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How many books have I read by Picoult? Three? I'm already sensing a pattern - family drama/tragedy leading to estrangement and a court case, and we all live judiciously ever after. That's not to say this (and the other books I've read by Picoult) weren't good, it's just that they're already feeling formulaic.
That being said and on the other hand, she does really bring some interesting issues to light and leave her reader with a lot of food for thought. In this case, the idea of who has the authority to make end-of-life decisions for a man in a coma, which was about as complicated as such a situation could get. The son had reached the age of majority and previously had a specific conversation about his father's end-of-life wishes, but they had since fallen out and not spoken for years. The daughter was a minor and hadn't had a specific conversation with him on the subject, but they'd lived alone together for years so she knew him best. Add to that the medical reality versus hope for survival, and you've got one complex situation. Oh yeah, and the stepfather is a lawyer who gets involved in the case too.
I was a bit frustrated because I related much more to one point of view than the other, perhaps partially because I found one of the siblings to be more sympathetic than the other. Of course, this could be a chicken/egg scenario where I was more sympathetic to said sibling because I related more to their point of view. Either way, it felt inevitable and not balanced to me. But I think that's the nature of the subject matter, and Picoult does a good job (in this and other books) with illustrating both sides as fairly as she can.
In an interesting twist, she made Luke, the coma patient, a sort of wolf-cultural anthropologist. He observes them, he lives among them, and he learns how their society works. Picoult obviously did a lot of research, and it gave her a great jumping off point to explore what it means to be wolf and what it means to be human. How much of the wild is in a human being? Is a wolf's way more natural? Are we the same or different? Which way is better?
So, as always, a thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining read from Picoult.
That being said and on the other hand, she does really bring some interesting issues to light and leave her reader with a lot of food for thought. In this case, the idea of who has the authority to make end-of-life decisions for a man in a coma, which was about as complicated as such a situation could get. The son had reached the age of majority and previously had a specific conversation about his father's end-of-life wishes, but they had since fallen out and not spoken for years. The daughter was a minor and hadn't had a specific conversation with him on the subject, but they'd lived alone together for years so she knew him best. Add to that the medical reality versus hope for survival, and you've got one complex situation. Oh yeah, and the stepfather is a lawyer who gets involved in the case too.
I was a bit frustrated because I related much more to one point of view than the other, perhaps partially because I found one of the siblings to be more sympathetic than the other. Of course, this could be a chicken/egg scenario where I was more sympathetic to said sibling because I related more to their point of view. Either way, it felt inevitable and not balanced to me. But I think that's the nature of the subject matter, and Picoult does a good job (in this and other books) with illustrating both sides as fairly as she can.
In an interesting twist, she made Luke, the coma patient, a sort of wolf-cultural anthropologist. He observes them, he lives among them, and he learns how their society works. Picoult obviously did a lot of research, and it gave her a great jumping off point to explore what it means to be wolf and what it means to be human. How much of the wild is in a human being? Is a wolf's way more natural? Are we the same or different? Which way is better?
So, as always, a thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining read from Picoult.