared a close relationship with either her brother or herself.
Leaving behind her husband Tom, her sons Matt and Casey, and the family landscaping business in Denver, Karen returns after a sixteen-year absence to help her father with his rehabilitation. But she also hopes to find something that she feels has been missing from her life- a connection with her father, who was often absent during her childhood while in pursuit of his passion for bird-watching.
During her stay in Texas, Karen reconnects with old friends, deals with her unreliable brother and thinks of what life could have been had she not married and moved away at the age of eighteen. Karen also discovers why her father is so withdrawn amongst his flesh and blood but so extroverted in the birding community, and learns to appreciate the tranquillity and assurance that come from watching and identifying birds.

What I gained from reading this book:
This book highlights the importance of family and unconditional love. Even while she laments that he missed some of the most important moments in her life, including the births of her sons, because he was bird watching abroad, Karen still travels across the country to help Martin. Although Karen has never been close to her father, she feels obligated to help him recover from his stroke, and this portrayal of familial love resonates strongly throughout the novel. Myers also demonstrates throughout the novel that people can show their love for others in different and sometimes unconventional ways, and this is most obvious in the relationship between Martin and his son Del.

Positives:
If you live with somebody who seems to care about their hobby more than they seem to care for you, then you will probably relate to this book and the hardships that Karen faces in her pursuit for a connection with her father.

Negatives:
Myers mentions birds in this book- a lot. So if you are not a fan of feathered creatures, and are not particularly interested in one man’s relationship with birds or his fascination for birding, then this book may not be the best choice for you.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Family/ Relationships

Recommended for: People whose hobbies can sometimes take over their lives.