The author of Picture Perfect "explores the fragile ground of ambivalent motherhood" (New York Times Book Review). Paige's mother left when she was...
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Oct 24, 2011
Jackie
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I read this book this spring and it was a hard book for me to read. It is about a girl whose mother walks out on her and her father when she is a little girl. The girl then spends the rest of her life trying to make sense of that. Her hopes as a young girl were that her mother would come back for her. Subsequently, she kept a packed suitcase under her bed most her childhood. By the time she is graduating high school, she knows that she too must leave her father and her life behind to try an
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Mar 01, 2008
Rachel
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Generally speaking, I love the author. While it was decent, this book didn't live up to my high expectations of her. The entire novel was centered around only 2 characters. I'm a huge fan of character development, but it seemed like she was trying to convince herself as well as the reader of the character's motivations by repetition.
Spoiler alert - Basically it boils down to rich boy meets eccentric girl with a past. Boy unknowingly trys to change the very things he fell in love w More...
Spoiler alert - Basically it boils down to rich boy meets eccentric girl with a past. Boy unknowingly trys to change the very things he fell in love w More...
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Jul 16, 2008
Jen
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This book lacked what I like about Jodi Picoult books--twisting plot lines, multiple, relatable characters
I thought the plot was highly predictable. I didn't care for the main character--a young woman whose mother left her at five, had an abortion at 18, had a kid and didn't think she would be a good mother b/c she didn't have one and aborted her first baby.
I didn't relate to the marital problems. I couldn't understand why the two characters ever got married in the firs More...
I thought the plot was highly predictable. I didn't care for the main character--a young woman whose mother left her at five, had an abortion at 18, had a kid and didn't think she would be a good mother b/c she didn't have one and aborted her first baby.
I didn't relate to the marital problems. I couldn't understand why the two characters ever got married in the firs More...
Dec 14, 2007
Britta
rated it:
"He wandered off, leaving me wondering why white people named girl babies things like Hope and Faith and Patience - names they could never live up to - and black mothers called their daughters Mercy, Deliverance, Salvation - crosses they'd always have to bear."
"That someone like [him] could want me was still overwhelming. He held me the way a child holds a snowflake, lightly, as if he knew in the back of his mind I might disappear in the blink of an eye. He wore his se More...
"That someone like [him] could want me was still overwhelming. He held me the way a child holds a snowflake, lightly, as if he knew in the back of his mind I might disappear in the blink of an eye. He wore his se More...
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May 04, 2008
Brittany
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This book was alright. Both main characters were annoying as all hell, just complaining about how their spouse wouldn't be more caring to them and pay attention. They pretty much ignored each other the first half of the book, and then BAM! Paige leaves and then their marriage falls apart. But in the end they still love each other. Um, happy ending? Yes. Would happen in real life? Hells no. See, LaPierre, happy books aren't real.
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Dec 23, 2008
Debbie
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I longed to be a mother. I wanted children, lots of them. I have four of the most beautiful people you could ever meet. Motherhood is hard! Taking care of a newborn is difficult. There were times I wished the children would just go away but I never thought of leaving. Some people never have children because they can't find it in their hearts to share and give of themselves. Some walk away from their children. Some women abort. We form opinions and judge. Are they selfish? A bad person? A bad mot
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Jan 29, 2012
Norain MT
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This is moderately low by Picoult standard (and by this I mean My Sister's Keeper). I like it and I personally don't think it is a waste of my money or time. Still it is not something I will recommend to any avid readers. There are many better books out there so if you have not bought this, it is not a loss if you just ignore it.
The best part is when Paige gives birth to Max and how she tries her best to look after her son while her husband, Nicholas is busy saving lives at the hospi More...
The best part is when Paige gives birth to Max and how she tries her best to look after her son while her husband, Nicholas is busy saving lives at the hospi More...
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Dec 07, 2008
Karah
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As much as I like jodi Picoult books, this definitely wasn't one of my favorites. It probably was my least favorite of all of her books. I did love her descriptions of people, places, and events but some of it was way overdone. She seemed to ramble on and on about previous events in the characters' lives or some odd description of a place they once visited or experienced.
The story is about a young woman who runs away from her home in Chicago and finds herself in Cambridge. She More...
The story is about a young woman who runs away from her home in Chicago and finds herself in Cambridge. She More...
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Jun 12, 2008
Katy
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This is a book I won't forget for a long time. I have to say, I've recently had a fascination with mothers and pregnancy. I mean, what is it like having a baby? It seems like a miracle to me.
"Harvesting the Heart" (Easily the most cheesy title I can imagine) was frank and colorful. Paige is one of the strangest characters I have ever read about. One minute, she's as wise as a ninety year old woman. The next, she's child-like and naive. At some points, I wondered if the auth More...
"Harvesting the Heart" (Easily the most cheesy title I can imagine) was frank and colorful. Paige is one of the strangest characters I have ever read about. One minute, she's as wise as a ninety year old woman. The next, she's child-like and naive. At some points, I wondered if the auth More...
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Jan 03, 2009
Christina
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Harvesting the Heart, Picoult's second novel, was heartbreaking, frank, and colorful, a stark contrast to her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale. The novel, unlike the rest of Picoult's work, is told in alternating forms, first person through Paige and third person through Nicholas, Paige's husband. While I would have prefered to have read Nicholas' side of the story in first person, the third person chapters didn't bother me as much as I originally thought they would.
The story More...
The story More...
Jan 24, 2012
Angelica
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 22, 2011
Asia
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I loved this book except the sex scenes and taking God's name in vain. Uugg! I wish they didn't add that but I'm sure Jodi just doesn't know about the gospel standards that could add so much joy to her life. Anyway, the book is well written and I'm so wrapped up in the lives of the characters and the journey they are on that I sooooo want to finish reading it but I know that I'm better off not reading the smut she also has intertwined. And so, after I put it down the first time, I decided I
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Nov 06, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
This book was compulsively readable, like most of Jodi Picoult's novels, but I grew frustrated with the main characters. "Harvesting the Heart" involves post-partum depression and the challenges of motherhood. The main character, Paige, was abandoned by her mother at age 5, had an abortion at age 18, and worries about whether she can ever become a good mother. She nearly falls apart when she finally becomes one. I am not a mother, so I do not understand the challenges of raising a chil
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Sep 05, 2011
Jane
rated it:
While I love Jodi Picoult and literally every other one of her books I have read (over five), this one just didn't hook me like the others.
I really didn't enjoy it. She created some interesting characters, but instead of letting them develop into an amazing story, she just... Let them be. I was like watching a B-Grade Romance movie that just didn't go anywhere.
I closed the book after finishing feeling cheated - this wasn't the Jodi Picoult I knew and loved!! I was on ho More...
I really didn't enjoy it. She created some interesting characters, but instead of letting them develop into an amazing story, she just... Let them be. I was like watching a B-Grade Romance movie that just didn't go anywhere.
I closed the book after finishing feeling cheated - this wasn't the Jodi Picoult I knew and loved!! I was on ho More...
Aug 28, 2011
Laura
rated it:
If you were to ask me who my sister's favourite author is, I know I wouldn't be too far off the mark if I answered Jodi Picoult. I'm pretty sure Amy has read almost all (all but one) of her novels and she could tell you right off the top of her head Ms. Picoult's bests. Knowing that my sister loves this author so much, I have picked up a Picoult book a couple of times. I have read My Sister's Keeper and The Pact, and I liked them both. So, as I was browsing my library's ebook options, I had
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Jul 09, 2011
Barb
rated it:
I like Jodi Picoult's books, but this one I just could not put down. I started it on Thursday night, and stayed up way past my bedtime, reluctantly putting it away as I had to get up and go to work on Friday.
Friday night did my chores as quick as I could, anticipating the time I could sit down and finish it!
Paige's mom ran away when she was 5 years old. Paige ran away when she was 18. She's been in love twice, and now she has a baby of her own. Exhausted from caring for her More...
Friday night did my chores as quick as I could, anticipating the time I could sit down and finish it!
Paige's mom ran away when she was 5 years old. Paige ran away when she was 18. She's been in love twice, and now she has a baby of her own. Exhausted from caring for her More...
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Jul 01, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
Picoult's second novel. Grabbed it on a whim at the library when I was all out of stuff to read.
Paige's mother walks out on her and her father when Paige is five, leaving the young girl with an overwhelming sense of loss, the inability to trust anyone, including herself, and a huge empty space where her self-worth is supposed to be. As a young adult, Paige takes up with Nicholas, a wealthy, WASP-y med student whose parents definitely do not approve of his choice in girlfriends. The cou More...
Paige's mother walks out on her and her father when Paige is five, leaving the young girl with an overwhelming sense of loss, the inability to trust anyone, including herself, and a huge empty space where her self-worth is supposed to be. As a young adult, Paige takes up with Nicholas, a wealthy, WASP-y med student whose parents definitely do not approve of his choice in girlfriends. The cou More...
Mar 22, 2011
Megan
rated it:
really enjoyed the book.
Jodi Picoult earned rave notices for her debut novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale. Now this gifted young writer turns her considerable literary talents to the story of a young woman overcome by the demands of having a family. Written with astonishing clarity and evocative detail, convincing in its depiction of emotional pain, love, and vulnerability, Harvesting the Heart recalls the writing of Alice Hoffman and Sue Miller. Paige has only a few vivid memories o More...
Jodi Picoult earned rave notices for her debut novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale. Now this gifted young writer turns her considerable literary talents to the story of a young woman overcome by the demands of having a family. Written with astonishing clarity and evocative detail, convincing in its depiction of emotional pain, love, and vulnerability, Harvesting the Heart recalls the writing of Alice Hoffman and Sue Miller. Paige has only a few vivid memories o More...
Feb 10, 2011
Alisha
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 09, 2010
Pbwritr
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I found myself quite irritated with the main character, Paige, who definitely finds herself in a self-fulfilling prophecy--thinking she'll be a terrible mother and perhaps abandon her child because her own mother did the same thing, and then, of course, she does. I always have a hard time with people (or characters) who can't get over something and move on, eventually! It was too, too strange to have her drive out one day to get groceries and then kee
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Oct 14, 2009
Regina
rated it:
This book was really bad. It had the feel of one of those insipid made-for-tv movies.
I’ve read several of Picoult’s other novels. They often have some kind of topical theme. Not exactly the most thought provoking works, they usually present the theme in a somewhat entertaining fashion. This novel (with its theme of ambiguous motherhood) was a complete disappointment.
Perhaps the worst aspect is character development (or lack thereof). The young mother is not sympa More...
I’ve read several of Picoult’s other novels. They often have some kind of topical theme. Not exactly the most thought provoking works, they usually present the theme in a somewhat entertaining fashion. This novel (with its theme of ambiguous motherhood) was a complete disappointment.
Perhaps the worst aspect is character development (or lack thereof). The young mother is not sympa More...
Oct 01, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
Apparently this is only Jodi Picoult's second novel, and it shows. It has none of the bioethical musings of her more recent novels (My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes), and it lacks ... anything unexpected.
A predictable, old-fashioned story, it follows the evolution of Paige O'Toole. Paige is a complex character, and she's strengthened through her trials. Her husband, Nicholas Prescott, is mostly one-dimensional. He doesn't change very much throughout the novel, and the rest of More...
A predictable, old-fashioned story, it follows the evolution of Paige O'Toole. Paige is a complex character, and she's strengthened through her trials. Her husband, Nicholas Prescott, is mostly one-dimensional. He doesn't change very much throughout the novel, and the rest of More...
Aug 31, 2009
Jo Lin
rated it:
I really did not like this book. I'd picked it up in audiobook form because I was looking for something nice and long and recognised the name of Jodi Picoult as one of those more famous writers of, how shall we say, airport fiction. So I thought I'd give it a go.
Well, it was pretty painful to get through, mainly because I found the two main characters intensely annoying. The female protagonist is the more prominent of the two, and the novel felt like listening to the therapy sessions o More...
Well, it was pretty painful to get through, mainly because I found the two main characters intensely annoying. The female protagonist is the more prominent of the two, and the novel felt like listening to the therapy sessions o More...
Aug 07, 2009
LindyLouMac
rated it:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1266...
I only discovered the work of this prolific author under three years ago. As I have at various levels enjoyed all eight read previously, I am now trying to read all the published novels by her that I can get hold of.
Harvesting the Heart was her second novel first published in 1993 and although it certainly does not have the polish or topical moralistic style of her more recent novels it is still an enjoyable read.
Basically More...
I only discovered the work of this prolific author under three years ago. As I have at various levels enjoyed all eight read previously, I am now trying to read all the published novels by her that I can get hold of.
Harvesting the Heart was her second novel first published in 1993 and although it certainly does not have the polish or topical moralistic style of her more recent novels it is still an enjoyable read.
Basically More...
Jul 23, 2009
Divya
rated it:
I've read all of Jodi Picoult's books, and they're all so similar that the plots run together in my head into one big book of crying and running away and law suits and frustrated mothers and distant fathers and precocious children. I believe Harvesting the Heart is one of Picoult's earlier books, if not her first novel, and it definitely stands apart from the rest, if only for an absence of a few of these recurring themes. There are really only two main characters, a husband and wife, and the wo
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May 27, 2009
Petra X
rated it:
I hadn't wanted to read another Jodi Picoult. After starting on the high note of My Sister's Keeper and working my way through a totally formulaic series always with a twist at the end, I didn't hold out much hope for this book but it was the only one I had for a long night in a hotel in a foreign land.
It was quite different in that it was distinctly overwritten, and in parts quite beautifully-written too. Usually I think of Picoult as a storyteller whose characters are somewhat ske More...
It was quite different in that it was distinctly overwritten, and in parts quite beautifully-written too. Usually I think of Picoult as a storyteller whose characters are somewhat ske More...
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May 11, 2009
Robin
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Life, and feelings, are complicated. Not an original thought, but a truthful one. As I grew up, I thought that parents were supposed to be perfect and always put their children's best interests above their own. I remember how outraged I would always feel (and still feel, if truth be told), when that facade cracked and they showed that they were just ordinary people whose past experiences affected their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Jodi Picoult's novels are usually pretty e More...
Jodi Picoult's novels are usually pretty e More...
Jan 24, 2010
Mary
rated it:
It can be hard to put Jodi Picoult down. That was the case with this book. She does a good job of fleshing out her characters, and I appreciated the protagonist's journey in "finding herself," and "finding her voice" in a relationship, and being haunted by why her mother left her from she was four, and then finding herself in a parallel situation when she had a son with nil support from her husband. All that said, I still only give it a 3. I read Jodi Picoult as an escape, wh
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Jun 28, 2009
Delia
rated it:
Harvesting the Heart is a great book about learning to accept your past in order to embrace your future.
Paige is a girl that has been abandoned by her mother when she is just five years old. Although her father does the best he can raising her, she still misses out on all the things only a mother can teach a daughter.
While growing up, Paige also comes to understand that her drawing captures more than just the image of a person, sometimes she can also capture scenes from More...
Paige is a girl that has been abandoned by her mother when she is just five years old. Although her father does the best he can raising her, she still misses out on all the things only a mother can teach a daughter.
While growing up, Paige also comes to understand that her drawing captures more than just the image of a person, sometimes she can also capture scenes from More...
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