What would YOU do? (Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult)

Member Name: missixty

Product:	Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
Date:	14/07/08 (162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great plot, great characters

Disadvantages: None

As always with Jodi Picoult novels, the book would most probably be classed as a court room drama. I feel personally these books are more character driven dramas, although as always, the story does revolve around a court case central to the story.

Plain Truth is the story of a young Amish girl, who finds herself pregnant, and terrified of being outcast keeps this to herself. When she gives birth alone to her baby in the stables of the family farm in the middle of the night, she does the one thing she's been taught to do in times of stress: prays. She prays that this will all just go away, and when she wakes the next morning the baby is gone. When the baby's dead body is found later that morning, she becomes the centre of one of the most controversial court cases. A court case for murdering your baby would be controversial, a court case for an Amish person committing murder would be controversial, couple the two together and you can only begin to imagine.

The book is about the implications of growing up in a very different environment than what most of us are used to. It shows how people act when they believe they will be cast out for things even by your own family, that forgiveness is only granted so long as you admit to what you've done, even if you didn't do what you are asking to be forgiven for and most importantly what it's like to live in a world where standing out and being an individual isn't a positive thing but blending into the crowd, working as a team and not accepting self praise is hailed.

The point of the book is showing how different environments and belief systems can lead to different actions. It is also about not always taking things at face value and having faith, belief and understanding in other people.

The book is very well written and easy to read. It makes it easy for the reader to become enveloped in a world that they may not have known anything of prior to reading. It's very engrossing.

I personally did not particularly fancy this Jodi Picoult book. I knew little to nothing about Amish life and culture and didn't particularly have much interest in the book after reading the word "Amish". However, I love Jodi Picoult books and had faith that despite this it was unlikely to be bad, and when I saw this on offer I decided to buy it.

Despite initially thinking this would be one of my least favorite Jodi Picoult books I couldn't have been more wrong as this turned out to actually be one of my favorites by her.
It really is a fantastic book and I loved it from start to finish. The characters were so well developed and realistic that it was impossible not to get thoroughly involved in their lives. At points it was hard to remember they weren't real. They were all so varied too, with many characters that at points you feel you will hate but as you read the book you learn to understand and with some end up completely loving them. The story itself is a fantastic mix of emotions and an excellent mystery driven plot. I love how it all unraveled and how no matter how much guess work I did along the way, I still had it wrong at every turn, leaving each new revelation as a surprise to me. I loved how the book made you second guess yourself and show that you shouldn't judge people because by the time you loved certain characters, you felt bad for hating them in the first place.

The book was interesting from start to finish and didn't take any time at all to get into. From the very first page I was hooked right in, wanting to know what happened next. It was the sort of book that wasn't just relegated to bed times, but was picked up at every given opportunity to read just that little bit more.

I found the ending was satisfactory if not a little confusing emotionally. I don't mean it was confusing to understand, and without saying to much (not wanting to spoil anything obviously) it left me not quite knowing how to feel about it, which I think is exactly what Jodi Picoult aimed for, to show us how the characters within the book themselves may have felt. It's this relation to each and every characters emotions and actions that makes this book so compelling.

This is by no means a light hearted fun read, the very subject; a murdered baby, should suggest that from the start. That said it wasn't as dark as you'd might expect and there was a lot of warmth and love within the book that made it a lovely read. It was definitely one that made me think, and almost like a learning curve in not only Amish culture, but it made me stop and think about how quick we can be to judge other's (not just people of different cultures, but of everyone around us and their actions) and how wrong and ignorant we can be.

It's definitely a book I'll remember, and even now, over a month after reading it I can write the review as clearly as if I read this yesterday, which is quite rare for me. It is clearer in my mind than books I have read since then, which is really saying something.

I don't know whether I would re read it as I really don't re read many books, but if I had nothing else to read and a few years had gone by I would definitely enjoy reading it again, although the whole fun of reading is in the not knowing what is coming next so the first time would definitely be the best.

The characters (alongside the great, original plot) are what makes this book work so well. They are so varied. It would be easy to say there is someone everyone can relate to here but in fact I think it would be more accurate to say that there are parts of each character that everyone could relate to, even those that you may not think so at first. The characters here are complex and only as the book develops do you really get to know them truly and I love how the character development itself takes you through so many twists and turns. You think you know how you feel about a character and then before you know it you realize how wrong you were.

It's hard to say too much without giving much of the story away. If I were to say who I really liked and who I didn't it would perhaps give away the story a little but it's safe to say I at points disliked most of the characters and at points utterly loved and truly cared about some of them, and with others at the very least began to understand where they were coming from.

The book is written in a very easy to understand way, with the writing flowing well and with no noticeable flaws. The book is also split up well with many points you can break off from the story, which makes it great for picking up and reading a small bit at a time.

With the books religious grounding it may seem at first off putting. I know for me at least the very idea of something based around a religious group was not something I liked the idea of. I'm not at all religious and wasn't interested in reading about it. That said, the fact that most of the main characters and setting are Amish, the book doesn't preach at all, and isn't about the religion at all, but the fact the characters are Amish, directly relates to how they act and feel. It was actually very eye opening and interesting to see this different culture, and how it relates to our own. If the book preached anything at all, it was that a lot can be learnt from the Amish way of life, but that also the Amish could learn from ours. There was no right or wrong defined by the book and it's unlikely to offend anyone of any religion (as far as I know, as I say I'm not religious so I'm not an expert!)

The book should appeal to all adults, either female or male but will be of particular appeal to anyone who enjoys strong characters and emotions with a good mystery thrown in along the way. If you have enjoyed other Jodi Picoult books you will without a doubt love this.

Summary: A surprising favorite!