Change of Heart
by Jodi Picoult
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jodi PicoultNarrator: Nicole Poole
Narrator: Stafford Clark-Price
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03
ISBN: 1428198172
Publisher: Recorded Books
Book Reviews of Change of Heart
Book Review: Fascinating story, but not perfect
Summary: 3 Stars
Change of Heart certainly has an exciting premise and storyline, but I also found a number of flaws that could have been fine-tuned prior to publication. Ms. Picoult has a knack for grabbing the reader from the first page and keeping their attention throughout the story. Taking on weighty topics such as capital punishment and religion are certainly no easy task and I applaud the author for her ambition in tackling these. But I do think she spreads herself a bit thin at times and tries to cover too many sides of a given issue in this book and not always successful in doing so. For example, we get the viewpoint of a priest, an ACLU lawyer, a doctor, the victim's mother, and corrections officers (all characters in the story) about how they feel about the death penalty. Does Ms. Picoult really need to cover all these basis and give us all these characters' opinions? I think focusing on the major characters (Maggie Bloom, Father Michael, June Nealon) and what they think of the death penalty would have made it more meaningful for me as a reader.
Another problem that I had with the book is how Ms. Picoult would bring characters in and out of the plot and then leaving the loose ends, never letting us know what eventually happens with them. For example: Maggie's mother, all the other inmates that we get to know throughout the story (except for Lucius- whom we do have closure on). A writer should not arbitrarily bring in characters simply as a plot device and I strongly disapprove of Ms. Picoult doing so in this novel.
I think Ms. Picoult also drops the ball a bit with creating compelling main characters. I had some difficulty empathizing with June Nealon and Maggie Bloom. I think this by far is her most serious flaw in the book. Though June certainly suffered a great tragedy, I didn't find too many moments in the story where we really got inside her head, and, sadly I didn't feel as though I cared very much what happened to her one way or the other. June makes several life changing decisions, yet Ms. Picoult barely expounds upon the reasons and motivation behind these major choices. In particular, towards the end of the story, June comes face-to-face with a disturbing possibility about her deceased husband, yet Ms. Picoult devotes barely a page to this development. I certainly wanted to know how June felt about what she had learned. I was very disappointed in how Ms. Picoult mishandled some of her major characters and never lets us get inside their heads.
The story does move at a brisk pace and is a fascinating topic that few writers have explored in fiction. It is indeed a page turner, but I think Ms. Picoult needs to spend less time in following the formula and more time and effort in fleshing out her characters. This novel could have benefited from some careful editing and fine-tuning; if not by the the author, then certainly by her editor.
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