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

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

"We don’t say anything as we ascend the path back to temple street... A few pedestrians pass us by. How similar does someone have to be to you before you remember to see them, first, as human?" 

"The secret weapon of mad honey, of course, is that you expect it to be sweet, not deadly. You’re deliberately attracted to it. By the time it messes with your head, with your heart, it’s too late."

Got this book on my line to read right on the Christmas day.. and it became my new year reading to end the year! Gosh, I have many things to say for this book throughout the rollercoaster emotion that I have been through. I didn't expect it will be this good.. Like, THIS GOOD. I ever read Jodi Picoult's book before, it was Wish You Were Here if I am not mistaken? And I had a so-so experience to get through that so this one is out of my league. 

Okay, so this book was all about the murder cases; how it happened, the people who are involved, and the reasons or motive behind it. But it wrapped in tragic love story behind it. I listened to I Hear A Symphony by Cody Fry each time I dig to the story.. Please consider it one since the melancholy drama suits the tone very well. I learned more about the difference of sex and gender, also sort kind of disease from the causes and mechanism how it works in our body. I never cried this hard on the love sex scene but I DID IT IN HERE T__T 

The language usage! I believe it will be so easy and page turner for everyone.. You will find some poetic phrases but it's so enjoyable. Just personal cases since one of the character remind me of someone I really knew in the past, I need to take a break few times since it is quite triggering for me, but it's still okay! This book taught me to see thing from the crystal clear glass, of how we didn't see people as an object, and treat them as equally and nicely as it could be. Also being a woman has meant being someone who gets talked over in conversations or ignored; who gets judged as a body instead of as a sentient soul; no matter who you are or what you are doing, always has to be on guard, lest someone else decide that you’re going to be his victim. 

Mad Honey is a book about the shades of gray of love life, like its title, you will find this world is not black and white as it seems? As it goes back, coming all around, sometimes it works just like a funnel; not every bad thing that happens is a crime, not every crime can be prosecuted. Not every prosecution results in a conviction. Not every conviction results in jail time or whatever the victim’s family may want. For the thriller cases, this book wouldn't offer you like a detective-solver type, but it's so deep and meaningful for people who need it. This book is so dear to me.