Novels Now

I have long been a fan of Jodi Picoult. Most I have loved, like My Sister’s Keeper and Plain Truth. One I hated, The Tenth Circle. But on a whole, I’m totally enamored with her work. So…..when I saw a new book by Picoult on the shelf, I figured it would make a great addition to my reading list for “The Pub Challenge”.

Shay Bourne is the first man on New Hampshire’s Death Row for over 69 years. He was convicted 11 years ago of killing a police officer and his 7 year old step-daughter. A jury of his peers found him guilty and sentenced him to die by lethal injection. But now that the execution has been set and Shay has been moved to the I-Tier, “miracles” seem to be following him around. A dead bird is “resurrected”, a dying AIDS patient’s disease seems to disappear, and a tiny piece of gum seems to be stretched to feed all the inmates of the block. Now, people are lining up outside the prison to see the “Death Row Messiah”.

June Nealon knows better than anyone about Shay Bourne. It was her husband and daughter that were killed. She holds an amazing amount of hate towards Shay. But will she be able to get past all that hate to accept a gift from him that could save her OTHER daughter, Claire?

Maggie Bloom is an ACLU attorney that would like nothing better than to do away with the Death Penalty altogether. But in her quest to shed light on this issue, she takes Shay’s case about HOW he is going to be executed. As much as she would like to have Shay’s case reopened for fear that an innocent man will die, she has to follow her heart and the things Shay is asking her to do.

Father Michael has been called in from St. Katherine’s Church to be a spiritual advisor for Shay Bourne. But is Father Michael as interested in saving Shay’s soul as he is his own? Because before Father Michael was a priest, he was a college student that sat on the jury that sent Shay to Death Row.

One of the things I love about Picoult’s writing is her amazing ability to see all sides of a situation. In this book, she writes from numerous perspectives, so you can see what many of the characters are feeling. And as with all of her previous books, she tackles tough issues. In this one, namely the death penalty. And if she had just stuck with one, it probably would have been a 5 Star review. But instead, she hit on some other topics that kind of muddied the point of view. Reminiscent of The Green Mile with “miracles” performed by an inmate, she also choose to touch on religion, which is another subject all together. Bringing in topics like the Gnostic gospels, while interesting, took away from the main storyline a little.

Don’t get me wrong. I still loved the book. And I still cried in the end, as I usually do when I read a Picoult. But I had figured out the “Twist” long before it was actually revealed. And unlike a lot of Picoult’s books, this actually left me with questions to ponder, even after the book was finished. No clear cut ending for this one. Still, it was a page-turner and I’m glad I read it. I’d love to hear your opinions, if you read this one yourself!!

4/5

A priest, an atheist lawyer and a convicted killer walked into a bar…

Okay, not really, but they did take center stage in Jodi Picoult’s latest book, Change of Heart.

In this book, Picoult chose two hot-button issues, religious beliefs and capital punishment, to explore the following scenario: a man on death row wanted to donate his heart to a dying girl. And not just any dying girl – but the daughter of the man he was accused of killing. Should the dying girl’s mom accept this organ donation? If the girl gets this heart, will she take on characteristics of the donor? And why was the man really offering up his heart – to redeem himself, because it was the right thing to do? These questions may not have been answered in Change of Heart, but each perspective was presented and explored, leaving the reader to think hard about it all.

Picoult is a skilled writer, and her character development (again) was flawless in this book. From the convicted killer, Shay Bourne, to his attorney, Maggie Bloom, to his spiritual advisor, Father Michael, you crawled into each character’s head and ponder what they’re pondering, wonder what they’re wondering and believe what they’re believing. Each chapter of the book was told from a different person’s perspective, which made the story flow nicely. All in all, Change of Heart was a real page-turner.

However, one aspect of the story did leave me uncomfortable. With Shaye, Picoult made his character Christ-like. He was a 33-year old carpenter whose appearance on death row caused a stir, from the cell faucets that spewed wine, to the inexplicable remission of an AIDS-stricken inmate, to Shay’s comfort with a fishing pole. Sound familiar? Even his name, Isaiah Matthew Bourne (I.M. Bourne) made my eyebrows go up. None of these miracles or coincidences were subtle, but I am not sure of their relevance to this story. Admittedly, I am still scratching my head about this aspect of Change of Heart, and I will be curious to read what others think about this story.

Despite this, I would recommend Change of Heart to the many Jodi Picoult fans out there. She’s in true form, as always. (4/5)

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
Contemporary Fiction
Finished on 2/20/08
Rating: 4.75 (Terrific!)
ARC (Book due out on March 4)

Book Description

The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a spellbinding tale of a mother’s tragic loss and one man’s last chance at gaining salvation.

Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth?

One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen.

For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June’s eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.

Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy’s dying wish?

Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.

From the author’s website:

[Change of Heart] features a Death Row inmate who wants to donate his heart to the sister of his victim…which means petitioning the state for a less “humane” form of execution than lethal injection. When he starts performing miracles, the press labels him “Messiah.” After all, people are always finding Jesus in prison… what if he were really there? And what if the things he said didn’t match what you’d been told your whole life…but instead, matched verbatim the text of an ancient gospel that was excluded from the Bible as heresy?

This is a difficult book for me to review. There is the obvious connection to the situation of my family’s terrible loss. And as with most of Jodi Picoult’s novels, it’s almost impossible to discuss the plot without giving away spoilers. Here are some random thoughts and passages that will hopefully give you a sense of what Picoult has tried to achieve with Change of Heart.

I really enjoy reading a book in which the point of view alternates between multiple characters and Picoult is a master when it comes to seamlessly weaving a story between the cast. In Change of Heart we hear from four characters:

June Nealon - mother of Elizabeth and Claire; two-time widow
Maggie - ACLU attorney; single; daughter of a rabbi; atheist
Michael - Catholic priest; spiritual advisor to Shay Bourne; rides a ‘69 Triumph Trophy motorcyle
Lucius - Shay Bourne’s neighboring cell-mate; AIDS victim

My favorite character was Maggie. Her “story” provided witty humor to an otherwise depressing narrative. I would love to see more of her in another book by Picoult!

I love the way the author continued to surprise me, even when I was absolutely certain I knew what was going to happen. Again, Picoult is a master of twists and surprises. My jaw literally dropped at one point and I wound up flipping back through the previous pages, searching for a clue I might’ve missed.

When I first heard the specifics about Change of Heart, my initial thought was that nobody would understand why I would want to read this, of all books! But having read several of the author’s previous novels (understanding that she not only is a phenomenal writer who deftly researches her subject matter, but also presents it it with truth and accuracy), I knew that in less than two months, I would be able to walk into a Virginia Beach courtroom and have some idea of what would ensue. In a sense, I’ve relied on Picoult’s research expertise to prepare myself for the unknown — facing the person who killed my stepdaughter (and two other young adults) on Memorial Day Weekend almost three years ago.

Lots of sticky notes!

Miscellaneous quotes that I marked:

“I wanted to play them the answering machine message that still had their voices on it, the one I couldn’t bear to erase, even though it felt like I was being cut to ribbons every time I heard it.” “I wanted them to live my life, because that was the only way they’d really know what had been lost.”

“…lethal injection might not be as humane as everyone wanted to believe.” [Ah, but neither is murder.]

“…a thirty-three-year-old carpenter with a death sentence on his head, who was performing miracles left and right.”

“What I would like to tell Shay Bourne about the impact this crime had on my family is that it erased my family, period.” “I would like him to come with me to the bank, the day I broke down in front of the teller and told her that I wanted to liquidate the college fund of Elizabeth Nealon.” [or cash out savings bonds in the name of a deceased daughter...]

“If they had to die, I would have loved to have known in advance, so that I could take each second spent with them and know to hold on to it, instead of assuming there would be a million more. If they had to die, I would have loved to have been there, to be the last face they saw, instead of his.”

“…he spoke, words that at the time felt as solid and square as bricks, layered sentence upon sentence to build a wall between life as I’d known it and the one I would now be forced to lead.”

“Some people say that the reason we have a death penalty in this country is because we need to punish certain inmates. It’s said to be a deterrent–but in fact, murder rates are higher in death penalty jurisdictions than in those without it. It’s said to be cheaper to execute a man than keep him in prison for life–but in fact, when you factor in the cost of eleven years of appeals, paid for with public funds, it costs about a third more to execute a prisoner than to sentence him to life in prison. Some people say that the death penalty exists for the sake of the victims’ family–that it offers closure, so that they can deal, finally and completely, with their grief. But does knowing that the death toll has risen above and beyond their family member really offer justice? And how do we explain the fact that a murder in a rural setting is more likely to lead to a death sentence than one that occurs in the city? Or that the murder of a white victim leads to the death penalty three and a half times more often than the murder of a black victim? Or that women are sentenced to death only two-thirds as often as men?”

After studying similar death penalty stats in a sociology course many years ago, I became a firm believer that life in prison (with no chance of parole) was the right course of action to punish the guilty. However, my opinion took a complete 180 on May 28, 2005 after our daughter was violently murdered. And now, after reading Change of Heart, I’m beginning to reconsider my stand once again. Picoult’s books force you to examine your beliefs and opinions about society and the world at large. We all know that life is never simply black and white. There are no absolutes.

One thing I do know for certain — I’m glad I’m not serving on a jury, faced with the decision of whether another individual lives or dies.