Overall Rating:

2 out of 5

Disappointed, May 5, 2009
By katiemay10

"I admit going in that I have a bias toward this book - my oldest nephew has OI (the disease at the center of Picoult's novel), and I do admit that I may end up liking the book more than I do now once I've had more time to digest it.
That being said, right now I am struggling with it, trying to find the ultimate point of this book, other than to stir up controversy regarding its wrongful birth premise. Did the author write about this topic simply for the sake of the debate it would arouse, ultimately selling more copies? That's the only conclusion I can justify at this point.
While her characters may be more complex than her prior novels (I admit to having read none of them), I felt her portrayal of Willow, the daughter with OI, was an idealized version of many of the traits shared by people with this disease; they do tend to be smarter than their years, have a resevoir of strength that I can only imagine, and all of the those that I've known have wonderful senses of humor. That being said, no one is perfect, yet Picoult seems to verge on that fairy tale when it comes to Willow.
And I did find the mother to be less than sympathetic. I imagined my sister in her situation and, while I can never know the trauma and the agonizing questions she dealt with (and still does, now that he's almost 20 years old) on a daily basis, I know with certainty that she would never have said in public that she wished she had never had my nephew. She may have thought it during those first few difficult years, but once the initial sense of being overwhelmed lessened, I KNOW she couldn't have imagined her life without him. The mother in this story claims to feel the same way, yet she continues to express the opposite sentiment for the sake of this lawsuit. I expected the resolution to have some healing effect on my judgement of her, but it did just the opposite. As her family spiraled out of control, rather than say, "This is too much. I won't hurt my family anymore," she clung to the notion that a verdict in her favor would justify everything they were going through and make it all worthwhile. I won't spoil the outcome of that, but suffice it to say, I was no happier with her at the end than I was throughout the novel.
And in regards to the final chapter of the book, I just don't get it. I don't understand the point of it. I have my theory on why it ended the way it did, but it seems totally unjust and cruel and I don't want to believe the author could have reasoned it as such.
All told, it is a compelling story in the sense that you care for several of the characters and want to see how it all unfolds for them. However, the underlying messages that I got from it were hurtful and confusing, at best."

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