Sunday, November 22, 2009

BOOK REVIEW 5 - JODI PICOULT'S "CHANGE OF HEART"

[ATTENTION MISS VEE WEN: At last, I finished reading this book]

Yes, at last. This is my first attempt in reading Picoult. The book started off quite slow as each chapter of the book is narrated by different characters. You have to take your time understanding how the characters are related to each other, and that took a lot of time until I reached the middle part of the novel to understand their relationship.

The novel focuses on Shay Bourne, a convict who is accused of murdering a cop and his daughter. One interesting thing about him is that he could perform miracles in his cell like turning pipe water into wine, curing sick people from AIDS, bringing dead bird alive - that some people have considered him as a messiah. To repent his past sins, Shay decides to donate his heart to a girl who needs a donor and that girl is actually the younger daughter of the cop whom he had killed earlier. The question is, if you are the mother or the girl herself, will you accept a heart from someone who has killed your beloved husband and father, respectively? Then come in all the characters in their effort to assist Shay to carry out the impossible mission, a lawyer, a priest, a doctor who then fell in love with the lawyer, his cell mates etc. Complicated but interesting. And in the end, from his confession to the priest, Shay is not actually the murderer, he is just trying to protect the girl from his cop father who has been abusing her sexually and has accidentally him. He just refuses to tell his version of the story in court because he knows no one will believe him. So, will Shay be executed? Will he be able to give his heart to Elizabeth, the cop's other daughter? You go and read the book yourself.

I have two more Picoult's novels in my list waiting but I am reading something else first now.

No comments:

Post a Comment