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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
I absolutely loved this book. Having first-hand experience with autism, everything was almost relatable for me.
I related to Theo’s love/hate relationship with his brother.
I empathized with Emma, because she is my aunts.
Jacob really made an impression on me. I hope my own brother can discover a specific interest one day. I felt for him when he could not fit in, and I hated the students and adults who treated him cruelly.
The whole trial made me sad and frustrated on Jacob’s behalf. I hated how the prosecution lawyer was so cold and ruthless about Asperger’s. She downplayed it like it was nothing. And that is obviously what a lot of people will think.
I think Picoult did a wonderful job creating a thought-provoking novel about autism and the people who struggle to live with it. I felt that it was a realistic imagining of what might happen if someone with autism was accused of committing a crime. I know of a news article once about an autistic man fondled his worker’s breasts and she had him ARRESTED. He was thrown into jail and charged, and he was scarred for life. I remember being so angry that the worker wasn’t understanding. This is a man with autism, not some man off the street. He probably wasn’t taught appropriately on how to handle his feelings or curiosity. It makes me worry about my own brother, and others with autism, how the world will treat them.
I related to Theo’s love/hate relationship with his brother.
I empathized with Emma, because she is my aunts.
Jacob really made an impression on me. I hope my own brother can discover a specific interest one day. I felt for him when he could not fit in, and I hated the students and adults who treated him cruelly.
The whole trial made me sad and frustrated on Jacob’s behalf. I hated how the prosecution lawyer was so cold and ruthless about Asperger’s. She downplayed it like it was nothing. And that is obviously what a lot of people will think.
I think Picoult did a wonderful job creating a thought-provoking novel about autism and the people who struggle to live with it. I felt that it was a realistic imagining of what might happen if someone with autism was accused of committing a crime. I know of a news article once about an autistic man fondled his worker’s breasts and she had him ARRESTED. He was thrown into jail and charged, and he was scarred for life. I remember being so angry that the worker wasn’t understanding. This is a man with autism, not some man off the street. He probably wasn’t taught appropriately on how to handle his feelings or curiosity. It makes me worry about my own brother, and others with autism, how the world will treat them.
In terms of sheer entertainment value, I give it a high score. It was a page-turner with an ending that made my jaw drop. And Jacob is my woobie <333
Let me start this with a disclaimer: First that I am huge Jodi Picoult fan that has read all of her books, and I'll refer to them in comparison to House Rules. Second, as you can tell by 1-star rating, it is in my opinion, her worst book to date.
This is the first review I'm writing, and I've felt compelled to do so when someone reviewed that this is what all Picoult fans come to expect. Let me tell you why I strongly believe that is incorrect:
1. The information she provides about Asperger's syndrome really does read like a textbook. Compare this book to Handle with Care or My Sister's Keeper . Both had a sick child that affected the family. Neither read like a textbook. I've read MSK a grand total of four times cover to cover, and I've never skipped over the medical information or found it boring on a reread. Whereas, I could barely get through House Rules on a first reading. I skimmed whenever she wrote specifically about the syndrome after the first couple of times. And this rather horrifies me, as I skim only portions where I think the author has rambled on unnecessarily, I hadn't had occasion to do it to a Picoult book yet.
2. In connection to the above point, she was incredibly repetitive when it comes to the medical aspects of the syndrome. Even all the experiences the family went through sounded like a list of problems more than a moving story of overcoming difficulties.
3. The mother. A theme throughout Picoult's books is the relationship between a mother and her child(ren). In that respect, she has numerous mothers in her books that are somewhat reprehensible. I think Emma might be one of the worst, if not the worst. Which is saying something considering Charlotte from Handle with Care filed a suit saying that she would have aborted her baby, and Nina from Perfect Match is just, I can't even describe. The reason I judge Emma so harshly, even though she did sacrifice so much and does love Jacob, is that she failed to ask him if he killed her. Thanks to the above two points, the reader is told again and again that Jacob cannot tell lies. I understand that there would be no twist and less plot if she had, but I cannot buy into the fact that a mother who loves her child cannot bring herself to ask. I mean, suppose he had killed her, then she should know. She should do something about it. And in the sense that she doesn't know or care to know whether or not her child is a potential threat makes her a reprehensible human being. Is a difficult question to ask? Of course. But she never did ask. She just found out while Jacob was talking to her.
4. The brother. Okay, let's say that Emma does not want to know if her child committed murder after having sacrificed so much for his sake, what is Theo's excuse? The whole sneaking into houses bit fit nicely into the story, but at that point, I was rolling my eyes. People were upset with Handle with Care because they felt it too closely resembled My Sister's Keeper, but I felt that she had a completely different message to send when she wrote the latter. I don't think that excuses a third book that deals with the same family situation: 1. mother sacrifices a lot, 2. for the sake of a "sick" child {I include quotes because I don't want to consider AS as sick, but the similarity is there}, 3. thereby neglecting the other child who acts out in various ways, 4. in the process of dealing with a pertinent legal issue involving the family directly... enough said?
This was the first time I felt like Picoult is not taking long enough to write her books, that maybe one book a year is not good. The overall effect to me was that I didn't feel like it was Picoult. That it was written by someone inspired by Picoult and trying to emulate the moving stories that she tells. There have been books I read about overcoming a difficulty, like getting society at large to understand AS, that I feel missed the point and just failed to evoke sympathy by exaggerating the situation, among other issues. I feel then that they should read Picoult to understand how to write such books. Picoult elements but not Picoult bringing them together--if that makes sense.
That being said, her next book seems very promising and does not return to this tired family situation detailed above.
This is the first review I'm writing, and I've felt compelled to do so when someone reviewed that this is what all Picoult fans come to expect. Let me tell you why I strongly believe that is incorrect:
1. The information she provides about Asperger's syndrome really does read like a textbook. Compare this book to Handle with Care or My Sister's Keeper . Both had a sick child that affected the family. Neither read like a textbook. I've read MSK a grand total of four times cover to cover, and I've never skipped over the medical information or found it boring on a reread. Whereas, I could barely get through House Rules on a first reading. I skimmed whenever she wrote specifically about the syndrome after the first couple of times. And this rather horrifies me, as I skim only portions where I think the author has rambled on unnecessarily, I hadn't had occasion to do it to a Picoult book yet.
2. In connection to the above point, she was incredibly repetitive when it comes to the medical aspects of the syndrome. Even all the experiences the family went through sounded like a list of problems more than a moving story of overcoming difficulties.
3. The mother. A theme throughout Picoult's books is the relationship between a mother and her child(ren). In that respect, she has numerous mothers in her books that are somewhat reprehensible. I think Emma might be one of the worst, if not the worst. Which is saying something considering Charlotte from Handle with Care filed a suit saying that she would have aborted her baby, and Nina from Perfect Match is just, I can't even describe. The reason I judge Emma so harshly, even though she did sacrifice so much and does love Jacob, is that she failed to ask him if he killed her. Thanks to the above two points, the reader is told again and again that Jacob cannot tell lies. I understand that there would be no twist and less plot if she had, but I cannot buy into the fact that a mother who loves her child cannot bring herself to ask. I mean, suppose he had killed her, then she should know. She should do something about it. And in the sense that she doesn't know or care to know whether or not her child is a potential threat makes her a reprehensible human being. Is a difficult question to ask? Of course. But she never did ask. She just found out while Jacob was talking to her.
4. The brother. Okay, let's say that Emma does not want to know if her child committed murder after having sacrificed so much for his sake, what is Theo's excuse? The whole sneaking into houses bit fit nicely into the story, but at that point, I was rolling my eyes. People were upset with Handle with Care because they felt it too closely resembled My Sister's Keeper, but I felt that she had a completely different message to send when she wrote the latter. I don't think that excuses a third book that deals with the same family situation: 1. mother sacrifices a lot, 2. for the sake of a "sick" child {I include quotes because I don't want to consider AS as sick, but the similarity is there}, 3. thereby neglecting the other child who acts out in various ways, 4. in the process of dealing with a pertinent legal issue involving the family directly... enough said?
This was the first time I felt like Picoult is not taking long enough to write her books, that maybe one book a year is not good. The overall effect to me was that I didn't feel like it was Picoult. That it was written by someone inspired by Picoult and trying to emulate the moving stories that she tells. There have been books I read about overcoming a difficulty, like getting society at large to understand AS, that I feel missed the point and just failed to evoke sympathy by exaggerating the situation, among other issues. I feel then that they should read Picoult to understand how to write such books. Picoult elements but not Picoult bringing them together--if that makes sense.
That being said, her next book seems very promising and does not return to this tired family situation detailed above.
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
how this book got four stars is beyond me. not only is the ending obvious, but most of the book suspends belief. if your son was on trial for MURDER, you wouldn't hire an infant (okay he's 28 but he also lives in his law office) with absolutely no criminal experience as his attorney.
I knew I was in trouble when I started yelling "object!" at the fictional defense attorney.
all I keep thinking is this book could have been 300 pages shorter if they asked Jacob one goddamn question (which I'll leave out for the sake of spoilers) at any point. or if his brother wasn't a complete imbecile.
I like Jodi Picoult which is why I'm so disappointed.
I knew I was in trouble when I started yelling "object!" at the fictional defense attorney.
all I keep thinking is this book could have been 300 pages shorter if they asked Jacob one goddamn question (which I'll leave out for the sake of spoilers) at any point. or if his brother wasn't a complete imbecile.
I like Jodi Picoult which is why I'm so disappointed.
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a hard one to rate. I probably enjoyed it enough to rate it 4 stars, but I had enough issues with it that decided to settle on 3 stars. I really liked the plot, the pacing, and the characters. I connected well with everyone and wanted to keep reading all the time to find out what really happened.
However, I was really disappointed that the author kept making a connection between autism and vaccinations. I think that especially during this time, that is a very dangerous claim to make. Perhaps less was known at the time this was written, but I think spreading that idea is irresponsible and dangerous. I was also somewhat disappointed with the ending. It was pretty abrupt. There was also an unnecessary romance in the story that felt unrealistic to me.
Despite its flaws, it was a good book. Jodi Picoult usually writes a reliably solid story that makes people think. I'm sure I'll read more by her in the future.
However, I was really disappointed that the author kept making a connection between autism and vaccinations. I think that especially during this time, that is a very dangerous claim to make. Perhaps less was known at the time this was written, but I think spreading that idea is irresponsible and dangerous. I was also somewhat disappointed with the ending. It was pretty abrupt. There was also an unnecessary romance in the story that felt unrealistic to me.
Despite its flaws, it was a good book. Jodi Picoult usually writes a reliably solid story that makes people think. I'm sure I'll read more by her in the future.
I enjoyed this book. A look into autism and how it affects the child and family. I would recommend it to someone. I haven’t found a book by her I haven’t enjoyed.