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Jan 27, 2008

Mrs. Bowers rated it:

Mercy??? This book should have been named Selfish. I mean, I get it, I get it -- by the end, the title is more than understandable, the way it ties into pretty much every storyline -- but overall I was semi disappointed in this book. I think the main reason for my disappointment stems from the fact that I couldn't STAND Cam. He is every wife's worst nightmare: lying, cheating, the works. I was so disgusted with him, and so indifferent toward the other characters, that for the first two-thir More...

15 comments like (27 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2008

Petra X rated it:

If there had been half-stars, this book would have ratedd 2.5. It was better than ok, but I didn't really like it. I had read four or five Jodi Picoult novels and found, from the first high of My Sister's Keeper it to be a slow, downhill road and this book doesn't break that path.

The first half, which took me three days to read, established the characters, none of whom I liked.

There is the adulterous husband who feels guilty about never passing up an opportunity to More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2008

April rated it:

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0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2008

Jessie rated it:

I could not put this book down- Jodi's writing is so deep and captivating that I found profound thoughts and insights on nearly every page. The story itself was ok, but what I liked about the book the most was how psychological it was- the insights and emotions of the characters, and how you could literally see through their eyes and understand their circumstances... thanks to Jodi. She's so poetic and uses the most amazing imagery to describe how someone is feeling, or what they are thinking. More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2007

Maura rated it:

I only read it a few weeks ago and can't really remember anything of the story. Didn't make much of an impression at all, but was good at distracting me from the fact that I was a passenger of an eight hour drive.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Suzanne rated it:

I don't know what drew me in to this particular book... I guess I loved the love story between Jamie & Maggie. My heart broke over and over again for Allie, but in the end I was happy that her and Cam decided to work things out and try to start over.

The question is... how much do you love your spouse? What would you be willing to do for them? At what cost? What are you able to forgive? Reading how much Jamie & Maggie loved each other makes you wish that you were a fly on the w More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 13, 2008

Christina rated it:

Jodi Picoult is probably one of my favorite authors, excluding Jane Austen, of course. I love the way her books grab a hold of you and don’t let you go until the very end. But probably my favorite thing is that she tackles tough moral issues in her novels.

Throughout the novel, I got the distinct suspicion that I had already read Mercy but never finished it. Maybe that was a sign of things to come.

I liked the story in Mercy and there certainly where some parts when Picoult gra More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2008

Lauren rated it:

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0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2009

Melissa rated it:

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1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

"Police chief of a small Massachusetts town, Cameron McDonald makes the toughest arrest of his life when his own cousin Jamie comes to him and confesses outright that he has killed his terminally ill wife out of mercy.
Now, a heated murder trial plunges the town into upheaval, and drives a wedge into a contented marriage: Cameron, aiding the prosecution in their case against Jamie, is suddenly at odds with his devoted wife, Allie -- seduced by the idea of a man so in love with his wife More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2008

Susan rated it:

Another volume in my Picoult obsession... I'm starting to see the formula: ripped-from-the-headlines story; three or four characters presenting their point of view; a trial. Even knowing sort of what to expect, I still get caught up in the narratives.

I think I had the most visceral response to this book out of five or so others I have now read... I felt for the wife of the police and clan chief, who loved her husband more than he did. But also for her husband, who was so caught up in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 19, 2008

Lisa rated it:

I was not really a fan of this book. It could be so much better, IMO. The flashbacks to Scotland were strange and I found it dragged quite a bit. Certainly nowhere near my favourite of Picoult.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 21, 2011

Danielle rated it:

It's been a tough read. I have restarted this same book 3 times. I am currently in my fourth and I want to get close to straight through it. It is not that it isn't interesting, there is just alot of background knowledge throughout the first 200 pages.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2008

Mary rated it:

I started this book three times before actually getting hooked and finishing it. Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, but this is not my favorite book by her.
I felt sorry for Allie and what she was going through. She was so devoted and in love with Cam, but he didn't return the infatuation. Mia was annoying and selfish. Angus was awesome! Jamie had a broken heart and did what he was asked to do, even though it meant he could go to jail for the rest of his life.
Overall it' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 12, 2009

Vhernalyn rated it:

I liked this book but it's not the best one of Jodi Picoult's many novels. It really puts the reader's opinion of mercy killing into question. Jamie MacDonald drove to another town's police office to confess that he killed his wife who was dying of cancer. His cousin, Cameron, so happens to be the police chief of that town and though they may be related, Cameron is going to testify against Jamie in court. The book brought out some interesting points about love. I'm not much of a romance novel re More...

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Jan 01, 2009

Donna rated it:

This is one of my favorite books of all time. It explores the possibilities of how much you could love someone and what you would do for that other person. It also explores what we ask others to do for us - is it pure selfishness or something else. The characters are very well-developed. Cam is the police chief, but he seems more caught up in tradition and duty than doing what's best for him. He floats along in life letting situations dictate what happens to him, especially in his marriage. Alli More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2012

Sarah rated it:

Cameron Macdonald the fifth is the police chief in a small town called Wheelock, and leader of the original Scottish clan that settled there, not that he wants to be. He wanted to be a travel writer, but when his father died had to take the position of police chief the same way his father, grandfather, and other ancestors before him had.

Then, one day, two new arrivals in town totally turn Cam's world upside down, for two totally different reasons.

The first is Jamie Macdon More...

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Nov 17, 2011

Marissa rated it:

Aaaaaa! I don't know I love Jodi Picoult she is an AMAZING author and if you look at my read list you can see that I have read almost every book by Jodi and could not put any of them down I have even gone as far as to read some of them twice. I have also watched every movie that corresponses to the books and loved most of them too. But this book I could not finish. I was just not interested enough to keep reading. A good story is hidden somewhere in this book and if I hit a snag in book buying I More...

0 comments like

Oct 23, 2011

Sooraj added it

My introduction to Picoult - I wasn't disappointed (yes, the validation of traditional mid-afternoon-cup-of-tea-after-picking-the-kids-up-from-school values work for me) but I was bored.

The beginning was slow and annoyingly drawn out. I wanted to slap all the characters, especially Allie for being such a goody-two-shoes non-adventurous little house-frau. The middle of the book wasn't any more riveting, but the Cam-Mia affair was actually hot and sweet. The most interesting part, however, was th More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I really liked this book, but at the same time a part of me was realy upset with the Charaters. Cam and Mia were by far the ones who upset me the most. Cam had the perfect like, a cop and a wife who would do anything to keep him satisfied. Mia an ungrateful woman who was taken unders Allies wing, but she decided to sleep with her husband in her own house! It wasnt just a one time thing, they went off on a trips as a 'married couple', her nver seemed to have remorse for cheating on his wife, he o More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Laurie added it

It's a euthanasia novel--no, it's a Diane Gabaldon Highlander time travel novel--no, it's a study of how infidelity impacts a marriage. Yes, it's all three, and like the 3 or 4 other Picoult novels I have read, it's a combination of Lifestyle Cable issue of the month and whatever literary style is popular at the time. When a clansman euthanizes his ailing wife and brings her body to his highland chieftain in Massachusetts (in the modern world, the chief is a police chief), he must both defend More...

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Jul 22, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

I think this was Picoult's first book. And it shows. It was not as well written how her later books were and the details just weren't there either. Man kills his wife because she is dying of cancer and she asked him too. Obviously, since she is gone, we can't ask her if she meant it or not. Trial on if he was crazy or something like that. Of course, he gets off. As he should. I mean hell, the guy wasn't even put in jail after he admitted the "crime" nor was he in jail during the trial. More...

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Jun 18, 2011

Britni rated it:

I've stayed away from her books for a little while because sometimes I just need a light and fun read, and Picoult's books are anything but light. This one is no exception. The main point of the book is about mercy (hence the title). As the back cover puts it, "When does love cross the line of moral obligation. And what does it mean to truly love another?" I had high hopes for this book as I began reading it and those high hopes were upheld as the book began to picked up its pace as a More...

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Jun 06, 2011

Julie rated it:

Jodi Picoult has a way of developing well thought out characters - they're so believable, you feel like you really know them. This story is about Jamie who kills his cancer-stricken wife, Maggie because she asks him to end her suffering. Jamie goes on trial in the town of Wheelock where his cousin, Cam is the police chief. He goes there beause of their Scottish background, thinking that Cam will be an honorable man in dealing with him. Cam is married to Allie. I saw Cam as selfish, and not More...

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Jun 03, 2011

Joyce rated it:

Not at all my favorite by this author. I was excited to read about Jamie's life with Maggie and have Jodi fill in the details leading up to the killing. The side story about Cam and Allie was horrible. I kept reading, even when I wanted to throw the book down and stomp on it, because I wanted to know that Allie would leave Cam and find love with someone who appreciated her. I was completely disappointed with the way everything turned out.

I was so carried away in anger toward Mia and Ca More...

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Mar 15, 2011

Victoria rated it:

This is another one that I didn't initially like all that much. Not that it's bad, but when I first read it, I didn't enjoy it as much as her others and now I think it is closer to the first book that she wrote - the kind that grows on you after reading it several times.

Mostly, I have a hard time identifying with any of the characters - it's mostly about these three couples, albeit only five people. It's mostly about love - and I still don't identify with any of them, which is probabl More...

0 comments like

Feb 10, 2011

Alisha added it

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2 comments like

Jun 20, 2010

Juliana rated it:

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0 comments like

Apr 15, 2010

Melissa rated it:

The only character I liked in this book was Jaime. Allie was pathetic, Cam was a POS, and Mia was just annoying. At the beginning of each chapter, there are letters. She never tells you who the letters are to or from, they're just there. And they could really be between so many people... I just want you to tell me. I don't want to have to try to figure it out. I don't want to read a "choose your own adventure," I want you to tell me a story. That's why I read, you know? So that More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 05, 2009

Jeni rated it:

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