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kairosdreaming 's review for:
Plain Truth
by Jodi Picoult
Picoult likes to write about interesting ethical and moral dilemmas. Having read a few of her books, the contents of this one did not really surprise me, although utilizing the Amish as a backdrop added a lot of nuance. I vaguely remember watching a movie based off of this book at one time, but honestly had forgotten a lot of the plot, so this was a whole new surprise reading for me.
Katie is in trouble, Ellie is looking to bail her out. Not having previously met, even though they're distant relations, Ellie is swept in when Katie is accused of murdering her baby. To make matters difficult, despite obvious signs, Katie has denied she was ever pregnant at all. Weaving through the actual truth, and working against a culture that Ellie is not used to leaves a lot of issues for Ellie to handle, especially since she herself isn't convinced of Katie's innocence.
Ellie is a bit brash, but overall a likable character. She is conflicted and it really makes her easy to relate to, especially when you can empathize with her situation and her trouble aligning her career with her morals. Katie is a bit harder; not necessarily because she's Amish, but because the book sets you up to question your trust in her. There's a few love interests in the book, for Katie they make sense, for Ellie they are a bit distracting although I suppose it carries the story along.
As much as I like Picoult, this book was just harder to sink into. You have all these characters lying; which is part of the story and important, but at a certain point it can be frustrating. You've got rapid emotions going everywhere. You've got a twist ending (and that's all I'm saying on that). I guess maybe there was just a bit too much going on for me and a lot of stuff got drawn out that probably didn't need to be.
Interesting moral read if you want to debate ethics, what-ifs, and a mystery, but I think I prefer some of Picoult's other works.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
Katie is in trouble, Ellie is looking to bail her out. Not having previously met, even though they're distant relations, Ellie is swept in when Katie is accused of murdering her baby. To make matters difficult, despite obvious signs, Katie has denied she was ever pregnant at all. Weaving through the actual truth, and working against a culture that Ellie is not used to leaves a lot of issues for Ellie to handle, especially since she herself isn't convinced of Katie's innocence.
Ellie is a bit brash, but overall a likable character. She is conflicted and it really makes her easy to relate to, especially when you can empathize with her situation and her trouble aligning her career with her morals. Katie is a bit harder; not necessarily because she's Amish, but because the book sets you up to question your trust in her. There's a few love interests in the book, for Katie they make sense, for Ellie they are a bit distracting although I suppose it carries the story along.
As much as I like Picoult, this book was just harder to sink into. You have all these characters lying; which is part of the story and important, but at a certain point it can be frustrating. You've got rapid emotions going everywhere. You've got a twist ending (and that's all I'm saying on that). I guess maybe there was just a bit too much going on for me and a lot of stuff got drawn out that probably didn't need to be.
Interesting moral read if you want to debate ethics, what-ifs, and a mystery, but I think I prefer some of Picoult's other works.
Review by M. Reynard 2020