Book: Keeping Faith
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: HarperLuxe; Lgr edition (May 22, 2007)
Ruling: Lawyers and doctors and Jesus, Oh my.
This book review has been a long time coming in that a) work has been consuming me, and b) I finished it over two weeks ago and have started my next book. Bad book club person!
I like Jodi Picoult. Just when I was ready to give up on chick lit, I found her. She was refreshing because she wasn’t the typical woman writer in that she didn’t just talk about women things. Her range seemed broad. There were families, and the legal system, and medical jargon. I thought to myself, Self! This is not bad.
(It may have also crossed my mind to stop calling women writers, you know, women writers. Who wants to live in THAT box? Yet seriously. How many people don’t know you’re reading work from the female species? It’s that telling. And so goes the Chick Lit label no one likes being smacked with.)
I read a second book from her. Families? Check. Legal system? Check. Medical jargon? Yes, but not nearly as much. More legal stuff and prison talk. Kinda the same tree, but not exactly in the same forest.
This is my third book from her. Families? Check. Legal system? Check. Medical jargon? Check. God?…
I’ve heard it said that a writer should write what they know. I’m thinking Jodi Picoult must know a lot about law and medicine and families since they take up much of the scope of her stories. It’s not a complaint, merely an observation. One that will keep me from reading her back-to-back. It’s kind of the curse of V.C. Andrews and Danielle Steel. I would read V.C. Andrews and thing, Gah. Really? More families of esteem and prestige embroiled in incest? I’d read Danielle Steel and think, Gah. More romance? I’m not stupid. I know this is how genres are made. I simply need to do a better job of spacing out an author in a genre lest I feel the burn of repetitive reading, hence making me cranky. If you have this same problem, don’t read works from this author (or any other) consecutively. I’m still learnin’.
This book was good. I wasn’t wowed, mostly because I feel like I might be wading into Danielle Steel territory, but it was satisfying. I like stories where God is an unconventional character, mixed in with conventional traits of dogma, sprinkled with life experiences sandwiched between the two. It’s like a S’Mores. Together, you’re presented with a unified confectionery blob, but it’s the textures and mixtures of things you wouldn’t otherwise think to combine that make it interesting. You don’t see it often, but when you do, it’s thought-provoking.
That’s right, LOST, I’m looking at you, baby.
Things you should know about this book before reading:
- God is a girl. Don’t worry. I’m not giving anything away by telling you that. Really. Read any synopsis on the book and its the first thing they tell you. Talk about spoiler alert!
- There is a love story. What would a book be without a love story? Not bad, in my opinion but, then again, that’s why it’s my opinion.
- There is medical jargon involved.
- And legal jargon.
I recommend this read.
~HD