Author: Jodi Picoult
3 out of 5 Stars
Plot Background:
Katie Fisher is an unwed, teenage, Amish girl, who lives on her families farm-- part of an Amish community. Katie is your typical Amish teenager, being courted by a strong man who is in line to take over the farm. Everything looks picturesque. Until one morning, Katie gives birth to a baby, whom she is then accused of smothering to death. Nobody has known that Katie was pregnant, and the odds were stacked against her, her memory of the night failing and her stories so seldom matching up. Against the Amish way, Katie hires an attorney, Ellie Hathaway, who is struggling with her own personal relationships and love life. Ellie moves in with Katie at the Amish farm, and both women have to learn a new way of life.
My Thoughts:
I am normally a huge Jodi Picoult fan, so when I picked up this novel, I was very excited to start reading it. Usually Picoult has a set cast of characters, which I almost feel familiar with as though they are old friends, but this novel didn't have any of them, so I was a little sad to start off with. Having gotten that out of the way though, there were some good things, as well as some bad things about the book.
I will start with the positives. The writing and editing style of Jodi Picoult has always been fantastic. She is a NY Times Best Seller, so it is no surprise that her editor is very good at their job, and that her writing is very fantastic as well. She has a way of easily changing point of views between characters so that it is not confusing, and she also has a way of building her characters so that you truly feel like you know them and you want the best for them. Which leads me to another major plus about the book- the character development. At first, Katie annoyed me. I could not understand how someone could be so detached when their own baby was dead, but as I got to know her, all of the pieces began to fit and I really liked Katie. I also really liked Ellie, although I didn't like her at first either. In a nutshell, her characters were written and developed in a really convincing and easy way.
I also really enjoyed learning about the Amish culture. This is a culture that is seldom seen in a really truthful light. So many times I have seen shows about the Amish (like Breaking Amish on TLC), I have found them to be depicted in such a negative light. I always wondered why anyone would choose to be Amish if they are always shown as oppressive. This book really opened my eyes to the gentle and peaceful nature of the Amish lifestyle, that I don't think is shown very often.
There were a few things about the novel that I didn't like so much. The first thing that bugged me a little bit was the court case itself. Realistically, (and this is coming from someone who is not an attorney but a big fan of CourtTV and crime novels), I do not think that the state-- ANY state-- would pursue first degree murder charges on a neonaticide. In most cases, I beleive manslaughter would have been pursued, given the set of circumstances in the book. This may not bug many people, but in all of the other novels by Picoult that I have read, the charges have made a lot more sense. It got in the way for me, for some reason I couldn't shake that it was a little ridiculous.
Another thing I disliked about the book, is that at times, Ellie's relationship status with her boyfriend and ex boyfriend detracted from the main story line a bit. To spend almost 50 pages on a less interesting story like Ellie's dating situation detracted from how interesting the other things in the book were. It made me forget what was going on with the court case and with Katie's flashbacks (which I found very interesting).
The last thing that took away from the book is simply pacing. It was so slow in some parts that I found myself skipping ahead to count the pages to the next chapter. Usually when I read the pages go by so quickly, but this novel just felt so slow at times. It was not weighed down by the legal jargon, which I like reading about as it is an insight into a world I hope to never know, but it was weighed down by wordiness and slow afternoons explained for long periods of time.
Overall, this was not a terrible book. I would recommend it if you enjoy crime dramas or legal mysteries, but if you are looking for a quick read you should probably stay away. I would suggest reading a different Picoult novel if you are looking to get into her books, start with the Love Pact-- that is one that will suck you in (expect a review on that one soon).
Here is a link to the Kindle edition of the novel, when I purchased it, it was a little bit cheaper so I apologize that it isn't a bargain book:
http://www.amazon.com/Plain-Truth-ebook/dp/B000FC0STQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1356236276&sr=1-1&keywords=plain+truth
Happy Reading!!!
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