Jodie Picoult

[WeirdHandDryers]

AUBU to find her one of the most frustrating writers ever? She seems to use the same characters for every book. There is always a “romance” in the most unlikely circumstances (cop falls in love with suspects mum!), pages ... sometimes whole chapters of irrelevant information. The songs of humpback whale was the worst one for this ... rattling on and in about whales when it actually had little relevance to the story other than the title.
If you’re reading a book, do you prefer a distraction from the main story or, like me do you just wish they’d focus on the story at hand?? I can’t understand why she’s so popular

You've spelled her name wrong and are criticising her writing.

The one about the autistic kid pissed me right off. She tries to portray the mother as the best mother that ever lived yet she totally neglects her other son throughout the whole book! I just felt so frustrated on his behalf ... making him late for school constantly because the mother won’t drive past an orange sign as ‘orange’ triggers a meltdown in her older son. Ridiculous.

I don’t claim to be a writer though E4e ... that’s the difference

I love them and always pre order

It is the writer Nora Roberts that writes as JD Robb

What I hate about Picoult's books is that they are marketed as being about a moral dilemma. How do you deal with being the parent of the school shooter. Do you give your sister your kidney even though she'll probably die anyway. What should happen to the mother who shot the man she thought had raped her 4 year old. But by 1/3 of the way in, it's no longer a moral dilemma, it's a court-room drama. Every single time!

It's never marketed as a courtroom drama. I don't want to read a courtroom drama. I want to read about people and their feelings and how they do or don't find ways to come to terms with the shit sandwich life just served them. Instead it's legal arguments and clever work arounds/plot twists that change the verdict in the last couple of chapters. Nothing like what the book was marketed as and always a massive let down for me.

Dislike her books, gratuitous misery.

Absolute shite.
Never liked her book.

They sound like they will be gripping buts always ruined by some soppy bullshit.

Yes, I read her first books and loved them. Then got bored of the samey samey plots. My sister in law lent me her book about elephants/zoo and I couldn’t finish it. I absolutely love elephants but the amount of information about them was just so irrelevant to the story and boring as hell. I skipped most of it!

I've heard her marketed in the US as the 'queen of the ethical dilemma novel', which sounds cynical enough to be about right.

She is the most infuriating...

I want to throw it in the bin if I see one on someone bookshelf...

There was one where a female lawyer murdere an innocent man, but it’s cool because, you know she’s a mom and she thought he hurt her child so it’s all justifiable...

The whole device of “I’m a mother you wouldn’t understand” and plain self indulgent clap trap gives me the rage...

Like others I read one and enjoyed it enough to try another and found it very samey. I wouldn't bother with another one. Read one, read 'em all :)

I read the one about the sister who's supposed to give her sister a kidney and it was odd as hell, specially the ending. But what I really hated was how undifferentiated the voices were - the bits narrated by the mum and the bits narrated by the teenage daughter sounded like the same character. Not only was it a bit implausible that a teenager would be talking that way, it was bloody difficult to keep track of who was saying what!

That's the one I read. I enjoyed it but haven't felt the urge to read anything else by JP.

They are used in schools now, as an easy enough read to open discussion about different topics. Which sort of tells you where they fall in the literary spectrum given that ours just banned TKAM as too hard.

I think they are also useful to introduce literary devices to children, as they are, erm, easily spotted?

I haven’t read any for years. I liked Nineteen Minutes, though.

Ive read a few of her books & your right they do tend to follow the same arc.
I took a break from her for a while then went back when she wrote small great things which I enjoyed but there were no surprises
She's definitely an author I will dip into when I know what I'm getting.

I too prefer Diane chamberlain for light reading

Read some of her books early on in her career, was trite but intriguing enough to read more than one. Like so many authors i find im just reading the same book again and so i gave up.

Marian Keyes is quite good for characterisation and pacey plot with good twists. Much more light hearted than jodi Picoult.

I agree with the OP - badly written, predictable and superficial

I think she pretty much writes the same story each time. Her books are very formulaic

I didn't know she wrote as JD Robb.

I haven't read any of the books that she co-wrote with her daughter; I think she's basically giving her daughter the publicity of her name?

I really enjoy her books and am looking forward to reading the new one! They are cheesy but entertaining and I am not ashamed to say I just want to be entertained when I read (though I don't like books that are purely typical chick lit either so the moral dilemmas and research JP* shoehorns in appeal to me). I can see why she doesn't appeal to everyone though.

• and her "research" team, I suspect she employs some writing/editorial assistants to do some of the writing tbh especially as it's so formulaic (but I still like it, ha)

I’m another who read one, quite enjoyed it then read a second and quickly realised it was a rehash of the the first one I read and never bothered to try again. I had the same thing with Martina Cole too, different usp but same one trick pony thing going on.

@witchofzog thank you thank you thank you! Avid reader and had never heard of Diane chamberlain. Motoring my way through the Stolen Marriage. Love it when you get recommended a new author