What constitutes a family? Why does what happens behind closed doors matter to other people? Who is to say that one lifestyle over another kind of lifestyle? These are the questions that are addressed in Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult's latest heart wrenching novel. In this novel two lesbians, Zoe and Vanessa, want to have a child using one of Zoe's frozen embryos. However, this is not so easy with Zoe's ex-husband Max as he has become extremely religious and believes being a homosexual is wrong. When these two world are brought into the courtroom, it's amazing how parts of people's lives are so easily questioned and looked down upon.
Context
Jodi Picoult is a writer that loves to write from multiple perspectives. Once again, she has done it well. With each chapter, I felt like I was inside the person's mind reading their thoughts and feeling the heartache or joy that they were also feeling throughout this ordeal. For the controversial subjects in this book, it was a great choice to see the events play out from the different perspectives. These perspectives made me look at religion and homosexuality in a different light and understand people better. However, since the story was written from first person perspective, there was not a lot of unique language being used other than the medical terms. For language I would rate this book at a 5 out of 10.
Some of the characters were not original, such as Max. He was an average Joe that was an alcoholic and had turned to God to make his life better. On the other hand, some characters were unique in that they really stood out, such as Vanessa. She had so much depth she came across as a real person, not some made up character. Thus, character development receives a rating of 7 out of 10.
The plot of this story was very predictable, until the last fifty pages. I loved the twist that led to an ending that was unexpected and the best ending possible for this story. So plot receives a rating of 9 out of 10.
I loved this book even though it is extremely controversial. I had a hard time putting it down, because I wanted to know what would happen next and what the fate would be for the frozen embryos. At times I felt just as frustrated as the characters and other times I was hoping the character would fail. I read this book in just a few days and would definitely recommend it to anyone. However, when you sit down to read it make sure that you have time. Also as a reader, if you have preconceptions about religion and homosexuality allow yourself to be open minded because by the end of it, you may have a different attitude. As far as being an enjoyable read I would rate this book at a 10 out of 10.
Should you read this book?
Most definitely. By combining the ratings of language, character development, plot, and enjoyable read that are listed above, this book receives a rating of 7.8. Jodi Picoult has done a wonderful job bringing these two topics together and showing both sides of the story. This is not my favorite Jodi Picoult book, but I would definitely read it again.
Source:
- Jodi Picoult. Sing You Home. Maine: Center Point Publishing in Thorndike, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-61173-052-4
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