Good Reads: Handle With Care, by Jodi Picoult
It’s been a while since my last book review, hasn’t it? I’ve got at least 5 books queued up for review, but as much as I love to read, I find writing book reviews to be the hardest posts of all to write. Fiction is a little easier for me to write about than non-fiction, so let’s start with a book I just finished last night: Handle With Care, by Jodi Picoult. I’ve seen Jodi Picoult’s books mentioned everywhere for a couple of years now, but this is the first I’ve read.
Handle With Care is about one family’s life with a special needs child. Charlotte and her husband Sean have an extremely intelligent, 5 year old daughter named Willow who was born with OI-osteogenesis imperfecta, meaning that her bones break very easily. She can break ribs by coughing, she broke her leg after slipping on a napkin. By the time she is 6 she has had close to 60 breaks, 7 of which happened in-utero. Willow experiences a particularly bad break while on vacation at Disney.
In the fallout from that incident, including a child abuse investigation, issues surrounding Willow’s birth and when she was diagnosed with OI arise. Charlotte had several ultrasounds during her pregnancy, including one at 18 weeks. Why wasn’t Willow’s OI noticed until 27 weeks? The attorney they meet with suggests that perhaps a case could be made for a wrongful birth lawsuit. To succeed, Charlotte and Sean would have to claim that Charlotte’s ob-gyn–who is also Charlotte’s best friend–was negligent in not noticing the OI abnormalities sooner, and that if they been aware of Willow’s condition earlier, they would have terminated the pregnancy.
What if Willow had been diagnosed earlier? What if Willow had never been born? What constitutes a valuable life? The answers to these questions fracture Charlotte and Sean’s marriage, destroy Charlotte’s friendship with Piper, and cause strained relationships not only with Willow, but with their older daughter Amelia.
I found this story completely fascinating. The amount of care and the emotional energy needed to care for Willow were eye opening. This book raises some polarizing topics (abortion, issues surrounding disabilities), but no matter what side you fall on, I guarantee you won’t be able to put this compelling book down. Without spoiling the plot, I will say that I didn’t like the ending, but this is still a fantastic book, and I certainly plan to check out more books by this author.
Have you read any Jodi Picoult novels? Which one is your favorite?
I love her books! My favorite is probably The Pact. My Sister’s Keeper was wonderful and nothing like the movie. Two other favorites are Perfect Match and Plain Truth. I love when I find an author I enjoy with plenty of good books to read!
I have read most of her books. I agree with Jenny, The Pact was one of my favorites. I feel that the author lost some of her voice in the more recent books. I put down Harvesting the Heart. Like John Grisham, when an author has a team of researchers and other people influencing the story, I find that impacts the fluidity of the writing. That said, she does have some great reads which line my bookshelves.
I love her books. The first one I read was My Sister’s Keeper, and it is still my favorite. Although, I would not recommend you read it right after this one, as there seem to be similar themes in both books. The Pact and Perfect Match are two that really pulled me in. Happy reading!
LOVE her books!!!!
My first Jodi Picoult book was My Sister’s Keeper, and it made an impression. I really liked it. Her books follow the same framework so after reading a few I started to get burned out and sometimes it is an emotional rollarcoaster. But probably my favorite is Plain Truth. 🙂
So I really AM the last person on earth to pick up a Jodi Picoult book, apparently! Thank you for the suggestions! I’m going to add: The Pact, Plain Truth, My Sister’s Keeper, and Perfect Match to my wish list. But I can definitely see the need to space these books out….going to read some “lighter” novels before I pick up the next Picoult book.