Plain Truth
by Jodi Picoult
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Book Reviews of Plain Truth
Book Review: Justice not met
Summary: 2 Stars
The only reason I am giving this more than one star is because the book was interesting enough for me to want to find out what happens (in spite of the mediocre writing skills), but not read again, as it is a plot-driven story (like "The DaVinci Code"), and not a character-driven story (like "Gone with the Wind"--in which the Civil War was just the backdrop, something for the characters to react to, not a character in and of itself), and it has always been character-driven stories (that have much less plot than this one) that get me to pick them up again (if you want good fiction, not literature, but just engaging fiction about the Amish and don't mind the elementary writing style "The Heritage of Lancaster County" series by Beverly Lewis is an absorbing tale in which the characters actually make sense!).
Though I couldn't stand Katie Fisher (which also happens to be the name of the heroine in the Lancaster series), I could have liked Ellie Hathaway (as she at least had a personality whereas Katie was wooden, stoic, running off everytime something upset her, which seemed to be all the time, and her constant denial that just made her annoying) had she felt a modicum of remorse for defending pedophiles, but she was able to "understand" them, the same bleeding-heart liberal garbage that sympathizes more with the perpetrator than with the victim, yet she hated Katie at first for "allegedly" killing her newborn when she probably believes in abortion herself (even though she wanted bunches of kids, which made absolutely no sense, considering she defended those very people who abused children). Had Katie killed her seven-month-old son in the womb, it would have been okay, but oh, being outside the womb makes all the difference, even though the baby would have been exactly the same age, had she had an abortion the day before giving birth.
Lower on the annoying factor was that Ellie jumps from bed to bed, claiming independence when it is obvious she needs a man in her life to be happy (and children, too), instead of looking at her own self-worth independent from anyone else. It's like she shacked up with this Stephen character until she found something better, that someone being Coop (like where chickens are raised).
Mrs. Picoult has wonderful ideas, but they never seem to fully develop (as neither do her characters), and the denouements are NEVER satisfying.
It is because of the way this repetitious novel ended that I rate it as the worst of the Picoult books (SPOILER AHEAD): to protect Katie (her family), it is intimated that Sarah (Katie's mother and the grandmother of Baby Fisher, who is never even given a name) either kills the baby or lets the baby die, which is reprehensible, and to top it off, Ellie knows and doesn't say a word, so Sarah gets away with neonaticide.
The Amish angle did not add a whole lot to the story (I don't think the story would have been much different had it been about a modern, "English" girl, though it did give me a little more insight into Amish culture, like not standing up for yourself, etc. Perhaps it is because I am not as enamored of the Amish as I used to be.
I have read "My Sister's Keeper" (the best of the bunch I have read thus far, though the ending seemed like a cop-out), "The Pact", which was supposed to be a love story, though the boy ends up hating the dead girlfriend, and "Keeping Faith", which I remember very little about (probably because I found none of the characters likeable in the least), except that it didn't make a lot of sense. This book and the latter two I mentioned are not so much entertaining as they are thought-provoking, though I believe another author could take Mrs. Picoult's ideas and do so much more with them.
And Mrs. Picoult really needs to stop with all the gratuitous pop-culture references.
I do not recommend reading "Plain Truth" unless you are just fascinated by everything Amish.
Book Review: Really? You must be kidding!
Summary: 2 Stars
SPOILERS COMING!
I mostly enjoyed this book until the end. I agree with the readers that there were lots of problems prior to that but I was willing to overlook them because I enjoyed the basic storyline.
Some major things that borrowed me:
1 - The milk - Did Ellie ever stop drinking that unpasteurized milk? Seems to me that we would have at least seen her think about that herself and subtly stop DRINKING it! And f you were a good prosecutor, you might have brought that up. I mean, you have a defense attorney who is pregnant basing her defense on the fact that the unpasteurized milk "did it". If you were the prosecutor, wouldn't it have occurred to you to mention that it can't be that bad if the defense attorney is drinking it herself? And then Ellie almost miscarries it and we're still not talking about it? This was just blatant disregard for reality.
2 - The examination - The whole scene where Ellie was talking to Coop about her rather than Katie. Not buying that either. Come on, people don't get that caught up in the moment in front of that many people.
3 - The motive - And here's where I lost all ability to like this book. So we have a mother who kills her grandchild so that she doesn't lose her child. Interesting except that the actions of the mother after that point don't really support that she'd go to great lengths to keep her child or even really help her. Your daughter needs someone to speak for her so she can be released on bail and be with you rather than stay in a courthouse for 6-12 months waiting for trial. Not willing to do that! Your daughter needs your support as she goes on trial for her life. Not willing to go to court that day! Oh and let's not forget that part about being on trial for her life. She's almost convicted and you say and do nothing?!?! When you know you have the evidence to keep her home? I get that Sarah would still be separated from her if she goes to jail and Katie doesn't. But still?!?! You'll commit murder for your daughter but not confess to it when she's about to go down for it? Just can't sell all this to me. There were clues all along that her mother knew she was pregnant and was probably at the least aware of what happened. But the motive just falls flat.
4 - The motive II - At what point is Katie kicked out of her life for being an unwed mother? Aaron lets her live there, he even lets Ellie live there. Yeah, he grumbles about some things like the inverter and makes threats. But at no point does it even come up that he thinks Katie should live somewhere else. And this isn't just an unwed mother anymore - this is an unwed mother with a murdered baby. So even if you buy the inconsistencies in Sarah's actions with regard to her motive, where's the real threat about actually losing Katie? Oh, that's right, Jacob was kicked out so Katie will be too. For one, Jacob didn't ask for forgiveness, Katie would have. Jacob didn't want to stay Plain, Katie did. It's not really the same. But even if it was, it took what, like 5 seconds for Aaron to forgive Jacob once he showed up and tried?
There is just no justification to Sarah doing what she did. I would have been fine if the baby just died of natural causes and that was the end of it. Don't make up a surprise twist ending just because you can. We don't all need a shock, just a good story will do.
Book Review: Disappointing....
Summary: 3 Stars
I know that Jodi Picoult is currently a very popular author and this is the first of her books that I have read. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The book started out very interesting. An Amish girls gives birth in the barn and is worried about what she will do. She prays for a miracle. She wakes up some time later to find the baby gone so she is under the impression that her prayer request has been granted. After that, the book falls somewhat flat.
The lawyer Ellie, was not very likable. She is portrayed as someone who has knowingly defended people who are guilty of horrible crimes yet she gets them off. True this begins to bother her but she also defends Katie, the Amish girl, who she strongly suspects killed her child.
Some things I disliked about this book was the lack of growth of the father. His daughter is accused of murder and may spend the rest of her life in jail yet he seems extremely unmoved. The mother's actions were too incredible to believe. This is a woman who has lost several babies, lost a child to an ice-skating accident and lost a son to "shunning" and yet she probably kills her own grandchild to "save" her daughter from shunning. Yet the book makes clear that Katie could have and would have been forgiven for giving birth out of wedlock, indeed she is forgiven for this act. There is no reason for Sarah to do such a thing. As a woman who has lost a baby, it stretches the imagination, even for fiction, to think a woman like Sarah would have killed an innocent newborn. To make Sarah's actions even more unbelievable the book makes it clear that her character desperately wanted more children and is saddened that she was forced to have a hysterectomy and can no longer conceive. This woman would never have killed a baby.
The books hints that possibly the baby was dead when Sarah found him, in which case she wasn't guilty of murder. However this woman, who was desperate not to lose her remaining child, kept quiet about her actions while this daughter was looking at a life in prison. I find it hard to believe that any mother, even an Amish mother, would make such stupid and selfish decisions. I had guessed long before the end that Sarah had something to do with the disappearance of the child so the ending did not come as much of a shock. Here again, during the whole long ordeal (and the book was too long) she kept quiet and at the end she reveals that she was the one that hid the child when there was absolutely no need. Why would she suddenly spill the beans?
I also found it difficult to feel a sympathy for Katie Fisher although I felt I was supposed to. I think the author wanted the reader to think she was a girl torn between the Amish and English world but it was mentioned very little. She was never more than mildly curious and didn't do much more than other Amish teens during their running around years until she began her relationship with Adam. The author implies that Katie falls desperately in love with Adam yet when she has the opportunity to go with him she doesn't even have to think about it. She immediately says no.
Overall a disappointing read from a "hot" author. I have read other Amish books by Christian authors and those are much, much better. It's not horrible but it doesn't inspire me to run out and read other books by her either.
Book Review: Great Read
Summary: 4 Stars
"Plain Truth" is set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, an area of the states known for its large Amish population. For those of you who don't know (I didn't!), the Amish also refer to themselves as "plain", making the title of the book that much more clever. I always appreciate cleverness, so kudos Jodi on that one! Also as usual for Picoult, at the center of "Plain Truth" is a legal battle. Eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher has been accused of smothering her newborn son, even though she claims that the baby is not hers. Katie's aunt Leda calls on big-city attorney Ellie Hathaway (whose uncle is Leda's husband) to defend Katie. After an initial trial, Ellie is forced to move in with the Fisher's as part of a bail agreement with the judge. She initially resents this forced living arrangement, but Ellie comes to see that the Plain way is the key to Katie's murder trial. Also, as Ellie grows closer to Katie and her family, Katie and her story begin to slowly unravel, ending with a shocking twist.
I've mentioned before that anything unfamiliar fascinates me, particularly Amish culture. I've even reviewed another Amish book before. That's probably the first reason why I was so drawn to "Plain Truth." Picoult has really done her research and shows the reader all sorts of quirks of the Amish. She incorporates the Amish religion, including church services and confessions and Rumspringa, which is a period of time from when an Amish teen is 16 until they either choose to be baptized Amish or leave the church (and subsequently their family).
As Katie is 18, she is going through Rumspringa in the book, and it was very neat to see the secular world through the eyes of an Amish girl. And in Picoult's typical fashion, she writes a completely and totally engaging book. Not only was the trial of an Amish person fascinating, but she even included a psychologist character in this novel and as a psych major, I LOVED him. I think psychological assessments are such a critical part of a trial and really appreciated Picoult's attempt to include one.
Overall, "Plain Truth" did not disappoint! As with all Picoult's book, a similar format was followed, but the story is completely unique and unlike anything I've ever read. If you need a break from reality, "Plain Truth" is perfect!
Book Review: "Witness" meets "Agnes of God"
Summary: 2 Stars
I had read "My Sister's Keeper" last year and really enjoyed that book. I thought I would pick up another of Ms. Picoult's book and see where it would take me. I wish I would have picked another as I doubt it will be soon before I read another book from this author.
The story is promising and provocative enough: a young Amish girl has seemingly given birth in the barn on her family farm. The baby is dead and the girl denies the pregnancy, despite all physical indications of having just given birth. The girl is charged with murder and the story is underway. Enter Ellie, a rather hard-nosed defense lawyer with little scrupples going through burn-out who agrees to take on the case because of a mutual relative, and it seems there is a good mix.
And this is where things began to go off-kilter for me. Granted, by bringing in the Amish element, one does expect certain comparisons between the Amish culture and the "English" culture - the author did not disappoint. Without giving away any spoilers, for me it was the manner in which the author brings about these comparisons. It stretched disbelief too far, IMO, and could have been handled in a much more believable fashion. "Witness" has alread been done, we didn't need a remake.
In "My Sister's Keeper" and in this book, Ms. Picoult attempts to bring in some sort of romance for her main protagonist. It bothered me mildly in "My Sister's Keeper." In this book it was a major point of aggravation and totally not needed. The dime romance in this story did nothing but cheapen the whole effect and made what might have been a somewhat good book tedious. I found myself skipping the romance bits - the story was very much unrealistic anyway.
This piece is a good escaptist novel, but one would have be willing to really, really suspend belief and overlook errors in writing. (e.g. Katie gives birth in July supposedly 2 months premature. Yet it is firmly believed she concieved in October, making the baby full term. These months and the prematurity are emphasized over and over - a blatant error in editing and proofing.)