“I did not like this book!! I thought it was depressing at the end and dragged on. It jumped from present to past to future and became very confusing. I also caught 3 or 4 inconsistencies in the story for example, Peter was 3 when they got the dog, yet two pages later he was 2 and riding it around like a horse! I am VERY disappointed with this book!!”
“I generally like Picoult books because she has unusual plot twists and generally very believable characters. Being a retired teacher, I particularly enjoyed this one until the end. Was highly disappointed in the last chapter or so. It struck me like, "Oh, I'd better end this now."”
“I am still reading I think it's ok for right now. Maybe it will get better.”
“She has the ability to write simply and then throw in a complicated/multifacited thought that really makes you think. I enjoy her writing, but thought My Sister's Keeper was better.”
“This book just rambled on and on and on”
“This book was unoriginal and not worth it.....”
“The school shooting plot isn’t the most original; there have been many fictionalized accounts of Columbine. However, Picoult delves into the characters by recounting past peer experiences. She doesn’t answer the question, “Why did he do it?” but we do get a feel for what it is like to be bullied. Why did this particular bullied child snap and why did he target students who weren't part of the bullying? Perhaps these questions weren't answered because in real life they rarely are. I actually felt empathy for the mother of the shooter. She kept on asking herself, "May be I should have done this instead of that..." agonizing over her contributions to the making of a killer. This novel compels the reader to think about how the victims, perpetrators, their families and communities of where a tragedy such as this has happened will never be the same”
“I think we need to do more for kids who are bullied. I am a teahcer in a Middle School and I have seen kids bullied. I also feel like many of the tactics for handling the situation are not effective. It seems to me that the person being bulllied is always the one told to not to react, asked what they did to cause a problem,etc. We say each and every kid has a right to feel safe at school, but I don't think that is always true.”
“I haven't ever read any of Jodi Picoult's book, but I've heard that they are very good. When I heard about some of them last year I thought that they looked pretty interesting I just never got around to reading any of them, because I'd never really heard anymore about them. They seem to be really interesting and it seems like a lot of people have gotten into them. So I was wondering should I read this book and/or is there a certain one of her books to start with? What kind of books are the ones that she writes.. geared towards kids, teens, adults, etc.? ”
“I am not sure that I would say that Peter had no adult intervention. However, I think we could all identify with Peter. I found the alternate story line of Josie as an abusee pretty lame. I think that it was just more than the story asked for. Overall, I am happy with this book and would read this auther again. She quite reminded me of John Grisham. It was a fairly easy read and yet it still was a bit more than fluff. ”
