Lea added a quote:
"You can tell yourself that you would be willing to lose everything you have in order to get something you want. But it's a catch-22: all of those things you're willing to lose are what make you recognizable. Lose them, and you've lost yourself." — Jodi Picoult

Lea added a quote:
"Or in other words, it's the substance you've got when you start that determines the outcome." — Jodi Picoult

Lea added a quote:
"Maybe you had to leave in order to really miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was...

...Parents aren't the people you come from. They're the people you want to be, when you grow up.
I sat between my mother and my father, watching strangers on TV carry in Shaker rockers and dusty paintings and ancient beer tankards and cranberry glass dishes; people and their hidden treasures, who had to be told by experts that they'd taken something incredibly precious for granted." — Jodi Picoult

Lea read and liked Jeni's review of Salem Falls:

"Pretty much it's a modern day The Crucible. Jack, who was wrongly accused of rape the previous year, comes to Salem Falls after being released from jail. The local diner owner gives him a chance and he becomes a dishwasher there. A local teenage girl...more Pretty much it's a modern day The Crucible. Jack, who was wrongly accused of rape the previous year, comes to Salem Falls after being released from jail. The local diner owner gives him a chance and he becomes a dishwasher there. A local teenage girl, Gillian, is the typical pretty, popular, and rich kid-meaning she is all fucked up. This generalization comes from books and movies-not anything I have seen in real life. Well, except Paris Hilton.

Gillian has a crush on Jack. Being a witch (meaning she and her friends are wiccans), she casts some spells to try and attract Jack to her. Jack, being convicted of rape of a minor in the past, stays far away. Then he catches her and her friends in the middle of a wiccan celebration. He rebuffs her advances and boom-she accuses him of rape.

I've decided that Picoult's books aren't captivating enough to keep me up all night reading (like Anita Shreve does), but they are really good books. The one lesson I have come to learn is: there is always something Picoult leaves hanging. In the last book-I didn't know whether or not Faith had really seen God or was making it up. In this book, I can't figure out if Gillian's father knew that she was lying (and provided the semen left on her thigh) or if he believed her (and where exactly did the semen come from). I also think that the last page of the book implies that he has been molesting her (maybe even sleeping with her) since her mother died. Things like that bug me. Maybe that's her personal touch, they way she likes to write-blah, blah, blah. I hate it. I want things to be tied up at the end. I don't want to spend anymore time wondering. I finished the book. My reward should be closure.

It's a good book. All her books are good. I will probably keep reading them. I guess I am going to have to suck it up and get over the whole "no closure" thing. (less) "

Lea read and liked Nilanjona's review of Salem Falls:

"Picoult's books always make you think, and show you how there are many sides to just one issue. On the surface, Salem Falls is the story of a modern-day witchhunt in the form of a rape trial, but it's really the backstories of the characters that ma...more Picoult's books always make you think, and show you how there are many sides to just one issue. On the surface, Salem Falls is the story of a modern-day witchhunt in the form of a rape trial, but it's really the backstories of the characters that make the book what it is. Her style of writing is unpretentious but definitely carries a strong message. From the beginning, it is fairly obvious how the rape trial will end. However, it is the entire process of the trial and the actions of each character that makes the reader heavily involved with the story. Your opinions of the characters will change throughout the book.

There is one shocking revelation in the book, though that comes at literally the very end. It is something hinted at throughout the book - certain passages give you a bit of an "off" feeling but you shrug it off. However, once you finish reading the book, you'll want to go back and re-read these same passages in the light of the new information. It changes the tone of these passages and the motivations of certain characters completely.(less) "