Jodi Picoult

[Bree]

Anybody a fan of her or read any of her books? Which was your favorite? Least favorite?

[Ashley]

I am. I've read:
My Sister's Keeper
Keeping Faith
Nineteen Minutes
Harvesting The Heart
The Pact

She is a wonderful author. Her novels make people think about situations that they think could never happen to them.

[Tami]

I have never read anything by her. She seems to have fans and enemies. Will probably try to read something by her soon, but have too many in line first. :)

[[deleted user]]

I love her books. I've read:
My Sisters Keeper
The 10th Circle
The Pact
19 Minutes
Keeping Faith
Plain Truth

I think she's great, although maybe a little predictable after a point.

My favourite was The Pact A Love Story. It stayed with me for days afterwards. Emily is a really interesting character.

[Amber]

I've read My Sister's Keeper and thats about it, most of the other story lines haven't appealed to me but I do want to check them out at some point.

[Tahleen]

I love Jodi Picoult, though some are better than others. My favorite is Second Glance, I REALLY recommend this one if you haven't gotten to it. Keeping Faith is my second favorite, followed by Plain Truth.

[Bri]

I really enjoy Jodi Picoult's books. They all seem to focus on lawsuits though. But that's ok if you don't mind predictability! =) I've read several and enjoyed them all.

[Annie]

LOVVVE Plain Truth and Keeping Faith. Disapearing Acts is really good too.

Ive heard she is super nice too. Im from Vermont, she's from New Hampshire. My boyfriends mom is a huge fan. She had a friend who actually worked at the police barracks where Jodi gets her info for her books. She told my boy's mom to send her books over anytime and she would be happy to sign them for her. She signed them all and had them all back to her within a week or two.

[Ralph Gallagher]

I've read 19 Minutes and Perfect Match and I loved them both. =)

[Silvia]

I think people make too big of a fuss over her. The storylines are good but the execution could be much better. I think they make for a good read but something is missing, some emotional element. I can't put my finger on it. I just think the key element of connecting with the reader is missing in her writing and if she found it her writing would be exceptional.

[Tahleen]

Silvia, now that I think about it I definitely see what you mean... there is something missing to connect the reader to the characters, though some are better than others. But I still really enjoy her books nonetheless, most of the time I don't really need to connect with the characters in order to feel satisfied after having read one of her books. Though I definitely didn't like Mercy and Songs of the Humpback Whale, probably because I was bored by the characters and the plots.

[[deleted user]]

With ya there on Songs of the Humpback Whale, Tahleen. It's really boring.

She's great, but her court scenes (which are in many of her books) get really predictable.

[Tahleen]

I do have to say, though, that I didn't know which way it was gonna go in The Pact... that one was tough to read anyway. Very emotionally draining.

[Liz]

I haven't read much Picoult. The four I have read are:
Keeping Faith
Vanishing Acts
My Sister's Keeper
The Tenth Circle
Those are my order of preference for them. I did not like the endings of the last two!

[Tami]

I haven't read anything by her. Maybe I will try to pick one up sometime.

[Melissa]

I read My Sister's Keeper. It was a pretty interesting read for me because a) I was born in-vitro, just like the main character and b) I have a kind of cancer somewhat similar to the main character's sister, and I've also received a bone marrow transplant. I really liked the brother's character, but found the ending a little predictable even though it was supposed to be a "twist." I haven't been able to get into her other books because they all seem to be the exact same plot, haha.

[Tahleen]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Try Second Glance! It's so good, and I thought very different. I don't think all her plots are the same, though they tend to be similar, but some are better than others.

[Silvia]

Tahleen, I am currently reading Nineteen Minutes and this books is definatly better that the ones I've read in the past.

[Tahleen]

Silvia, I really liked Nineteen Minutes too... but man what a hard, emotional read.

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, I felt really sorry for the guy by the end.

[Tahleen]

So I just finished Handle with Care the other night, and I have to say I didn't really like it. Disappointing.

[Annie]

Tahleen wrote: "So I just finished Handle with Care the other night, and I have to say I didn't really like it. Disappointing."


I got this for Easter from my mom and my suitemate read it before I did. She's read Jodi Picoult in the past and she said the same thing. I have yet to read it.. mostly because I keep hearing the same review.

[Tahleen]

Yeah it's one to skip if you're going to skip some... I hope her next one is better. It looks pretty good, I'm pretty sure it's called House Rules.

[Tahleen]

Sony, Vanishing Acts was definitely not my favorite of hers. It was okay, but I would recommend Second Glance, especially if you like ghost stories.

[Emily]

I feel like most of her books disappoint. I feel like she picks a theme/story that she thinks other people will think is deep, and then writes about it. Her works remind me of a lifetime movie marathon. It's one issue after another, but it never really rings true. I think that maybe she didn't used to be that way. Maybe she's like Steven King, who started out good but then kind of turned into a novel factory. I feel like that's what she is. She just pumps out the books on the next hot topic, rakes in the cash, and moves on.
As a side note, I did kind of like My Sister's Keeper, but that was in middle/high school and mostly because I was in love with Jesse.

[Emily]

Emily, I agree!!!

I read 19 minutes and thought it was alright, tried to read keeping faith and couldn't get through the first couple chapters. Theres just something.....boring about her writing. I feel like it doesn't have a lot of feeling behind it, like you said she picks issues she thinks other people will think are deep and therefore doesn't have a strong emotional tie to her book. She has written 17 books in the past 17 years which seems crazy to me! But i guess she is doing something right bc she certainly has a lot of fans.

[Tahleen]

Emily, I love Keeping Faith, it's one of my favorites by her! lol

I really do like her books, even if they lack a certain something. I see her books as mostly about relationships, revolving around these issues. And I still say you should read Second Glance, I think it's her best by far.

[Abigail (42stitches)]

I have read seven of her books now and I only really liked one. Second Glance is a pretty good book. Salem Falls was pretty funny, but only because it really shouldn't have been. The problems of sex in a small town and witchcraft, yay.

[Alicia]

I had to read My Sister's Keeper in a high school english class and wasn't really impressed by it. However, I read The Tenth Circle and liked it a lot.
Her books are sort of hit and miss with me. They all have basically the same story line, but so does some other authors I like read (like Mary Higgins Clark).
So far, I have read:
My Sister's Keeper
The Tenth Circle
Nineteen Minutes
Salem Falls
The Pact: A Love Story

I'm just about to finish Handle With Care, and I do not like it at all! Her writing style seems a bit different in this one, and it reminds me of Mt Sister's Keeper, just with a different problem.

[Tahleen]

I didn't like Handle with Care either. It doesn't really get any better.

[Ashley]

Jodi has a book coming out next year called "Sing You Home" . It involves GLBT issues and what it means to be a family. Now I have high expectations for that one and hope she doesn't disappoint. Mainly because I am a lesbian myself. When it comes to things that we relate to and/or are near and dear to our heart, we tend to have high expectations.

[Emily]

I've read quite a few Picoult's. Loved some, hated others and most I find addicting and easy to read. A nice break from novels that require more thought.

Loved: My Sister's Keeper, The Pact, Keeping Faith, Plain Truth
Didn't mind: Vanishing Acts, Handle With Care ( the same as My Sister's Keeper pretty much)
Hated: The Tenth Circle and Songs of the Humpback Whale

[Carissa]

I've read "My Sister's Keeper" and "Perfect Match."

I liked both a lot, although I was NOT a fan of the mother in "Perfect Match." The subject matter(which I can relate to) is sensitive, but I think she handled it well. It was a fairly quick read, and did give me some things to think about.

[Caitlin]

My stepmom and I both read her books... And we both love them, which I find interesting, because we're pretty different, in general.

I LOVED The Tenth Circle... Probably because of the comics part, really. I think My Sister's Keeper is overrated... I like all the other books she's written much more. Mercy was beautiful... And I did like House Rules a lot. 19 Minutes is probably my absolute favourite... Picture Perfect was good too. I think all of her novels are amazing... and you can take so much away from them, depending on who you are and your beliefs, which I find fantastic.

<3

[Mostly on Storygraph]

I just saw this talk by Elaine Showalter where she was talking about her book on female authors, A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx, and an audience member asked which female American authors she thinks will we be reading a hundred years or so down the line and she mentioned Toni Morrison, Jhumpa Lahiri, and some others I expected. She then also said she'd be interested in seeing what Jodi Picoult will have to offer in the future - so that says a lot I think.

[Natanya]

I'm reviving this ancient thread because Jodi Picoult is going to be in my area in March (doing a talk on The Storyteller), so I'm trying to read several of her books before I see her! I started with House Rules because it's my roommate's favorite (and he owns a copy, so I didn't have to get my own), and I'm enjoying it so far! Has anyone else read it?

Also, has anyone read The Storyteller? I'm going to read that in Jan or Feb in preparation for her talk. My roommate liked it (to the extent that a Holocaust novel can be enjoyable...).

[Jasmine]

I had a turnaround epiphany with Picoult. I actually was not a huge fan of My Sister's Keeper (I blame the built-up expectations) and pretty much swore her off entirely. But then I picked up The Storyteller for a reading challenge and am having change of heart. I think I will give her one more go in the future. Any suggestions what would be good? From the thread, it seems like maybe Nineteen Minutes or the Tenth Circle is a popular choice?