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A review by ryceejo
Mercy by Jodi Picoult
2.0
Graham McPhee (defense attorney) said: "It's unsettling to hear about a man who loved his wife so much that he'd be capable of doing this. It makes us all feel a little guilty, because we probably wouldn't go to such an extreme...we don't have the same kind of strength, or the same depth of emotion for our husbands and wives and lovers."
I fully DISAGREE. It wasn't strength, it was stupidity. Is what Jamie did supposed to tug at my heartstrings? Spark a theoretical discussion between spouses about what we would do if we were in the same shoes? What Jamie and Maggie did was pathetic. If she really wanted him to kill her, she should have made some sort of recorded statement or signed a note. She just wanted to not be accountable for her own suicide.
I'm not unacquainted with cancer and its debilitating effects on the mind and body. If someone close to me being treated for cancer killed himself or herself, it would be weakness, giving up....and if they chose that, that is their prerogative. But to leave behind someone you love dearly prematurely while you are still coherent and capable of connection is so selfish. To ask that same someone you love to do the deed for you is even more pathetic.
I don't connect with the "sweet romance" of this alleged act of mercy, so this was hard to get through. I actually read an entire trilogy before finishing this.
I also HATED being a fly on the wall to yet another one of Picoult's trademark affairs, but I did like how it resolved. So while I wasn't led to the conclusion Picoult may have intended, it still was well-executed, which is why I rate that "It was Okay (2 stars)."
I fully DISAGREE. It wasn't strength, it was stupidity. Is what Jamie did supposed to tug at my heartstrings? Spark a theoretical discussion between spouses about what we would do if we were in the same shoes? What Jamie and Maggie did was pathetic. If she really wanted him to kill her, she should have made some sort of recorded statement or signed a note. She just wanted to not be accountable for her own suicide.
I'm not unacquainted with cancer and its debilitating effects on the mind and body. If someone close to me being treated for cancer killed himself or herself, it would be weakness, giving up....and if they chose that, that is their prerogative. But to leave behind someone you love dearly prematurely while you are still coherent and capable of connection is so selfish. To ask that same someone you love to do the deed for you is even more pathetic.
I don't connect with the "sweet romance" of this alleged act of mercy, so this was hard to get through. I actually read an entire trilogy before finishing this.
I also HATED being a fly on the wall to yet another one of Picoult's trademark affairs, but I did like how it resolved. So while I wasn't led to the conclusion Picoult may have intended, it still was well-executed, which is why I rate that "It was Okay (2 stars)."