Friday 12 November 2010

Jodi Picoult: Handle with care

Charlotte O'Keefe's beautiful, much-longed-for, adored daughter Willow is born with osteogenesis imperfecta - a very severe form of brittle bone disease. If she slips on a crisp packet she could break both her legs, and spend six months in a half body cast. After years of caring for Willow, her family faces financial disaster. Then Charlotte is offered a lifeline. She could sue her obstetrician for wrongful birth - for not having diagnosed Willow's condition early enough in the pregnancy to be able to abort the child. The payout could secure Willow's future. But to get it would mean Charlotte suing her best friend. And standing up in court to declare that she would have prefered that Willow had never been born...

As usual in Jodi Picoult fashion the book is a great read presenting an unbelievable moral dilemma for the O'Keefe family. Although the story line was gripping and the effects of the lawsuit on Piper, Charlotte, Sean, Amelia and Marin were displayed brilliantly, it was too telling that Willow was always referred to and never "spoke" for herself. If would have been great to get Willow's point of view, which would also have made the ending more surprising...

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