The End .

Knowing that almost every Jodi Picoult books ends with a bang and a box of tissues at your side, I have procrastinated finishing this book until today.
So without further waiting, I must say that I loved this book all in all, and in general, I love Jodi Picoult's style of writing, but I was a bit disappointed with the ending. It was an expected ending (SPOILER ALERT) with Charlotte winning the lawsuit, and (I hate to say it) Willow dying. There's a slightly repetitive pattern with Picoult books in this way. Just like in "My Sister's Keeper", one of the essential characters die, and they win the lawsuit. I mean, I think the ending had a strong base, but she could've built it up more to make it more unexpected. Also, the part where Willow passes away, that part passed by so fast (in less that 3 pages) that I did not feel the complete impact of her death on the family and what happened from there on.

Otherwise, I loved the rest of the book, especially the dialogue between the characters.

The Lawsuit.

The moment that we've all been waiting for has finally come: the lawsuit.

The papparazzi-like reporters,
ferocious lawyers,
and pure nausea is what this case is made of.
Just sitting in the "hot-chair" testifying can emotionally scar you.

Marin and Charlotte thought they had the case in the bag, using the jury's sympathy for their own means: having them understand and sympathize with Charlotte for Willow's future when she won't be there to take care of her, and also so that she'll be able to financially support herself so that she can live life the way she wants without feeling restricted by her OI condition. The only problem is that the otherside that they're up against has a really crafty lawyer who's able to twist the truth around and around until you can hardly recognize it at all. They've also got a secret weapon that could cost Charlotte's side the whole case: her husband. ALthough the interviews have begun, there is still no clear winner.... well, I guess we'll be finding out soon enough!

WARNING: Make Sure Relationships are "Handle[d] With Care"

Lawsuits can be ugly.... For example, divorce cases can usually effect the children negatively and things suddenly become money-oriented, that once your fair judgement strays off course, it's hard to get back track.
During the Wrongful birth trial filed by Charlotte O'Keefe, many things have strayed from the norm. Charlotte and Piper are no longer the best friends they once were, Willow is thinking (because of the trial) that she shouldn't've ever been born, Amelia has become an emo girl who cuts herself to feel better, and she has become bolemic because she thinks she's fat. Oh, I forgot to mention, Sean is filing to get divorced from Charlotte. What else can go wrong?
I feel bad for Charlotte, since everyone thinks she's the worste mother on the planet for sueing on the account that her daughter has OI. When, on the contrary, she can be considered quite a good mother because the money's she's going to use from the trial will be used for Willow's future. But... this one question has been nagging me the whole time:

is it worth it?
You're shattering your daughter's confidence, damaging the life of the other, ruining your friendship with someone who's been your best friend since forever, and breaking up your marriage?

Not sure how much the good outweighs the bad, but maybe things will take a turn for the better soon!

Handle With Care continued. . .

Okay so with every Jodi Picoult story comes a twist including lawyers. In the book, the parents of Willow had been trying to get a lawsuit set up against the hospital who took care of Willow during her Disney-World-incident because of how they treated them. The lawyers found nothing to take up against the hospital fit for a lawsuit so they dropped that idea. But the lawyers found something else out... that the mamograms of Willow revealed from before she was born that she would end up with OI. This means that the parents could've been given a chance to abort the fetus if they'd known, the thing is, they love Willow and they do not regret having her (with or without OI). Also, the person they'd sue in this case would be Piper(the mother's) best friend. Now that's a problem.

Obviously, Willow's parents love her very much, but there are many questions to answer. Could they have prevented this fate of restricting her to casts and wheelchairs, or would they have gone on ahead and had her if they knew?

Handle With Care

This book is driving me crazy! With Willow having OI, Events are stopped in their tracks at any moment! Meaning, anything can take a turn for the worse at a moment's notice. But, hey, I guess that's what happens when you're child has OI. Luckily, her family loves her the way she is and wouldn't have her be any other way. Willow, besides having OI, is a smart girl who has a pretty advanced brain at her age.
Recently in the Jodi Picout's Handle with Care , Charlotte and Sean (the parents) have taken their children to Disney land. This in itself was a major risks, for the rides could easily injure Willow, but they went anyways because they wanted their children to feel like regular kids. Unfortunately, Willow manages to break half her body slipping on a napkin at a restaurant. This leads to the family skipping their vacation and getting rushed to the hospital. And to make things worse, the parents are stuck in jail because the hospital there thinks Willow broke her bones because of child abuse, and Charlotte is placed in a foster home!
Now you must understand why this book simply tears me apart... something seems to always happen as soon as you put your guard down. Like right now, Charlotte is trying to let Willow experience ice skating! That situation right there is a recipe for disaster.... One of the reasons why is that Willow is as fragile as glass, and, well, putting her on ice isn't exactly the safest thing, don't you think?

Handle With Care

I've started a new book this quarter after finishing "Rebecca"--which by the way took a dramatic turn toward the end, revealing that Rebecca was not drowned, but murdered by her husband Maxim. Anyway, the new book is Jodi Picoult's "Handle With Care".
"Handle With Care" is about the struggles of a family with a daughter diagnosed with OI--osteogenesis imperfecta-- resulting in her having brittle bones that are extremely fragile. I could only imagine the kind of devotion this family gives their daughter with her having this problem. Luckily, the family has some pretty great friends for support. On the bright side, the daughter, Willow, is a perfectly normal girl otherwise, but I predict soon, something will occur that'll challenge this family's faith and unity. I only predict this because Jodi Picoult puts some sort of twist on each one of her stories... therefore, we'll soon be finding out.

SECOND QUARTER POSTS

Rebecca... a reading in progress

Right now in Rebecca , our heroine is about to leave the hotel she is staying in in England to accompany her employer on a trip to New York (possibly.... That is, I predict this trip for her will not take place). As she speaks of this new route her life is about to take , she goes on a tangent about change. Change is something different. For her, it's moving from place to place; whether it's from one room to another, or one country to another, change is change! But, what she says is that no matter how long you're there and why you're there, the moment you share with that place is yours to keep: no matter how significant or insignificant. This idea of change reminds me of The Catcher in the Rye . Holden being scared of change and trying to hold on(Holden's name is like "hold on") to all that is familiar and innocent to him. This change that Holden is going through is adolescence, and the change the main character emphasizes in the story is change from one place to another, when in reality, she is describing the change she is going through from being a school girl to becoming a real, sophisticated woman. Talk about coincidences! It seems change is a popular topic to write about on the account that everyone goes through it and it is easy for no one.
Well, hopefully our heroine will not have to really go through this unhappy change if Mr. De Winter has any feelings toward her (which I think he does). Will her pursuit for happiness succeed? We will soon find out!

Rebecca ... Continued: Chapter 6

This book can get quite addicting. I don't know what about it that makes you want more but I've been hooked!
By now in the book, we have found out who the mysterious Rebecca is: the dead wife of Maxim de Winter. The thing is, then who's the narrator? We have yet to find out. In the novel at this point, we see a romance growing between our heroine and Mr.De Winter... I mean it was bound to happen eventually, but who knew it'd happen so quickly? But can their love be when their class differences separate them. Also, it seems like Mr.De Winter's past haunts him. Whenever Menderley is mentioned, he seems to drift away from reality, but I do not think he has a strong connection to his house or anything... more likely, the past of his wife till this day leaves his heart in anguish. Even our heroine seems to be influenced by this Rebecca; seeing her name in Maxim's book and just by how confidently she write, the narrator is intimidated and somewhat jealous of this strong, influential lady. Hopefully our narrator will not be too influenced by this Rebecca, because there certainly is chemistry between Maxim de Winter and herself.

Rebecca

Temporarily, I am dropping Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, the language is hard to understand and I, personally, do not feel like spending too much interpretting it, therefore, I picked out a new book this week: Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.
Rebecca is about a heroine--who remains nameless--who lives in Europe with her husband, Maxim de Winter, traveling from hotel to hotel, remembering of a beautiful home called Manderley, which, we learn, has been destroyed by a fire. The story begins with her memories of how she and Maxim first met, in Monte Carlo, years before. During that time, she was traveling along with Mrs. Van Hopper, whose very air is gossip, and with her help, she meets Maxim de Winter. By the way he greets her, I feel some static in the air, and possibly some unexpected emotions. During this meeting, the narrator is still a fresh-out-of-school girl: she is young, inexperienced, and pretty unexposed to the world. You feel in her a certain ambition to get away from the lifestyle and time she lives in. A time where women were "indoor" people and considered slightly inferior to men. Through her thoughts you could see her yearning for something better : " I sighed, and turned away from the window. The sun was so full of promise, and the sea was whipped white with a merry wind."(22) 
Then again, what she's yearning for isn't just for a better life, but maybe for happiness. Possibly Mr. de Winter will play a role in making this come true! 

A Tale of Two Cities

 A Tale of Two Cities takes place during 1775 during the time when Britain was handling the American revolution, and when France was had excessive spending,  extreme violence, a trend that anticipates the erection of the guillotine (the Reign of Terror). All in all, Charles Dickens spoke of a time including much instability, corruption, chaos, and much distrust amongst people in government and citizens. Dickens was able to summarize it all as "the best of times, [...and] the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..." (3).

So far, my only concern about this book is the fact that its archaic language is hard for me to adapt to. Otherwise, I really love Charles Dickens' style of writing: with his deep descriptions, as well as sophisticated tone, it's hard not to want to read more.

Vanishing Acts: The Ending

In one weekend alone, I read the whole book, Vanishing Acts (at least from the part I left of on in my last blog entry). If that isn't proof enough that this book was pretty much outstanding... then I don't know what is. I didn't put down this book at all while reading it! At the beginning of the book, the story was slightly slow, but gradually, the conflict, drama, and twists started building up until... KABOOM, everything collapsed and the world of Delia Hopkins shattered before her eyes as the identity of Bethany Matthews slowly revealed itself. What really frustrated me in the book was the suspense that went on in the story:  as the father endures his time in jail (dealing with gangs, violence, and drug dealing that goes on), as Eric struggles with his problems as an alcoholic, his marriage with Delia, and the case of Andrew, as Fitz hides his secret love for Delia and fights the urge to write his newspaper story on her, and as Delia discovers her "past life" (before being kidnapped) and struggles in her life as a single-mom. Regardless of the suspense that tortured me throughout the novel, I loved it!

The great parts about Jodi Picoult's books are that they involve so many different elements. Like, the elements of love, suspense, drama, law, and that each book of hers revolves around controversial topics of today. Even though the books are fiction, they not only portray what goes on in the court scenes, but what is being thought by the lawyers, the accused, and even the loved ones of those affected by the case.

Vanishing Acts: Chapter One

     Talk about a grabber. This book hooked me right from the start. I pretty much love Jodi Picoult's books on the account that she switches between the characters' perspectives each chapter, and because of the tones she creates for each character: they're so life-like! Also, her writing style is quite amazing: she combines profound observations with the attitude and feelings of a mother. Jodi Picoult really adds a new spin on things.
     Jodi Picoult's Vanishing Acts is about a woman named Delia who for a living finds and rescues missing perons. She is currently planning out her wedding to take place with one of her life-long-friends, Eric, and for her, life is pretty much normal. That is until she suddenly gets flashbacks of a life she can't recall, and the sudden appearance of a police at her door coming to arrest her "father" for kidnapping of Bethany Matthews. Who this Bethany is, we soon find out, was her.
     Upon hearing this, I was so shocked ! How could the man whom she thought as her own father be her kidnapper? It's so unexpected!  And why would he do such a thing: is there a motive? At least the cause of her visions is known; all because the man who she lives with is not really her own flesh and blood... but a stranger.
    The real questions now are, how will this affect her child, her soon-to-occur marriage, her relationship with her "father", and what will happen now that she knows she doesn't know her real parents? So much suspense! I can't wait to read ahead!

And Then There Were None

Wow, what a book! The suspense was agonizing, but all worth it in the end. Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None is about ten people who were summoned to Indian Island--each with different reasons. As soon as they get there, they all want to meet the person who was responsible for summoning them there, but they soon find out that they are the only ones on this mysterious island. Soon enough, people start disapearing one by one, and are later discovered dead. The question on everyone's minds suddenly becomes: who is next? Eventually all ten are found dead, but the only question that remains is who was it that was responsible for all this?
I thought it very creative how Agatha Christie conducted the happenings in this book: how she tied in the poem about the ten little indians, and how the killer was amongst them. Also, how she misled the reader to think one person is the murderer, and to all of a sudden put them on the list of "innocent" because they wound up dead. No wonder Agatha Christie has the title the "Queen of Crime", she deserves it especially after writing such a thrilling mystery!
I found it especially interesting how she decided to reveal to all of us (warning : SPOILER) how all that happened on the island was nothing magic, just the cleverness of Mr. Justice Wargrace. I can most definitely see myself re-reading this fantastic mystery in the near future!

Jane Eyre

I have to say, I absolutely love this book! Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte is an absolute page-turner that you never want to put down from start to finish--and even after it's finished. It's about a woman who overcomes many struggles in her life--socially and financially-- in order to achieve equal stature with her one true love. This book takes place in England around the 1800's, a time where marrying into one's social class was important. It is definitely inspiring how a woman with integrity, perseverance, and cleverness is able to break through class restrictions to come up equal with the man she adores: Mr. Rochester--her employer.
What I love most about the book is how romantic it is between Mr. Rochester and her--their interactions, how he would lead her on when he knew their love was almost impossible at first, and how in the very end everything worked out; though, what tortured me for a while in the book was her leaving him--I mean, couldn't there have been another way? On the brightside though, the ending was made even better that way.
This book somewhat reminds me of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I notice-- in both books-- both of the main characters, using their intelligence and personality, were able to overcome differences in social stature to unite with the loves of their lives.
Both books are great and I recommend especially this one to anyone who loves a great novel, and/or an ardent romantic story.