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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Liked that the book was written from several different perspectives and helped educate people about Asperger's. Didn't like that the "mystery" of who murdered the tutor was evident and able to be solved by the reader halfway through the book. The ending also sucked - seemed like she was rushing to finish the book.
HOUSE RULES is only the second novel I have read by Jodi Picoult, and I found it a more interesting story than HANDLE WITH CARE. This is probably due to the fact that there is a mystery with a twist involved, which made it a much faster read for me.
Jacob is an 18-year-old with Asperger’s, and a love of crime scenes. When his tutor is found dead, Jacob becomes one of the suspects, and the readers are led on a who-done-it that goes against the norm. In addition to a good mystery, readers get an education about Asperger’s, a form of autism. Picoult has done impeccable research yet again, and she tears at our heartstrings with an impossible situation that seems to be insurmountable.
If you’ve never read Picoult before, this is the one to read.
Jacob is an 18-year-old with Asperger’s, and a love of crime scenes. When his tutor is found dead, Jacob becomes one of the suspects, and the readers are led on a who-done-it that goes against the norm. In addition to a good mystery, readers get an education about Asperger’s, a form of autism. Picoult has done impeccable research yet again, and she tears at our heartstrings with an impossible situation that seems to be insurmountable.
If you’ve never read Picoult before, this is the one to read.
I'm between 3 and 4 stars for this book but as once again Jodi Picoult irrates me how she ends the story.
I think she shows how Asperger's affects not only the person but their entire family and society at large. In some ways it reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and you can tell she spent a lot of time researching Asperger.
I think she shows how Asperger's affects not only the person but their entire family and society at large. In some ways it reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and you can tell she spent a lot of time researching Asperger.
I usually enjoy Picoult's novels very much, but I got impatient with the characters in this one and could see the ending coming barely a third of the way into the book.
Picoult is usually very good at allowing her characters to be falliable but not stupid, but again and again and again characters who should know better fail to ask Jacob the key question: "Did you kill ___?" Instead they ask all kinds of other questions without ever being specific -- despite the fact that we are told again and again and again Jacob is unable to follow social cues, be intuitive, or be anything other than literal. The whole book could have erased if someone had simply said to him, "Tell me exactly what you did from the moment you arrived at the house." Case closed.
Picoult is usually very good at allowing her characters to be falliable but not stupid, but again and again and again characters who should know better fail to ask Jacob the key question: "Did you kill ___?" Instead they ask all kinds of other questions without ever being specific -- despite the fact that we are told again and again and again Jacob is unable to follow social cues, be intuitive, or be anything other than literal. The whole book could have erased if someone had simply said to him, "Tell me exactly what you did from the moment you arrived at the house." Case closed.
I didn't hate My Sister's Keeper. That was the first Jodi Picoult novel I read, which probably isn't all that surprising considering how big a splash that one was.
So, yeah. I didn't hate it. Didn't love it either. And it certainly didn't inspire me to pick up anything else by this author. But, as I work through my "book bingo"* I hit 'read a book over 500 pages' and I basically looked around the used bookstore until I found a book that sounded somewhat interesting that was over 500 pages.
And this is what I got.
And let's be honest here, the formula of this book is pretty dang close to My Sister's Keeper. Medical issues, protective parent, cutesy romance, changing perspectives, ignored sibling.... Yeah. And the twist at the end wasn't particularly surprising.
And, to be honest, what was most disappointing in this book was that when I looked to read the reviews, so many people are saying that this wasn't a good representation of autism.
* Feel free to google it, but basically it's a bingo board where, in each of the squares, there is a description of a book. And you have to read a book that fits into that description. And then you can mark it off. I'm going for black out.
So, yeah. I didn't hate it. Didn't love it either. And it certainly didn't inspire me to pick up anything else by this author. But, as I work through my "book bingo"* I hit 'read a book over 500 pages' and I basically looked around the used bookstore until I found a book that sounded somewhat interesting that was over 500 pages.
And this is what I got.
And let's be honest here, the formula of this book is pretty dang close to My Sister's Keeper. Medical issues, protective parent, cutesy romance, changing perspectives, ignored sibling.... Yeah. And the twist at the end wasn't particularly surprising.
And, to be honest, what was most disappointing in this book was that when I looked to read the reviews, so many people are saying that this wasn't a good representation of autism.
* Feel free to google it, but basically it's a bingo board where, in each of the squares, there is a description of a book. And you have to read a book that fits into that description. And then you can mark it off. I'm going for black out.
Jodi Picoult novels are my go tos when I don't have anything that's waiting for me on my hold list at the library. They're always entertaining and good for my bus ride home at the end of the day at work because they don't make me think too hard. I enjoyed this one as well and felt that I learned a lot about Autism while reading it. My one complaint is that I'm kind of over her device of holding out a key piece of the story until the last two chapters of the book. You know something big is coming, you just don't know what it is. After a while, that type of story-telling device gets tired.
Formulaic, entertaining for the uninformed, somewhat over the top emotionally.
I thought that this was a really good book. I don't know much about Asperger's, but it did seem like Picoult did her research before writing the book. It was very interesting to get inside Jacob's head, as his way of thinking and his emotions were cool to see, as they were very different from mine. I did have a few qualms with the book though:
I didn't really like that Oliver and Emma hooked up initially. I felt like they should've at least waited until the trial was over, as Emma was his client's mother. But as the book went on, I was rooting for them, and it got less weird when Jacob gave them his blessing.
I also didn't like the open ending. Yes, it does end with a case file stating that people debated over Jacob's decision, and that Jacob would do it over again if he had to. It never tells us if Theo and/or Jacob got arrested for not telling anyone about what really happened, obstruction of justice, etc. It never tells us if Emma and Oliver end up together. This might just be me, but I like an ending wrapped up and presented with a bow on top, and this ending didn't really deliver. I did really like this book however.
I also didn't like the open ending. Yes, it does end with a case file stating that people debated over Jacob's decision, and that Jacob would do it over again if he had to. It never tells us if Theo and/or Jacob got arrested for not telling anyone about what really happened, obstruction of justice, etc. It never tells us if Emma and Oliver end up together. This might just be me, but I like an ending wrapped up and presented with a bow on top, and this ending didn't really deliver. I did really like this book however.
I have enjoyed several of Picoult's book, but that is becoming the exception to the rule unfortunately. She is becoming a formula writer - pick a disease, stereotype, write. I know several people with aspergers, but none of them look like Jake. At first I thought this is good, she will educate people about aspergers, but by the end I was afraid if this is the only education people received about aspergers, it will be unfortunate. Jake was very one dimensional with some very extreme aspects of aspergers (genius, the lying, etc) She made such a big issue about his not being able to lie, but nobody ever asked him if he DID it -- very frustrating. The other issue I have with her stories is that she builds them up so much, and then neatly wraps them up in 3 pages - very anticlimatic. I will probably pass on any of her future books, unless I see rave reviews........