Jodi Picoult -Between the Lines

[Ramica]

(( okay searched all 8 pages in the book section and didn't see a single one for Jodi Picoult)

 

I have enjoyed Jodi Picoult books since first reading My Sister's Keeper. I liked it enough to find and read more of her books. Most of her books end up involving court cases and you get an insightful view into the many characters minds as chapters are told from different POV (points of view.)

 

My favourites:

 

Nineteen Minutes A deep impactful story telling what happens before, during and after in the lives of the characters, during a school shooting. The Nineteen Minutes being how long the shooting lasted.

 

Salem Falls - A man who works at a Cafe is accused of raping a teenager. He claims he is innocent but he has a record of having done this before.

 

Plain Truth An Amish girl is accused of killing her baby.

 

 

Now BETWEEN THE LINES

 

This is one of Jodi Picoult's newest books it is co-written with her daughter Samantha Van Leer who came up with the idea for the book. It is a young adult novel, sort of part fairy tale/fantasy crossed with a romance.

 

This is the book trailer from youtube

 

And an excerpt of the book http://www.jodipicoult.com/between-the-lines.html#excerpt

 

I read this story and enjoyed it, thoroughly, I could see myself reading it again. I loved how they didn't just borrow some old fairy tale ( Like Cinderella or Snow White...) but made up a bit of a different fairy tale that still seems bound to the steps of any fairy tale giving it the classic feel.

 

I love the romance between the characters Oliver and Delilah - Oliver watches her sleep or get changed only because she leaves the book open. I enjoyed the idea of what the characters in the story do, when the book is closed and no one is reading it.

 

It is a good read and I was actually, sorry to see it end.

 

 

 

 

[BabyBelle]

I LOVE Jodi Picoult's books! I've read almost all of them....just 4 or 5 books left, plus the new one she has in store for us (The Storyteller)

 

I was quite impressed with Between the Lines. The idea is original, and they wrote very well. I LOVED the ending! I thought that whole switching thing was both brilliant, and touching. I hope Samantha writes some things on her own in the future, she truly has her mother's gift.

[Ramica]

I LOVE Jodi Picoult's books! I've read almost all of them....just 4 or 5 books left, plus the new one she has in store for us (The Storyteller)

 

I was quite impressed with Between the Lines. The idea is original, and they wrote very well. I LOVED the ending! I thought that whole switching thing was both brilliant, and touching. I hope Samantha writes some things on her own in the future, she truly has her mother's gift.

I agree, I would love to see more from Samantha.

 

Storyteller? Hmmmm, haven't heard of that one yet. Will have to keep an eye out for it here in Canada.

[DragonNighthowler]

I bought this book upon reading about it here. I've still not read it, but I have read My Sister's Keeper and 19 Minutes, and both were really good books. Will tell you about it as soon as I get through it (my beloved Dresden Files is still a priority, but I'm 3/4 into it so it shouldn't take too long)

[DragonNighthowler]

Sorry for double posting. Since this post hadn't been updated since my last message, over a month ago, I guess it is not wrong? If it is, I will correct it.

 

Anyways, I finished the book today and... it is not what I expected. While I was entertained by it, to the point I was kept awake at night just wondering what will happen next (which is the same effect Twilight had on me, so that's about the only good thing both books have, the intrigue), I found myself more and more bothered by certain aspects of the book. I have read Picoult's books 19 Minutes and My Sister's Keepers, and I loved them, even when it is not my type of read (I'm actually a fantasy reader). This book interested me on the premise that it was fantasy, and I really should have expected it wouldn't be what I had imagined.

 

First of all, the background story. Dinsey has far more obscure plots and characters than this ridiculous attempt at a fairy tale. While the fantasy behind the scenes was interesting (feminist mermaids? That's cute.), the main fairy tale where everything roots is a comedic attempt full of cliche's, and I had a hard time taking them seriously.

The paintings in the pages (some even spoiling content), did not help at all. They only made the whole thing seem more and more childish. I honestly wouldn't call this book a YA, since the overall feeling I got was that it was a children's book.

 

The loner character has also been overdone, although the aspect I could find more intriguing was her obsession with a children's book. She had started throwing her life, avoiding her friends and treating her evident pathology as something normal to the point she started speaking freely about it. It is a pity the book, ultimately, treated this issues as something unimportant and did not deepen in it, because it Picoult had taken the reins of that, it would have made one heck of a story.

 

And that's as positive as I have to say about characters, as they were pretty much flat and one dimensional. I had a hard time relating with the adult characters myself (which seems unbelievable, considering Picoult has portrayed brilliant mother characters before). The main characters are selfish and egocentric, something that is not inherently bad unless you try to make up for it by showing the characters regret only to show the reader they are not really bad people at all. The main female actually makes a fuss about a certain event because her mother would be alone... only to run off in the very next chapter.

 

The romance was ridiculous. I can't believe Picoult herself would break one of the main rules of writing; "Show, don't tell". I do understand because it isn't her writing a single paragraph of this book, but her daughter, and it shows. Anyways, I saw no transition, no feeling progression. It just sort of happened, and that's it. One moment they were bickering, the next they were totally in love. Right...

I don't buy it.

 

The premise was interesting, but I had the feeling either I'm too stupid to get it, or the writer (Samantha), got stuck in a dead end she couldn't get out of... or simply did not configure correctly her world's rules. It is said the book always fixes itself. All right, got that, so either something absolutely magical has to happen, or the book simply can't be changed so it would need a roundabout of sorts (I predictably guessed the ending pages into the beginning, and I am normally fooled).

Then we get to the ending and it has totally changed from a fairy tale to something that seems pulled out of Toy Story, Buzz's delusions. Which absolutely makes no sense.

Yet again, for that ending to happen every single time the book opens, the main character has to be inside the story, either it doesn't work.

A Wizard Did It would have worked wonders in this sort of cases. Or something like in Kate and Leopold.

 

Speaking of the ending, it is left open. Not the worst part, but it would have benefited from a chapter or two into the future lives of the characters.

 

However, I might have passed all of that and never written a review had it not been for two things.

1. I said I'd comment.

2. The friggin gamer character.

 

I say nothing about gamer characters. I have a gamer character myself in one of my books... but I'm a gamer myself. Miss VanLeer/Picoult (whoever came up with that ridiculous thing), gave a try at a gamer character not having been nowhere near a game since Space Invaders came out. The game title was absurd, the game premise was ridiculous, I am an avid gamer and haven't seen points since my old Olivetti 25 years ago, and the character was portrayed full of cliche's as your typical antisocial, dark, angry dude without friends and without a life, which has nothing to do with reality. Really, research. Even when doing fantasy you have to research, research and research a bit more. It is boring, but it is the only way not looking like an idiot, specially when experts on the matter (like Mr David Mech, an eminence in wolf ethology and behavior, criticized Lone Wolf for her inaccurate interpretation of wolf ecology).

I have to admit, while it didn't make me angry or anything, I did roll my eyes in disbelief. I couldn't believe, yet again, we gamers are being portrayed as something completely erroneous. Are we that scary people are afraid to approach us and speak? I happen to believe we're actually pretty nice people... unless you play EVE, then you're a *.

 

Anyways, my overall conclusion to the book is; It is a book written by an inexperienced 15 year old, with little to none help from her mother's side (or she was unable to see the issues because it's her daughter writing), which is selling mainly because it has Picoult's name on the cover.

I have two personal thoughts; For one, I think Samantha may be talented enough in the future. Not now, she needs to grow her skills from scratch, start working, falling on her own failures and standing up again until she's critic enough with her own work she needs little outside help.

On other side, Picoult did say in the introduction that she had to oblige her daughter to sit and write... which does not speak too well about her. When I was her age, I was able to get an idea during class, get home and not stop writing till it was out of me. Sure, the story was horse manure, but I never needed anyone pushing me to write (I need to push myself to do the scheme, I hate that part, but it is very necessary).

 

 

We will see in later years. However, I won't pick another of Samantha's books until she's 25 or so. Then... maybe she has grown in skills and talent, and she will be pulling out masterpieces.