Sam Piette’s Comments (group member since Jun 18, 2009)

Sam Piette’s comments from the Curl Up with a Good Book - - Club group.

I'm currently on page 144. I found the beginning hard to get into at first but now I'm pretty absorbed into the characters. I have a feeling I am going to read the rest fairly quickly as I get to know the characters more and more and become attached to them.

I'm on page 30 or so. I hope to get a lot more read soon as I'm enjoying it so far. I just need to 'dive in' and then there is likely no stopping me. :-)

My vote is for The Russian Concubine since I just bought it last night at Target. :-D I added it to the "Currently Reading" list on the group. My Sister's Keeper is still on the "Currently Reading" list as well, for those of you who are still reading.

Also, feel free to post books to the group in the "to-read" section if you have any suggestions for new books.

Corinne wrote: "I'm suggesting two books for our NEXT book:

The Russian Concubine
or
The Joy Luck Club

They are both on the group bookshelf, take a peek, and cast your vote!"

Have you read either of these Corinne?

I agree with Corinne that the basic idea behind the story is that life needs to be "lived" instead of just playing a waiting game. Sara and Brian learned a valuable lesson in that no one is guaranteed a full life, they just happened to learn it with the child they didn't think would have to worry about it.

I also don't feel that the end was a cop-out, however I think it could have been better. Looking back, I suppose you can say that about anything though, that it could have been better. Easy for me to say since I didn't actually write the book, nor do I have any writing talent at all. I would have liked to know more about what caused the car accident and more about Anna's last moments. I'm not sure why the author included Campbell saying that he has no doubt Anna will be amazing 10 years from now. That actually didn't sit well with me. I found it as a little slap in the face when the accident happened that they were JUST discussing how she would grow up and then she dies. I feel that the end could have been a little slower and that the author could have drawn out the process of actually deciding whether to pull the plug on Anna or not, instead of Campbell making the decision so quickly. In the end though, that was the decision that needed to be made, so I suppose it didn't matter much how quickly it was made.

All in all, I liked the book. I didn't love it, only because of the ending being a twist that caught me off guard. I knew it was coming, but it happened very quickly. I found it incredibly easy to read and get hooked into, as well as easy to feel compassionate for the characters and what they were going through. I'm interested to see what the movie is like and I think I will be reading more of Jodi Picoult's books in the future.

Once you finish the book, feel free to post here what you thought about it. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Did you cry? Did you scream out in disbelief? Did the end work the way you thought it would, or should? Good and bad, share your thoughts. :-)

Now that I have finished the book my favorite characters are both Anna and Kate. They are both capable of and more mature than I would think any 13 and 16 year old could be.

So far mine is Anna (because she's intriguing and acts so much older than she is) and Campbell (because of all the excuses he gives people when they ask him why he needs a guide dog if he's not blind.)

My favorite excuse from Campbell so far: "I have SARS and the dog is keeping tally of how many people I infect." HAHA! Sarcastically wonderful.

I created this club so that I would have someone to read My Sister's Keeper with so that I didn't just bawl through the entire book alone (I've been told it's very emotional!) So, that is our first book! After literally crying through the PREVIEW of the movie I knew it was time to read the book that I have heard is so good.

Please, have fun and start discussions! :-)

Yay! I ordered a copy last week and should get it tomorrow. Anyone else have their copy already?