By Anna Lee
A title that is enigmatic. Perhaps a little clichéd sounding. But that by no means conveys the heart wrenching drama of the book; which focuses on LGBT issues within the family courts and the tangled relationship caused by miscarriage, divorce and self-discovery.
It’s written by Jodi Picoult; author of My Sister’s Keeper, Handle with Care, Keeping Faith and many more. If any of you have read her stories you will understand the difficulty in explaining exactly what they’re about; the multiple point of views, subplots and fractured intercharacter relationships can be hard to adequately describe to someone who hasn’t read the book, yet I will give it my best shot.
A title that is enigmatic. Perhaps a little clichéd sounding. But that by no means conveys the heart wrenching drama of the book; which focuses on LGBT issues within the family courts and the tangled relationship caused by miscarriage, divorce and self-discovery.
It’s written by Jodi Picoult; author of My Sister’s Keeper, Handle with Care, Keeping Faith and many more. If any of you have read her stories you will understand the difficulty in explaining exactly what they’re about; the multiple point of views, subplots and fractured intercharacter relationships can be hard to adequately describe to someone who hasn’t read the book, yet I will give it my best shot.
Beginning with a pregnant Zoe; a music therapist (an incredibly worthwhile occupation, just not such a great paycheck) who helps trauma victims through the power of music as a way to connect to the world which has become so harsh. A tragedy occurs after an incident with an Alzheimer's patient that reflects back on her past and causes more pain. This leads to her marriage being cruelly torn apart and her husband's previous alcoholism resurfacing.
Meanwhile; Zoe is trying her best to get back to normal, burying herself into her work in an attempt to let go of her dreams of a child. She meets Vanessa, a school counsellor who she vaguely knew before the divorce and they renew their acquaintance and soon become good friends, and in the way these things so often seem to happen their friendship deepens into soul binding love. Now this is the part of the story where it could go god-awful and have them become a perfect couple who never quarrel and are simply Stepford (minus the penis in the relationship); but Piccoult is not a bestselling author for nothing. They do argue, they do question each other, Vanessa in particular is troubled by Zoe’s unbidden homosexuality especially after her long-time relationship with Max. It;s imperfect their relationship, as all real relationship are and yet that is what we identify with. This isn’t about a lesbian relationship; it’s about a relationship full stop. Which is refreshing in a media centric world where previously the trend was to have a token ‘gay’ whose storyline’s never moved past their sexuality (although finally LGBT finally seem to be giving prominent strong roles in film and TV; like for instance Orange is the New Black). Vanessa and Zoe commit wholly to each other and then Zoe remembers something that didn’t get divided in the divorce.
Embryos. Three frozen embryos that are genetically Zoe’s and Max’s may now offer a last shot for Zoe to have a biological child of her own with her new partner Vanessa. They must vie with Max (and the hardcore Baptist church to which he belongs); to gain control of the embryos rather than see them destroyed or gifted to someone else as Max wishes.
Which of course leads to a familiar setting for many a Picoult fan; a court room, a battle which encompasses many of the struggles that LGBT couple and families experience where they go down the legal route: not recognising civil partnerships, prejudice and the argument that a traditional family is always better than a non-traditional family.
There are faults within the story of course; nothing is perfect after all. Although; this is perhaps not so much a fault of the book but the writer in general. Picoult is formulaic; her books are sometimes strikingly similar despite dealing with a multitude of issues and the characters sometimes feel like caricatures with different names from book to book.
That being said I worship this book. Anyone looking for LGBT fiction or just plain interested in romance drama novels with a serious topic at the centre NEEDS to read this. The characters are intrinsically flawed, imperfect and human. You don’t need to agree wholeheartedly with any views expressed in the novel at all. That’s perhaps the point; this book will potentially challenge you, it will (hopefully) anger you enough that you throw it repeatedly against a wall (guilty) but hopefully it will grip you enough that you go on and pick it right back up (guilty). And maybe it’ll teach you just a little bit about who you are yourself.
Meanwhile; Zoe is trying her best to get back to normal, burying herself into her work in an attempt to let go of her dreams of a child. She meets Vanessa, a school counsellor who she vaguely knew before the divorce and they renew their acquaintance and soon become good friends, and in the way these things so often seem to happen their friendship deepens into soul binding love. Now this is the part of the story where it could go god-awful and have them become a perfect couple who never quarrel and are simply Stepford (minus the penis in the relationship); but Piccoult is not a bestselling author for nothing. They do argue, they do question each other, Vanessa in particular is troubled by Zoe’s unbidden homosexuality especially after her long-time relationship with Max. It;s imperfect their relationship, as all real relationship are and yet that is what we identify with. This isn’t about a lesbian relationship; it’s about a relationship full stop. Which is refreshing in a media centric world where previously the trend was to have a token ‘gay’ whose storyline’s never moved past their sexuality (although finally LGBT finally seem to be giving prominent strong roles in film and TV; like for instance Orange is the New Black). Vanessa and Zoe commit wholly to each other and then Zoe remembers something that didn’t get divided in the divorce.
Embryos. Three frozen embryos that are genetically Zoe’s and Max’s may now offer a last shot for Zoe to have a biological child of her own with her new partner Vanessa. They must vie with Max (and the hardcore Baptist church to which he belongs); to gain control of the embryos rather than see them destroyed or gifted to someone else as Max wishes.
Which of course leads to a familiar setting for many a Picoult fan; a court room, a battle which encompasses many of the struggles that LGBT couple and families experience where they go down the legal route: not recognising civil partnerships, prejudice and the argument that a traditional family is always better than a non-traditional family.
There are faults within the story of course; nothing is perfect after all. Although; this is perhaps not so much a fault of the book but the writer in general. Picoult is formulaic; her books are sometimes strikingly similar despite dealing with a multitude of issues and the characters sometimes feel like caricatures with different names from book to book.
That being said I worship this book. Anyone looking for LGBT fiction or just plain interested in romance drama novels with a serious topic at the centre NEEDS to read this. The characters are intrinsically flawed, imperfect and human. You don’t need to agree wholeheartedly with any views expressed in the novel at all. That’s perhaps the point; this book will potentially challenge you, it will (hopefully) anger you enough that you throw it repeatedly against a wall (guilty) but hopefully it will grip you enough that you go on and pick it right back up (guilty). And maybe it’ll teach you just a little bit about who you are yourself.
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