| Product: |
Mercy - Jodi Picoult |
| Date: |
19/10/07 (131 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Thought provoking and emotional
Disadvantages: Not her best book
I love a good book, one that I can really get stuck into and can't put down forget the housework and just escape. I usually don't get the luxury of doing this unless we are on holiday but at the moment I am stuck indoors due to an operation on my foot and am confined to the sofa! So I sent the other half out shopping (culture shock for him!) and asked him to pick me up a book, I was initially a bit worried what he would bring back I had visions of the newest SAS survival manual but to my surprise he bought back this one, so did I get stuck into it?
THE AUTHOR
Jodi Picoult was born and raised in Long island in America in what she calls a very happy and uneventful childhood, which to me is quite refreshing. You hear a lot about people who have such trauma in their life and they contribute this to their writing but it is interesting to see how someone who hasn't got that can still write so well and cover a large range of thought provoking topics. She currently lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.
I actually thought this was one of her new offerings and was surprised to find out that this was first published in 1996 in America.
The other half got this from Sainsbury's for £4.99 but I am sure you could get it cheaper if you shopped around.
STORYLINE
The actual storyline was one that I was interested in and surrounds the whole issue of Euthanasia, the main story centres around Jamie Macdonald who out of pure love and commitment kills his wife Maggie who is riddled with cancer. He readily admits this and expects to be punished; the problem is he decides to carry out the act away from their home and in the county where his cousin Cameron MacDonald was the Chief of Police. This then draws him and his devoting wife Allie into the whole circus, and he has to wrestle with his loyalties between being the Chief of Police and helping the cousin he has never met. Because in England as in America euthanasia is illegal the only way Jamie can get off is by being proven to be insane at the time of the act.
The actual Euthanasia story was handled well and you start to realize that the whole issue is not as cut and dried as people think, as one of Maggie's friends pointed out that even though Maggie had asked Jamie to do this last thing for her Maggie didn't actually think about the consequences for him and for that she was very angry with Maggie and went as far to say she was selfish. You get a lot of background information on Jamie and Maggie's relationship and how the whole situation arose.
The sideline story revolves around Cameron MacDonald and his wife Allie, you get the idea from the beginning how Cameron really didn't want to become the Chief of Police and felt duty bound when his father died. He really wanted to travel and not become part of family tradition, you hear a lot of the whole Scottish tradition that surrounds the whole family and how they came from Scotland to America and of the old clan. The last thing he wanted was a cousin who he had never met turning up in his county to be accused of murder.
The other person in all this is Allie Cameron's wife and how she strives to please Cameron; she seems to only live for him and looks for any sign of affection but suddenly finds herself questioning their whole relationship and starts to side with Jamie and understands his reasons for what he did. She also finds that they have a lot in common especially when Jamie tells her that "in a relationship there is always one who loves more" She starts to understand that this applies to both her and Jamie.
Another person who is worth a mention is Mia a bit of a mysterious woman who turns up in the town around the same time and befriends Allie but turns Cameron's head as she seems to be all the things he would dearly love to be, Free! I can't say too much about her as she does come into the story quite a bit.
DID I ENJOY IT?
Well I initially thought the other half was trying to tell me something when he bought me this; I mean I have only had a foot operation! But as I have said I am interested in this subject and it does get you thinking could I do it or do I feel its right?
I felt the subject was well handled and sympathetic, it was rather one sided and focused a lot on feeling sorry for Jamie, the court case ending was not as long as the authors usual books and I felt that was a shame as I would of liked more arguments and court room action. I actually found myself liking Jamie and was routing for him and his reasons, but I did think that the other story regarding Cameron and Allie took up more of the book than the main story. I found Cameron a bit of a miserable so and so really and I wanted to scream at Allie to stop being such a bloody doormat!
The Scottish theme that ran through it was a bit boring after a while and to me just felt a bit pointless and unrealistic having lived with a scots man for 12 years and it just felt a bit stereotypical (they're not all tight buggers!) There were parts of the story that I felt just drifted off and could have been explain or explored more and mainly this is about Mia, I didn't really get to know as much as I would like about her or why she is like she is.
The relationship that fascinated me the most was Jamie and Maggie's and this bit was well written and in-depth and I would of rather read more about this and the whole subject than Cameron and Allie's domestics.
All in all the book was ok but not the best I have read from this author, it does show that this was her earlier work and maybe the research wasn't available to her. The writing style was good and the story did flow but also seemed to jump about in places, she does show that she has a good handle on peoples emotions and this came across really well, it also shows that even at the beginning of her writing career she wasn't afraid to tackle sensitive and thought provoking issues.
Property of madmum71 & lisa8871
Summary: Adecent read on a thought provoking subject
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