Vanishing Plot (Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult)

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Product:	Vanishing Acts - Jodi Picoult
Date:	01.06.07 (249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: starts great ends great

Disadvantages: loses it in the middle

Jodi Picoult Vanishing Acts




Delia Hopkins is the main character of this book by Jodi Picoult who works along side her search dog finding missing people and loved ones for people from all types of places. Living in the New Hampshire area Delia is happy with life as it is even though she still lives with her father and her relationship with Eric, the father of her child Sophie, is not as steady as she would like it to be a. Sophie however is the pride and joy of Delia’s life and she couldn’t imagine being without her.


After a series of memory recalls of random things that simply couldn’t have taken place in Delia’s life she begins to wonder where these flashbacks stem from and if they really belong to her. Lemon Trees and such just don’t grow in New Hampshire so why was she so certain she had been sitting by one as a child? Delia soon learns that all is not what it seems when her father is arrested and taken away on charges of kidnapping! Delia herself can’t understand but all comes together when she finds out it was her who her father had kidnapped.


Delia feels betrayed and alone. She can’t understand what has happened and tries to come to terms with her father having lied to her for all these years. Delia believed her mother was dead but now years later finding out this isn’t the case she cannot believe her father would betray her like this. She goes from New Hampshire to Arizona where she spent the first few years of her life but cannot quite recall. Her father faces sentencing out in this state and Delia needs to see her mother so with Sophie and Eric in tow they head for the hotness that is Arizona.


Picoult guides us through each and every page with ease and pleasure. We meet Delia’s mother and deal with Eric’s hard time in being the lawyer for Delia father which brings him great strains dealing with a court case so close to his personal life. Jodi Picoult is great at giving us each and every person’s views and thoughts as we read from each person’s side of things.


As only a newish reader of Jodi Picoult’s work I have thoroughly enjoyed reading those I have read and this book is no exception. Each chapter flies by easily and every page is a joy to read. I found it quite hard to put this book down at the start and even though I found the plot lost a small bit of its appeal somewhere during the middle of the novel it did however pick itself back up again and make for a great read near the ending.


Jodi Picoult really is able t o bring across heart breaking and emotional subjects in a manner in which they are dealt with to make the reader empathise and understand it from everyone’s point of view. The stories were not something I would have dream about reading before but I have really been able to get into her gritty plots and even if they appear a little upsetting they are put together in a way that is truly magical.


The way each chapter is told from a different persons side of things is really good although I found it difficult to stop mid chapter as picking the book back up I found out I was lost as to who was telling the story. The characters are all portrayed so strongly that you really are able to feel as though you know the people you are reading about, as the background information is so strong.


I do not think this particular book is anywhere as near as good as the previous couple of Picoult’s books that I have read because as I say the storyline seemed just to loose itself in the middle somewhere. I have a couple more of her books that are stashed away and I have yet to read so I am sure I will find out if her writing is consistently good, bad or if this one was just a one of. I would not really think about reading this book again. I found looking back I did enjoy it but it could have been far better if certain useless bits of information were cut out and others were added in.


I would say that if you have yet to read a book by this author then perhaps this is not the best one to start with as it may put some people off, the loss of plot in the middle, but Jodi Picoult is an amazing author and her other works are really worth a read. If you have yet to read this and have read most of her others then I don’t think you will necessarily be overly disappointed but try not to pay full price for it!

Summary: a good book worth a read