What I love most about her is that with every novel, she forces me to re-evaluate.
What do I think, and why?
Her books are never about black-and-white issues. And she sketches the grey so beautifully.
Here is what her own site says about her latest novel, Sing You Home.
Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and after multiple miscarriages and infertility issues, it looks like her dream is about to come true – she is seven months pregnant. But a terrible turn of events leads to a nightmare – one that takes away the baby she has already fallen for; and breaks apart her marriage to Max.
In the aftermath, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist – using music clinically to soothe burn victims in a hospital; to help Alzheimer’s patients connect with the present; to provide solace for hospice patients. When Vanessa – a guidance counselor -- asks her to work with a suicidal teen, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then, to Zoe’s surprise, blossoms into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of having a family, again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that were never used by herself and Max.
Meanwhile, Max has found peace at the bottom of a bottle – until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor – Clive Lincoln – has vowed to fight the “homosexual agenda” that has threatened traditional family values in America. But this mission becomes personal for Max, when Zoe and her same-sex partner say they want permission to raise his unborn child.
SING YOU HOME explores what it means to be gay in today’s world, and how reproductive science has outstripped the legal system. Are embryos people or property? What challenges do same-sex couples face when it comes to marriage and adoption? What happens when religion and sexual orientation – two issues that are supposed to be justice-blind – enter the courtroom? And most importantly, what constitutes a “traditional family” in today’s day and age?
I really couldn't put this down.
As an ex-member of a church that sounds JUST LIKE the one in the book, I found myself constantly checking my own opinions, and wondering what it is about gay marriage that so many people find so threatening.
If you're a Picoult fan, I think you're really going to like this one.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I've added it to my library list.
ReplyDeleteI too don't get people's objection to gay marriage. It doesn't make straight people any less married, it just gives everyone the right to have their relationship recognized the way they want it to be.
I think a lot of our opinions are inherited, in a way -- we pick them up from parents, teachers, and other people who are influential in our lives, and often don't really ever challenge our thoughts to find out what we think and why.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy the book.
Sounds interesting. I've only ever read one of Jodi Picoult's.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Jodie Piccult fan too. I'll definitely be putting this on my reading list.
ReplyDeleteI don't get what is so wrong about same-sex relationships/marriage and parenting either. I was brought up catholic, but stopped attending after finding their "commandments" so discriminatory. If God made everyone just the way they are meant to be, and the church proclaims to practice acceptance of everyone, why is homosexuality a sin? Surely God didn't make a mistake, and I don't know that anyone would "choose" a life of discrimination, bullying and abuse that unfortunately many gays and lesbians experience. So what is the problem?
Now off to Amazon I go.