Reviews

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

booktrovertjen's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

devonforest's review

4.0

First of all, overall I enjoyed the book but there were a few things that bothered me/I didn't like. Once again we have a mother falling in love with her son's lawyer while he's on trial for murder. I'm sorry, but really? Not only that but there's like a 10-15 year age gap. Not everyone has to fall in love with someone. In general the story was slow moving there was a lot of flashbacks and tangents, while helpful after a while just dragged the story on too long. And we weren't told what really happened until the last 10 pages or so; which I guess keeps the reader interested until the very end, but is also frustrating as a reader. (I won't count that necessarily as a negative for the book.) Like I said I enjoyed the book but there were a few things that stuck out that prevented me from loving it.

janelleybanelley's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

kept me reading & caught my interest. but had to take stars away for the anti-vaccine drops, a mother who dedicated her life to her son ending up ditching that in the final stretch by having sex with her son’s lawyer, & author making the main character have every single autism symptom while also not doing anything to reduce stigma. 
disappointing.

sam_hartwig's review against another edition

2.0

This started off so well, but by the end I was thinking "Just get on with it already!". I've read a couple of fiction books on Aspergers and when I saw that Picoult (a favourite author of mine) had written a book on it too, I had to read it. I was very let down I'm afraid (it seems my favourite authors are doing that to me lately). So as always with Picoult's books we have different characters telling their story. In this we have 5 characters: Emma (the mother), Jacob (the son with Asperger's), Theo (the younger brother of Jacob), Rich (the policeofficer) and Oliver (the lawyer). What I found very frustrating (that I haven't found with her other books) was that sometimes one of the characters would repeat something that has already been said by another character. I don't think it's necessary for another character to mention something again, it just bogged down the story for me. Another thing that got frustrating was Jacob. I don't know anyone personally with Asperger's but I didn't find it believable that someone who had Asperger's would be speaking the way he did. I've read "Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon which is from a young boy's point of view who has Asperger's Syndrome, for me that felt very believable while this didn't. Another rant moment that I got so angry with was when the lawyer and the mother never wanted to ask Jacob what he actually did! I thought to myself "Come on people, he told you he tells the truth", fair enough the lawyer didn't want to know how he commited the crime but as a mother wouldn't you want to know what your son did. But, I guess if Jacob told them what happened truthfully then the book would've been a lot shorter and everything would've been wrapped up quicker (still annoyed me though). I hope you've been able to follow this review because I wrote it still fuming....

Overall I think this book went far too long and it could've been finished in less pages. On a side note Jacob reminded me so much of 'Sheldon' from the "Big Bang Theory", I swear Sheldon has Asperger's!

Also on my blog http://love-sami13.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/ive-had-better.html

lonelyasfranz's review against another edition

2.0

This was mediocre at best, pretentious at worst. I wouldn't recommend it, but I also don't think it was a complete waste of time.

remia1996's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mattison2011's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

xkyrahx's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kschilke's review against another edition

3.0

Was the cause of death supposed to be the big surprise/suspense? Because if so, the plot failed there. I don’t know about everyone else, but how Jess died seemed pretty obvious. If the focus of the book was more so exploring relationships and tensions in a family, then that makes sense and was more well-done. I think some of the court scenes were drawn out, but I think Picoult did a great job showing readers how Aspergers can manifest.
The actual ending was terrible after all that build up. Don’t we deserve a bit more wrap up? An epilogue of some sorts?

abbywebb's review against another edition

4.0

Jacob is 18 years old. He is a high school senior with a rather high IQ. He rotates through interests, although some might consider his interests to be "obsessions." His current interest of choice is forensic science. Jacob loves to watch his favourite show, Crimebusters, and take notes on what is happening. He also likes to recreate fictional homicidal crime scenes for his mother to "solve."

Oh yah, Jacob has also been diagnosed with Asperger's disorder which is an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To outsiders, he appears to be socially inept as he understands language only in a literal sense not a figurative one, does not make eye contact regularly, and he is hypersensitive to certain stimuli in his environment.

One day, Jacob's social skills tutor, Jess, has been reported missing by her boyfriend. Eventually her body is found and Jacob is the one accused by police as murdering her. In typical Picoult fashion, a murder trial begins.

I felt that House Rules was more predictable than the other books I have read by Picoult, but it was good nonetheless. Although the ending was sub-par for my liking, Picoult captured ASD with such an intensity and brutal honesty that I felt that she must have more experience with the disorder than simply having researched it. It felt as though she is the parent of a child with ASD. I even give her kudos for writing several chapters from Jacob's perspective. I don't think many authors could write a first person narrative of someone with ASD without it seeming contrived or phoney. Having dealt a lot with individuals with ASD (including Asperger's), I can see many similarities between Jacob and the children I have worked with.

To me, this one was of her finer works of fiction but probably because I have a professional interest in autism (I just attended a two-day workshop on the subject this week). For those of you who like the anticipation and the plot twists and intense page-turning of her typical books, seek out something else. But I truly believe that we all have a lot to learn from this book.