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Original poster

Jodi Piccoult books

43 replies

lumberingaroundthehouse · 27/08/2020 09:56

I keep being fooled!

The premise or synopsis sounds good but then when I start reading I’m immediately lost in a never-ending carousel of characters. I am taken back and forth with them to things that may be significant but I can never remember who did what or what happened to them.

Some of the memories are obviously described to be poignant in some way. Like this - Once ... a guy threw a party ... you were gone and someone noticed you lying at the bottom of the pool ... I dove in and dragged you out ... But you were furious at me. You told me you’d been looking for mermaids and I interrupted you. Wot?

And the endless handwringing about mothers and bad mothers who work. Arrgghh.

Yet amazon reviews are brilliant. What am I missing?

OP posts:

FallonsTeaRoom · 27/08/2020 10:02

I like Jodi Picoult’s style of telling the story from each character’s point of view. It helps flesh out the story for me and makes it less of a narrative and more real.

senua · 27/08/2020 10:08

Yet amazon reviews are brilliant. What am I missing?
Beats me, I can't see it either.
I like a book that evolves from characters and/or situations. JP's books seem to be formulaic, about issues. Can't be doing with them.

purpleme12 · 27/08/2020 10:13

Oh right I didn't get any of what you got from her books

I love her books

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WaffleCash · 27/08/2020 10:25

I've read a couple on holiday in the absence of any other reading material and they generally enrage me. One was the pact, don't recall the other

PurpleDaisies · 27/08/2020 10:26

I enjoyed her early ones until they all became essentially identical to each other.

byvirtue · 27/08/2020 10:29

I haven’t read one in over a decade, the early ones were ok but essentially they are the same formulaic characters in slightly different situations. So dull and there are far better writers out there.

Original poster

lumberingaroundthehouse · 27/08/2020 10:38

I’m reading Nineteen Minutes. It could be incredible, but it’s dire.

OP posts:

captainprincess · 27/08/2020 10:49

Gosh yes, they have definitely become identical! I liked some of the earlier ones (my sister's keeper) but the newer ones aren't so good. It's like she tries too hard with the twist (and there always seems to be one!)

PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle · 27/08/2020 11:42

I get so annoyed with her. I find the premise of her stories so interesting, but the plot lets it down. It's like she's always trying to find the easy way out of any difficult situation.
Plain truth - the book club questions at the end of the book asked how surprised were you by the ending. I didn't realise it was supposed to be a surprise. She had written so many clues in mile-high letters!
My sister's keeper - interesting plot about medical ethics. I found the situation fascinating. The ending was such a let-down. Just what is the easiest way to end this instead of what could have been a gritty, difficult dilemma.
House rules - again interesting plotline but SPOILER ALERT - why did no one just ask "why did you move the body" Surely a trained lawyer, or even the mother, would have asked this before going to court.

x2boys · 27/08/2020 11:47

I agree with others ,the early ones were good but they are very formulaic ,I can guess which way the books going to go within a few chapters ,and yes she essentially regurgitates the same book over and over again ,much like Martina Cole does .

GiveMeAllTheGin8 · 27/08/2020 11:49

I love her books ! Absolutely loved 19 minutes once I got in to it. I haven’t read her books in about 10 years so maybe my opinion would change but loved her then !

SpacePug · 27/08/2020 11:51

I loved Plain Truth, and Change of Heart. Haven't read all her books and haven't read Nineteen Minutes as I heard it's mostly court case

Juniperandrage · 27/08/2020 11:53

I only read My sisters keeper and the end enraged me so much I never read anything else of hers. It was such an act of authorial cowardice

Pelleas · 27/08/2020 12:18

I enjoyed some of the early ones, but as others have said, they have become formulaic and JP's writing style began to grate on me more and more, so I gave them up.

I completely agree about the 'poignant' asides as described in the OP. It's as if JP is throwing them in to try to make the book sound 'deep' but actually, they come over as random padding.

I agree about there being too many characters; or perhaps more accurately, she doesn't seem able to include a background character who doesn't matter that much without heaping them with the aforementioned poignant and quirky memories. Sometimes a character's only purpose is to fix a car or pass on a bit of information - trying to make them all deep and meaningful becomes tedious and confusing.

Also totally fed up of her child characters being quirky and adorable (or you're clearly meant to think their quirks are adorable). No, I am really not interested in endless rhapsodising over children, can we just move on please?

Finally, I noticed a point at which she kept including prison scenes in her books. I am guessing she's been able to visit a prison, but she's milked it to death. I'm not interested in endless prison scenes that seemed to be shoved in there to demonstrate how authentically the author can describe a prison.

I think she's an example of a good writer who has become the victim of her own success in that no one dares to edit her too much anymore, so she's allowed to indulge in all sorts of whimsies that don't add to her novels. It's a shame.

EmmaStone · 27/08/2020 15:08

I've read a few of her books. I find them easy to read, engaging in terms of interesting issues. But I forget EVERY ONE the minute I've finished the book.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 27/08/2020 15:20

I have read a few. My opinion varies - I loved The Storyteller, her best one by far. Songs of the Humpback Whale was awful.

I'm also not keen on the way she portrays everyone religious as homophobic and intolerant. One of my best friends is a devout Christian, he is also gay.

Torvean32 · 27/08/2020 15:44

I loved my sister's keeper, it maybe helped that i was on a beach in Mexico. I then read maybe 5 mire but i got bored due to similair plot lines and characters. Reminds me a bit of Mary Higgins-Clark.

nephrofox · 27/08/2020 17:26

Don't a couple of them actually have the same characters in?

It's years since I read them. The Pact, Salem Falls, can't remember the others. I remember they seemed pretty modern & adressed some up & coming issues at the time - but maybe they haven't aged welll

EbbandTheWanderingHearts · 27/08/2020 18:30

I enjoyed some of her early books though don't ask me which ones! I don't recommend A Spark of Light though. It's written in reverse and really hard going and confusing. Puts me off reading any future books.

mathsmonster · 27/08/2020 18:52

JP is one of my guilty pleasures. I know that I am not supposed to love her books, but I do. I agree that her earlier ones are better. I liked My Sister's Keeper and The Pact.

Talking of guilty pleasures, not only is Lethal White starting on TV on Sunday, but the fifth Strike novel is released on the 29th of September.

KaleWhale · 27/08/2020 18:53

Snap with @PurpleDaisies

IHaveBrilloHair · 27/08/2020 18:58

I recently reas the elephant one, it was ok, but I'd have preferred it ti be a bit less elephanty.
I also read the one with the nurse accused of killing the baby, I enjoyed that until the end where it was like she gave up and just said, "And they all lived happily ever after".

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 27/08/2020 18:59

I used to like them before they became repetitive. Quite enjoyed Salem Falls and the elephant one (Leaving Time?). And was there one where the main female character discovers her father had kidnapped her as a child?

I think many authors have the same problem... They run out of original ideas, but have a successful formula.

bookmum08 · 27/08/2020 19:00

I used to like them until - as someone already said - they got so samey. I think the last 3 or 4 I just haven't managed to get more than a few chapters in. There is such a formula and it's unfortunately got boring. Sorry Jodi - time to retire?

Waspnest · 27/08/2020 19:03

I only read My sisters keeper and the end enraged me so much I never read anything else of hers. It was such an act of authorial cowardice

^ This. I was actually glad that the film ended differently.

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