The Pact by Jodi Picoult

[katekintailbc]

The Pact
by Jodi Picoult
(Audio)

This was my first Jodi Picoult novel, and everyone raves about her works, so I was excited to read it for the monthly book club.

I enjoyed the book a lot. Even though the situation seems straightforward from the beginning, there are actually enough twists and turns to keep the reader wondering the whole time about what the truth really is.

The core of the story is actually a love story between two high school students who grew up as close as brother & sister and evolved into something... more. But when they are found together and one is dead, all sorts of mysteries and accusations arise. The story jumps around from the present day to scenes of their parents meeting all the way up through the days after the incident. We get bits and pieces from all the different points of view (parents, kids, lawyers, etc.) and by the end, despite the outcome of the court trial (which I was happy with) we're still left to make our own minds up about who is really guilty/to blame.

I was drawn in and interested from the beginning. There were times at the start that I wasn't as interested, but once things really started rolling I couldn't stop listening! If I'd been reading a hard copy I know I would have been tempted to skip ahead and find out what happens! So I'm glad I was earreading it and couldn't do that :-) And when I was done, I sat back and thought. And that's when I really began to appreciate the book. I went online to see what the reviews for the movie were like (don't bother; it's apparently not good at all) and found tons of people fighting about who was at fault. I was amazed so many people had such different feelings about this, most of which were different from my views (the people at my book club generally had the same feelings I did though). But it's fascinating how it really makes you think and re-think even after you've finished the book.

And the end... I DESPERATELY wanted something to be written in lemon juice (invisible writing) on the piece of paper. Here's hoping something was and that message was eventually found (in my mind, that's what happens, heehee!)

Comments

[melydia.livejournal.com]

You know, this actually wasn't one of my favorite books by her. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/40493530.

[katekintail.livejournal.com]

While reading it was an average kind of enjoyable. But the more I thought about the book afterward, the deeper it got and the more I liked it.

You should have come to petrini1's book club meeting last time as you'd already read the book!

[melydia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would have, except that my drawing class is 7-9:30pm Tuesday nights. Ah well, maybe some other time. :)