One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen.
For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.
Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?
So about thirty seconds ago, I finished Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I read this book in three days, and it was about 450 pages. So it wasn't a 'light' read. Nonetheless, I have a review for you today.
First, I want to point out that Jodi's books ARE a little advanced for younger people. She writes for the more adult age and sometimes I have a hard time understanding EVERYTHING because I don't have a HUGE political, and religious understanding.
I've read several of her novels, and this one is a little more religion-based, if you will. I'm a practicing Catholic, but I sometimes don't understand everything in the Bible. So if you are moderately interested in religion, this would be a good book for you. If you really don't enjoy reading anything that has a religious motif, I would don't suggest this to you. I'm kind of in between.
The story is told through several people's points of view. You have June, the mother/widow who has almost lost everything; Michael, the priest who helps a convicted murderer; Maggie, the lawyer with no self esteem; and Lucius [my personal favorite person to listen to], the murderer who is gay and also an artist with many regrets. The main 'thing' is Shay, who is a murderer of a cop (June's husband) and a young girl (June's daughter). Each person goes through and tells their part of the story and their personal thoughts, and feelings.
I went back and forth between who my favorite character is, who is annoying, and who I sympathize the most for. Ultimately, my favorite character to read is Lucius. I don't really know why...maybe because he is just a bystander. Maybe I felt sorry for him, to find his boyfriend had betrayed him. I don't know!
My least favorite person to read was Father Michael. I felt he was kind of boring and over analyzed everything. Maybe Jodi wanted him to be the 'devil's advocate' and question what you thought. I thought his sections were kind of long and drawn out and I just skipped over them a lot. But a priest that rides a motorcycle..that's pretty B.A. :)
But overall, I liked this book a lot. I feel like the idea of child molestation is prevalent in Jodi Picoult novels. Remember Vanishing Acts?
I would rate this about an 8 / 10, just because I thought there was a lot of religion that I wasn't able to understand. (And several family members agree with me - they read this book as well)
Thanks for reading my review - COMMENT!
-Emily
