Handle With Care

by Jodi Picoult

As you well know, Jodi Picoult is my FAVORITE author of all time. Ever since I read her My Sister's Keeper in 2004, I've been a huge fan. Her new book is quite interesting, if not a little predictable. While I seriously enjoyed reading the novel, I couldn't help but wonder if I had read the book before. It seemed to follow the story line of My Sister's Keeper a little to closely. The characters were different and the challenges were unique, but the overall theme seemed copied. The main character's daughter has an illness, the family gets torn apart, the father moves out and nobody seems to understand the mother's point of view. It is eerily similar to her previous novel.
In this new novel, the main character is the mother of a five-year-old with brittle bone disease. The daughter is constantly in and out of hospitals and is now on a medication that the insurance company won't cover. Forced to deal with mounting bills and more in the future, the mother makes the decision to sue her pediatrician for "wrongful birth." That means, if she had known about her daughter's condition while she was pregnant, she would've had an abortion. This strikes her husband as evil saying it means she wishes her daughter had never been born. It also puts a wedge in between the mother and her best friend, who happened to be her obstetrician. While the reason behind the trial is money to secure her daughter's future, the main character wonders at what cost will she protect her daughter?


Similar Novel: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Length: 496 pages
Copyright: March 2009

Cage of Stars

By Jacquelyn Mitchard

If you've ever read her novel The Deep End of the Ocean, then you know that Mitchard is notorious for her family dramas. This novel is no exception. Mitchard describes a family that is so familiar, it could by your family. She describes personalities, settings, and weather in such detail that you feel you are a participant in the novel. Cage of Stars centers around a family that has to deal with a tragedy of such proportions that they feel they'll never recover.

The Swan family leads a simple life in a rural town in central Utah. They are surrounded by family and church members that mirror their way of life. Tragedy strikes in the form of murder that claims the lives of the two youngest daughters. The family struggles to deal with the deaths and the parents even begin to forgive the killer. The oldest daughter, Veronica, is outraged by her parents betrayal and distances herself from those who love her. This is a novel that will tear at your heart no matter how emotional you normally are.

Similar Novels: A Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult and We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

Length: 304 pages

Copyright: May 2006

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

By Lisa See

This was such a great novel that tomorrow I'm rushing to the library to check out all the other novels this author has written. This is a novel written in China in the early 1800's and deals with foot binding, arranged marriages, and the lower status of women during that time period. The author does a wonderful job of transporting the reader back in time and in a place that few are familiar with. The main character is a female who is matched with another female and they communicate with each other in a language written on a secret fan. This language is written by women, specifically for women to communicate with each other.

Lily is a second daughter in a large family and as such is destined to be a lower status family member her entire life. When the matchmaker comes to her house, he sees potential in Lily and refers her to another matchmaker. It is predicted that after foot binding, Lily will have perfect feet and make a great wife. This will ensure her a marriage to a wealthy man and elevate the status of her entire family. Lily is also given an "old same" which is a female that is matched to her in eight different areas of compatibility. These "old sames" are to be life-long companions and communicate in "nu-shu," or the secret language of women.

Similar Novels: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Length: 288 pages

Copyright: 2006