Saturday, April 4, 2009

Book #12

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult.

This is, by far, the best book I've read in a long time. I am giving it my first 5-star rating.

The premise behind this story is "wrongful birth", a term I've only heard once or twice, if ever. A mother sues her ob-gyn for malpractice because the doctor didn't detect a serious birth defect before her daughter was born. The mother claims she might have aborted the fetus had she had all the facts.

Add to this the drama of small-town life where the mother and doctor are best friends, as well as the fact that their older daughters are also best friends, although the lawsuit destroys these friendships. Then, a husband who disagrees with the suit and decides to be a witness for the defense, an older daughter who develops bulimia, and the wrongfully-born child who's now a brilliant 6-year old who understands the meaning of wrongful death and quickly internalizes the message that she's not wanted.

The mother inspires both sympathy for her ceaseless struggles to raise this child and wrath for gold-digging her best friend. Early on, it's established that the mother is Catholic and never would have chosen abortion, even had she known about the girl's disease early on in the pregnancy.

Watching this family be torn apart is drama at it's best. I can only hope that in this case, fiction is stranger than fact.

2 comments:

  1. I'm reading ( audio) it now........painful stuff,
    great writing.
    Thanks for the review and peaking my interest.

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