Books : Harvesting the Heart: A Novel

Rating: - Real Life Drama
This book tells about the day to day struggle of a newly married couple both wishing for more. Little do they realize, its each other that makes them complete. Pretty typical. My Sisters Keeper was much much better.

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Rating: - Jodi Picoult Has A Gift
Picoult writes for women who doubt themselves and who are frightened to rely on their own judgement. A subtext of abuse simmers below the surface of many of her plots. Another common strand in the Picoult novels is a compassionate investigation of the joys, trials and ambivalence of motherhood. With impeccable and vigorous research, Picoult builds suspenseful stories even as effortlessly she guides her readers and her characters through the baffling and frightening medical and legal labyrinths of modern life. What do we all dread the most? Marital infidelity, divorce, hospitals and courtrooms. Picoult's surefooted research and expertise back up stories in which the characters are faced with events which turn their lives upside down. One measure of a good novel is the moral challenge to and the resultant growth of major characters. Another measure of a good novel is the gentle flow between action and introspection. Picoult manages these with grace. Without giving away the ending, Picoult takes the reader directly to the innermost heart and mind of her protagonists. If Picoult has a weakness, it may be in the area of "romance;" her romantic male characters are almost too good to be true. Which is to say, I'd love to know where one might meet such a man! This review has been general; it would be cruel to gentle reader were I to describe the storyline because the thrill of reading Picoult is in following her exciting plots. Picoult has the ability to take everyday situations and turn them into gripping novels.

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Rating: - when will it end??
This book was depressing....not because I felt sympathy and heartache for the main character, but because I felt tremendous sadness for anyone who felt sympathy and heartache for her!! Grow up and accept responsibility and quit being a victim!! Forget about your loser mother and get on with making your family's life a happy and stable one. Really, give me a break. Nothing about this book presented itself as "real" to me.

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Rating: - Almost Amazingly Awful
I too made the mistake of purchasing this book based on Amazon reviews. What a disappointment!! The premise of the story was incredibly trite - I felt like I was reading a short story in Good Housekeeping rather than a Jodi Picoult novel. Not only was the plot tired, but the writing was exceedingly poor and the editing was atrocious. The characters were largely one-dimensional - I found I wasn't able to care what happened with any of them. I also couldn't get over the number of times that I found myself rereading paragraphs just to make sure it wasn't me - the time sequences were totally screwed up. It was a chore, but I slogged through to the end because I have read, and really enjoyed, several of Jodi Picoult's other novels (Plain Truth, The Pact, My Sister's Keeper) in the past. There was no redeeming twist, no nothing, just the sense that I'd wasted my time and money.

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Rating: - Overrated on Amazon!
I rarely write reviews, but because I was duped by the reviews on Amazon into buying this book, I thought I would save other unsuspecting buyers the trouble and boredom of slogging through this poorly written mess. I buy many books on Amazon based on customer recommendations and am always pleased, but this book is the exception. It's simply awful; the story is cliched, the writing is juvenile, and I kept waiting for that moment when the book "gets good" (it never arrived). Go read T. Greenwood, Mary Carr or Dani Shapiro if you are interested in stories about women finding themselves; all three write in a simple, poetic manner that Picoult simply doesn't have the natural instinct for.