Beth F
bermudaonion (Kathy)
Jennifer
Michelle
Sandy
Change of Heart – Book Review
I remember my first experiences with Jodi Picoult’s books. My Sister’s Keeper was on my recommended list on Amazon for a very long time, and it never seemed like it was something I wanted to read. Eventually, I even clicked on the ‘don’t show me this anymore!’ button. At some point, the book wore me down and I purchased and read it.
I absolutely loved that book. In the midst of my historical fiction obsession, my other reading obsession was reading everything by Ms. Picoult. If I’m not mistaken, I’ve read everything except 19 minutes. To varying degrees, I loved nearly all of them. The last two that I read of hers were actually the first two she wrote, and I was less than impressed with them. Perhaps because one of these first books was called Harvesting the Heart, I was less than inclined to read it. After all, I already get a couple of her books mixed up, I wasn’t sure how to remember books with such similar names, and how could I enjoy a book I confused with a book I did not enjoy?
Well, maybe that was the problem. I don’t know if Ms. Picoult has jumped the metaphorical shark, or if there is only so much of her writing that I am capable of reading before they all run together and I’m just bored of it all. When I read most of the rest of her books, My Sister’s Keeper and Keeping Faith in particular, I really cared about the characters. I read Change of Heart with disinterest. It wasn’t a bad story, but nothing particularly made me care. I thought that the twist as far as guilt was extremely predictable; I’m not someone who generally tries to figure out what the twist will be and I couldn’t help but see this one coming from a mile away.
Honestly, I wasn’t all that impressed with this one. I don’t know if Jodi has peaked, if this book was a dud, or if I have Picoult-fatigue. If you’ve read and enjoyed a lot of her work, I wouldn’t really recommend you read this one, but if you’ve only read a little there’s a chance you might like it.
Buy this book on Amazon: Change of Heart: A Novel
Related posts:
- This Week’s Links Some interesting links from my Google Reader this week: Book...
- The Madness of Queen Maria – Book Review The Madness of Queen Maria by Jenifer Roberts Maria...
- Invisible Sisters – Book Review Invisible Sisters by Jessica Handley Jessica was eight when her...
- Three Strikes You’re Out? How Many Chances Does An Author Get? Recently I read (okay, listened to) the third book in...
- Bad Girls Don’t Die – Book Review Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender Strange things are...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Please leave some comment love! 9 comments
Like this post? Share it!
This was only my third Picoult book. Nineteen Minutes which I enjoyed a lot, the other being The Tenth Circle which was just okay. At three books, I’ve already figured out that she’s pretty formulaic. I’m still looking forward to reading My Sister’s Keeper.
[Reply]
This is disappointing. Instead of thinking more about this novel, I picked up a used library copy of Second Glance for 50 cents this weekend. I’ve been interested in reading that one for a while.
[Reply]
I think that might be the one I keep getting mixed up with Picture Perfect. They aren’t at all alike, but Second Glance seems like another good title for the content of Picture Perfect.
Anyway, for 50 cents you can’t go wrong!
[Reply]
Oh wow, you and I have had nearly identical Picoult experiences, except I have read Nineteen Minutes, and there are a few early ones I didn’t get back to. But I started with My Sister’s Keeper, which I adored, and went on a Picoult-reading frenzy. I had almost exactly the same reaction as you to Change of Heart, especially figuring out the twist even though I wasn’t looking for it.
I also note that I really miss the strong teen female that was Anna in My Sister’s Keeper. In both Nineteen Minutes and The Tenth Circle, there are adolescent girl characters with (to my mind) completely unexplained self-esteem issues. I was pretty horrified by them. I know that teen girls (and boys, I’m sure) do have self-esteem issues, but these were incredibly destructive, and made no sense to me in the context in which they were presented.
[Reply]
Aww, sad to hear. I’ve actually only read one of Jodi’s books, Nineteen Minutes. It was incredible, I loved it. But if I ever decide to read this one I’ll keep your review in mind.
[Reply]
[...] reading Devourer of Books’ review of Change of Heart, I’m beginning to believe there’s something to the concept of being [...]
[...] to Add: I did list 10 books tonight. Mostly Jodi Picoult (I guess I’m really over her now) and a few others. My name on bookmooch is the same as here: [...]
[...] Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult [...]
[...] Christina’s review here, Julie’s review here, Devourer of Books’ review here, Darcie’s review here, Natasha’s review here, Lynne’s review here, Susan’s [...]