I listened to the audio tape of this novel. And boy do I wish there was a way to skip ahead and skim an audio book. As it is, I hung in there and listened to the entire 9+ hours. I’ve read other novels by Jodi Picoult and I loved them! Sadly, this is not her best work. When I picked it up, I hadn’t realized how early in her career she had written this novel.
The book starts off promising enough with the main character having amnesia. But then it goes into clique after clique. Meek geeky woman falls for gruff dominating rich man, who has a temper and abuses her. She blames herself, meeting the stereotype yet again, and stays with him for three years. It’s not hard to predict where the story is going, but there are moments were you get bored and wonder, why are we covering this?
This is a story many women in abusive relationships might experience, but that’s the thing, there’s no originality to it. It’s the same story we’ve heard before or read in newspapers. She doesn’t leave him until a baby comes into the mix and even then, we aren’t shown what she does with her life next, which is the part where the author might have come up with something original.
There is an Indian heritage thing mixed in, but really it is just a distractor side story. It wasn’t needed at all. It could have been removed entirely, along with the character Will, and the story would have unfolded just the same.
The childhood stories of the main characters, although entertaining, once again serve no real purpose. The stories are more there for a shock and awe factor, showing you horribly gruesome events that the characters lived through.
All in all, I would suggest skipping this book. Jodi Picoult has written much better novels that you should read instead.
mizner13 
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