Step back in crime... (Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult)

Member Name: fizzywizzy

Product:	Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
Date:	20/12/05 (2315 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting setting, great characterisation, tremendous beginning

Disadvantages: Repetition of a major section, disappointing ending

The pastel-dominated twee jackets of the Jodi Picoult books I had seen in the shops really turned me off reading anything by the author. I know the old adage about judging a book but I take little notice of it. I did know however that Jodi Picoult is one of the most popular novelists around at the moment so when I had the chance of acquiring one of her novels (which I would then list on e-bay) I jumped at the chance. It was when I was writing a summary of the blurb to list the book that I decided to give it a go. Since the book was on a seven day listing and I’d offered a “Buy it Now”, I’d have to get on with it. As it turned out, I needed no encouragement to get it read, I was captivated from the start and finished in about two days, such is the dramatic power of “Plain Truth”.

THE PLOT

Defence lawyer Ellie Hathaway decides she has had enough of defending guilty and corrupt businessmen and seeks sanctuary at the home of her Aunt Leda. While she is there, Leda gets the news that her niece Katie Fisher (Ellie’s cousin) living in East Paradise, an Amish community in Pennsylvania has been charged with killing her newborn child. Reluctantly Ellie offers to defend her cousin and when the judge wants to remand Katie until the trial, Ellie offers to move into the Fisher family home until the trial because she knows a young Amish woman would not cope in prison.

What follows is part psychological drama – Katie denies having given birth let alone killing the child or trying to hide the pregnancy – and part courtroom drama. Ellie learns about a culture which has markedly a markedly different take on justice to the world she lives in and has to ask herself difficult questions about forgiveness and honesty. How can Ellie find a credible way to defend a young woman who won't admit she's given birth even in the face of medical evidence and assumming she can even find a way, how can she persuade totally non-Amish jury of her cousin's innocence?

THE CHARACTERS/SETTING

I have long been interested in the Amish way of life but knew little about their more spiritual beliefs. “Plain Truth” is a window onto this gentle, law-abiding world and not only provides the basis for a terrific story but also creates an arena in which to pose questions around justice and forgiveness. “Plain Truth” is a two way story – not only does Ellie learn that things are not always as they at first look but Katie realizes that not everyone sees things as simply as the people in he community. You could even say that this book turns on its head what you might believe about naivety and trust.

Jodi Picoult has created a splendid cast of characters where no one is superfluous to the story. In particular I liked Katie’s parents; her father who refuses to speak to the modern young woman who has suddenly landed in his home and her mother who is torn between getting justice for her daughter and the grief for a lost grandchild. Katie’s intended Samuel Stolzfus is a decent young man who makes a huge decision to help his beloved; his character is probably the hardest to get along with because his actions are so entrenched in Amish culture that it is difficult for a non-Amish person to understand why he acts as he does.

The character of Katies’ brother, at college in the city is the one who best highlights the differences between the Amish and mainstream cultures; more than anyone else perhaps, he shows Ellie why she must trust Katie and let her fight the case as she wants.

Jodi Picoult gives a lovely account of the everyday aspects of Amish life and paints a beautiful country landscape. She tells you exactly what you need to know about Amish customs and practices to make the novel credible and to teach the reader a bit about the Amish without being overly didactic. Did you know that the Amish don’t actually object to using appliances like washing machines? It’s just that the electricity used to power them is a link to the outside world that they don’t want. If they can power it in a different way, they are quite happy to use them.

MY VERDICT

“Plain Truth” gets going with a bang but somehow fizzles out a bit towards the end. The trial is something of an anticlimax and really is an unnecessary repetition of the section of the book where Ellie starts putting together the case for Katie’s defence. However, it does ask the reader to think about several questions they may not have considered before such as how you get a fair trial – what conditions must be met for a fair trial, how far can the legal system be asked to go to ensure a fair trial, should communities like the Amish be trusted to carry out their own form of justice? In this novel one of the technicalities is that Katie cannot get a fair trial becasue members of the Amish community will not do jury duty. How then could she have any hope of being judged by her peers? In this respect I was reminded a little of the novels of john Grisham in which the case often focuses on the type of jurors or the responsibilities of business rather than a simple “Guilty or Innocent” verdict.

I found the ending rather weak but was willing to accept it because I had enjoyed the rest of the book so much. The use of the Amish community on which to focus the story is a great idea and one which enabled Picoult to use her skills to produce the type of characters rarely encountered in modern novels. So far I haven’t seen another Jodi Picoult novel that tempts me but I would imagine that the author’s many admirers will enjoy this as much as any of the others. I would recommend “Plain Truth” to readers who enjoy an easy to read courtroom drama with good characters, the sort of book you can read on holiday which will challenge you only as much as you want to be challenged.


ISBN - 0340835478 Publisher- Flame
480 pages
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Summary: A clash of cultures provokes challenging questions