Helpful Score: 8
Picture Perfect was the first novel I've read by Picoult. I'm willing to try again. The story begins with the main character, Cassie, having amnesia and shifts from the present to a very lengthy flashback of how she 'got from there to here' and back to the present.
Only Picoult could probably weave such a compelling tale involving anthropology, Hollywood, the culture of the Lakota Sioux Indians and a troubled marriage. I thoroughly enjoyed the last third of the book when the story hits its emotional peak and the events (and the characters) are the most believable.
Only Picoult could probably weave such a compelling tale involving anthropology, Hollywood, the culture of the Lakota Sioux Indians and a troubled marriage. I thoroughly enjoyed the last third of the book when the story hits its emotional peak and the events (and the characters) are the most believable.
Helpful Score: 7
Another gritty book by Picoult, who looks unflinchingly at life and her characters. In this story an archeologist meets and falls in love with a movie god. They are the perfect match - but not in a healthy way. How she copes with spousal abuse is well-done indeed.
Helpful Score: 6
I love Jodi Picoult, but this was definitely not a favorite of mine. I liked the theme but it was so unbelievable and I hated the ending. I almost didn't finish the book but I kept thinking it would get better. It was a love story, but a strange one.
Helpful Score: 4
Aperfect marriage, or not? What it looks like from the outside is different from what is real. She loves him. He loves her. Something terrible keeps them from true happiness. This is somewhat suspensfull, but I guessed the truth early on. Chilling and horific it is, but more for what is acceptable than for what is not.
Helpful Score: 3
It's amazing that Picoult can evoke sympathy in her readers for even the most unsympathetic of characters in "real life" - a husband who beats his wife, a wife who stays. In spite of that ability, this book still falls short. She didn't really know how to end it (obviously), so it kind of just stops abruptly without a satisfying sense of closure. As fiction, this novel is far from "Picture Perfect."
