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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Ross Wakeman is desperate to make contact with the Other Side after his fiancé is killed in a car accident and he becomes a paranormal investigator. His sister Shelby is a single mom to Ethan, who was born with XP or Xeroderma pigmentosum, an extreme allergy to the sun. After quitting his job, Ross travels to the small town of Comtosook, where his sister lives and stumbles upon a town that is divided. A real estate developer is trying to turn the Pike estate, rumored for be an Indian burial ground, into a strip mall but is being thwarted at every turn, by ghostly or strange events. Meanwhile we’re transported back into this same town during the 1930’s where the owner of the estate, Cecilia (Lia) Pike is 7 months pregnant to a eugenics professor and desperately suicidal. This novel features a lot of suicide attempts and it’s a fascinating reaction to grief/depression. I found the topic of eugenics to be both disturbing yet informative, especially as Picoult makes it a point that lower income/people of color were the ones being affected by sterilizations, inhumane treatment and other mistreatment. Over all, I found this novel to be pretty good as I LOVE ghost stories, especially when they highlight historical misdeeds.
This book started off really slow and it was a trudge, but about 2/3 in it picked up rather considerably and I was very interested all the way to the end. Some of Picoult's books have very unsatisfying endings, but this one had a better one. I liked how the past and present reference each other and that certain things are paralleled. I was able to suspend my disbelief enough in the supernatural portions to be entertained. So even though the beginning is boring, I would stick with it!
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Eh. There were some really good parts in this book, most notably near the end, but this book also had one of my bigger novel pet-peeves -- introducing way too many characters (and thusly confusing me for the first couple chapters) at the start. Once that and a slow start got out of the way though, it was a pretty good read. And once I could discern the characters, the development and story behind and between them all was fantastic.
My curiosity about this author has been satisfied, she is not for me. Too many characters and a character change with almost every paragraph (except for one full section devoted to a character) and all of these characters just so flat and flawed beyond my caring about them. I admit that initially I was hooked, that is why I'm giving this 2 stars. I love a good ghost story and initially it seemed like it might deliver but it got pretty silly, pretty quickly. Predictable, (many) flat characters, and just plain weird interactions between them, I ended up putting this one down with about 100 pages left to go and it's going back to the library. Her one character constantly used these really obscure, big words that she would find in a dictionary, it was annoying bc no one that I've ever does this let alone remember these words and store them for use in so many coincidentally appropriate situations, ugh, it drove me nuts! I hear this is one of her worst books but I'm not going to be trying anymore of ther stuff, one is enough.
Honestly, I've considered giving this a 1 star but bc I was sitting by a beach and a pool for most of this reading, I have to wonder if it was better received by me bc of the atmosphere.
Honestly, I've considered giving this a 1 star but bc I was sitting by a beach and a pool for most of this reading, I have to wonder if it was better received by me bc of the atmosphere.
this book was so jam-packed with overly romantic metaphors, it started to feel like a lifetime made-for-tv movie. at the same time, though, it taught me about the late 19th/early 20th century eugenics movement in America of which i was previously unaware. interesting that is is rarely mentioned that the atrocities of Nazi Germany were based on things they'd learned from American eugenicists. i love how this author not only consistently produces an easy to read good story, but also teaches me something.
This was an INTERESTING book. Picoult introduces a lot of characters at one time, but the plot moves forward quickly. A lot of issues-the paranormal, the role of women- are dealt with in this book...and it is just neat:)
Good writing, uninteresting and disbelievable story.
Interesting epigraph:
"True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen." Duc de la Rochefoucald, Maxim 76
Favorite quotes:
". . . once you put the pieces back together, even though ou might look intact, you were never quite the same as you'd been before the fall."
"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe whatt isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." Sorem Kierkegaard
Interesting epigraph:
"True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen." Duc de la Rochefoucald, Maxim 76
Favorite quotes:
". . . once you put the pieces back together, even though ou might look intact, you were never quite the same as you'd been before the fall."
"There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe whatt isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true." Sorem Kierkegaard
Originally posted on Abookthiefandawordshaker
A Jodi Picoult novel isn’t truly a Jodi Picoult books without complex characters and Second Glance was chock-full of them. While Ross is the main character, we also have plenty of side characters who are just as important. ross has lots of issues due to the fact that his wife Aimee died in a car accident, and ever since then he was felt kind of empty. he doesn’t want to live and throughout this story as he meets these different characters, living becomes a little easier for him.
This book is about loss, guilt and trying to do the right thing. It’s a ghost story, it delves deep into the corruption of eugenics. It’s everything wrapped into amazing book and I highly reccommend it.
Plot: Ever since I first picked up Nineteen Minutes in my school library nearly four years ago, I
have fallen in love with the writing of Jodi Picoult. She is one of the few authors who I will always come back to, one of the authors that I trust 100%. so when I saw one of hers books that I hadn’t read I was over the moon. Second Glance didn’t fail to disappoint
Jodi picoult always manages to perfectly combine moral issues into the the workings of her story. In this book while it does have a paranormal kind of ghost aspect of to it, we also learn of the Eugenics program that occurred in the 30s in Vermont. I myself knew little about eugenics and I found it really interesting to learn about this subject which I found Picoult dealt with very well.
One of the things I found really enjoyable about this book was that all the characters that we met were connected in some way. Though it wasn’t clear at first , everyone had their place. And while I managed to figure out the plot twists, I still found it really interesting .
Characters:
A Jodi Picoult novel isn’t truly a Jodi Picoult books without complex characters and Second Glance was chock-full of them. While Ross is the main character, we also have plenty of side characters who are just as important. ross has lots of issues due to the fact that his wife Aimee died in a car accident, and ever since then he was felt kind of empty. he doesn’t want to live and throughout this story as he meets these different characters, living becomes a little easier for him.
This book is about loss, guilt and trying to do the right thing. It’s a ghost story, it delves deep into the corruption of eugenics. It’s everything wrapped into amazing book and I highly reccommend it.
A Jodi Picoult novel isn’t truly a Jodi Picoult books without complex characters and Second Glance was chock-full of them. While Ross is the main character, we also have plenty of side characters who are just as important. ross has lots of issues due to the fact that his wife Aimee died in a car accident, and ever since then he was felt kind of empty. he doesn’t want to live and throughout this story as he meets these different characters, living becomes a little easier for him.
This book is about loss, guilt and trying to do the right thing. It’s a ghost story, it delves deep into the corruption of eugenics. It’s everything wrapped into amazing book and I highly reccommend it.
Plot: Ever since I first picked up Nineteen Minutes in my school library nearly four years ago, I
have fallen in love with the writing of Jodi Picoult. She is one of the few authors who I will always come back to, one of the authors that I trust 100%. so when I saw one of hers books that I hadn’t read I was over the moon. Second Glance didn’t fail to disappoint
Jodi picoult always manages to perfectly combine moral issues into the the workings of her story. In this book while it does have a paranormal kind of ghost aspect of to it, we also learn of the Eugenics program that occurred in the 30s in Vermont. I myself knew little about eugenics and I found it really interesting to learn about this subject which I found Picoult dealt with very well.
One of the things I found really enjoyable about this book was that all the characters that we met were connected in some way. Though it wasn’t clear at first , everyone had their place. And while I managed to figure out the plot twists, I still found it really interesting .
Characters:
A Jodi Picoult novel isn’t truly a Jodi Picoult books without complex characters and Second Glance was chock-full of them. While Ross is the main character, we also have plenty of side characters who are just as important. ross has lots of issues due to the fact that his wife Aimee died in a car accident, and ever since then he was felt kind of empty. he doesn’t want to live and throughout this story as he meets these different characters, living becomes a little easier for him.
This book is about loss, guilt and trying to do the right thing. It’s a ghost story, it delves deep into the corruption of eugenics. It’s everything wrapped into amazing book and I highly reccommend it.
I just couldn't get myself to finish this book. I like Jodi Picoult but my complaint with her is that I find her books really slow to get started. This book was different than the others I had read. It was much more supernatural, which is a genre I just can't get into for some reason. Maybe I'll pick it up again but I highly doubt it.