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Jodi Picoult is one of the most talented authors plying her trade at this time. Whatever she writes, she seems to do it from the heart and, I have to admit, she has reduced this granite-hearted reviewer to tears on more than one occasion. Whilst reading this latest effort, I had recourse to the box of tissues more than once. Willow O'Keefe has osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone syndrome. She had multiple fractures even before her birth. This is not a case where a sister may be bred to provide spare parts for the girl, as in other novels, but simply a defect within the child herself, where there is a lack of collagen. Willow will always be small, but the imperfections in her physical growth are not reflected in her intelligence, which seems high, especially for her age. The O'Keefes are not well off. The father, Sean, is a policeman and the mother, formerly a pastry cook, is now unable to work outside the home because she must care for Willow. In the meantime, because of the love and care lavished upon her younger (half) sister, Amelia, now an adolescent, fears there must be some essential lack within herself that makes her hate herself, so resorts to various measures to acquire some relief. Eventually, Charlotte, Willow's mother, decides the only thing the family can do in order to ensure Willow's health and future is to sue her best friend, Piper, for malpractice. Since Charlotte sees the suit as merely a means to obtain funds to look after Willow properly she doesn't expect her family or her friendship to be torn asunder. The book must have taken a great deal of research. Extrapolating from the facts to the fictional story of one young girl must have been emotionally draining. Certainly, Jodi Picoult can command language that really gets under the skin of her readers. She is a genius at manipulating the emotions. The book is told from the points of view of Willow's family, excluding Willow until the final pages of the book, and Piper, the obstetrician who is being sued. The characterisation is, as we have come to expect from this author, excellent. The plotting of the novel is well done, in my opinion, except for the conclusion. I thought that could have been handled differently. Another quibble, for me, anyway, was the inclusion of numerous recipes. Yes, Charlotte was a pastry cook, but does that mean she has to lecture the reader about sugar and spice? Whenever a reader tackles a Picoult work, she must be prepared to have her heart wrenched and this outing is no exception. Regardless, this reader at least almost always enjoys Picoult's work.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, April 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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