A review by mollyb13
Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Such a beautiful and heartbreaking novel. I went into this without knowing exactly what it was about and this was so much more than the courtroom drama I first thought it was going to be. The authors blended their writing seamlessly and I enjoyed the alternating POVs. Highly highly recommend this to everyone (though please be mindful of the content warnings because some very heavy topics are discussed).

The only thing that I had a bit of trouble with was
that some of the passages explaining gender and transitioning and the experiences of transgender people felt a bit forced. These passages, while packed with important information, came off as an educational aside and really kind of jolted me out of the story. I wish that they would have worked this information into the plot more seamlessly. This feeding of information made more sense in the courtroom setting where it could be realistically explained to a jury, but otherwise felt almost like the authors were breaking the fourth wall. 
Despite this, I'm keeping my rating at 5 stars. I don't think it is enough to bring down what was otherwise a very powerful novel.
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