Handle with Care Review

Warning: If you are in my book club or don't want to read a spoiler about Handle with Care read no further. I finally finished this book, and I've never been happier...now that it's done! I was not a fan of this book. I've read another Picoult book and am not sure what to think of her as an author. It's obvious that she likes to hone in on a particular controversial issue (in both books I've read it's been medical). The issue is usually not very common and requires her to extensively research her book. In this aspect, she succeeds.

Picoult's strength (at least in My Sister's Keeper) is making you think about a certain situation in a different way. In that book she made me go beyond my gut-reaction to think, how would I really choose or behave if I was actually put in this situation. Being able to see a complicated issue from a completely different perspective was my favorite part of that book.

I think she tried to do the same in this most recent novel, but it didn't work. Every depressing event that happened, did not in my opinion, lead to whatever she was trying to show us in the end. I came away from this book, learning nothing, feeling nothing except sadness. But not in beautiful/tragic beautiful prose way - just one hit after another.

HUGE SPOILER: I still cannot understand why Willow died in the end. Had she succeeded in her faux suicide attempt, as tragic as that was, that would have even given some validity to the hell her parents had put her through and pushed her to the brink. But to just drown out of no where? I read a review saying wondering what if Willow had survived and her mom was putting the check in her coffin many years later (having never used it, having learned from all their mistakes, etc). I think this would have made a much better ending - but I don't believe this is the case, because her mother visualizes her drowning as she is describing this section.

My favorite dialogue came from Amelia, Willow's older sister. But again, she was put to the side the whole book. Even her "cure" of bulimia was for her parents to ship her off to get help, and coming back at the end of the book fine and "healthy". Even the author pushes Amelia to the side - that was a quick fix to a problem that was just as severe as Willow's.

I can't wait to hear the opinions of my book club members. The book was a page-turner for sure, but only because you desperately wanted something good to happen to this struggling family - and it never did.

"An Elephant's Faithful One-Hundred Percent"

"I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent"

My book club met for the first time this past Sunday. The fact that we were able to hold our little gathering outside, enjoying the prettiest day so far of 2009 was a good sign for things to come. We munched on delicious sandwiches, goodies and of course a little cranberry champagne. It turns out that pretty much everyone enjoyed Water for Elephants. So let's get to the official review.

Water for Elephants is a book you can get lost in. The book is written from two different perspectives: The young Jacob's experiences joining the circus and the old Jacob's life living in a nursing home. The "action" parts of the book all take place during young Jacob's time with the circus, involving a crazy love triangle and his passion for animals. However, the group agreed that Gruen's depth of writing shined much more when she was describing the older Jacob. I found myself laughing out lout at some of the parts in these sections. And you would think it would be easier for an author to go into vivid detail while describing the fun, colorful, sometimes dangerous circus, but this wasn't the case, in my opinion. I even found myself wanting to skip over some sections of detailed descriptions during the young Jacob's circus days. While it was evident she did much research, which was interesting, some of the other mundane aspects stayed that way as a result of her writing.

But then, just like that, you are taken back to the perspective of older Jacob and the writing allows you to really experience what he is feeling -- as he grows older and feels he is trapped in a body that doesn't fully represent who he is. And although my book club is full of mostly early-to-mid 20 somethings, we all agreed we were able to relate to his descriptions. So, Gruen was successful in relating something (aging in this case) to a group of young women -- something pretty out of our realm at this point and time at least. I think that is always the sign of a good writer. There were a few serious topics that Gruen touches on, but doesn't really go into great detail that we felt could have made the book even richer.

Overall though, I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to know a little more about the circus, likes a good love story or is an animal lover. I think above all else, this book takes a deep look into dealing with the aging process, and how you are never too old, or young for that matter, to do anything you want.