Filed under: Lipstick Blogger
I have to say my most recent read, Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult left me very angry at times while reading and appalled by many actions of the main character. The last Picoult book I read, “Songs From a Humpback Whale” was amazing so I decided to read another book written by her so I settled on this one. Once again, Picoult amazes me with her illustrious story telling. She is a marvel and I find her books extremely difficult to put down.
This is the novel of Paige O’Toole Prescott and her husband Nicholas Prescott. Abandoned by her mother when she was five, Paige is raised by her single father, a devout Catholic, in Chicago. A gifted artist she held dreams of attending art school, however at 18 Paige suffers a devastating loss and flees her home in an effort to escape her past and herself.
Landing in a diner in Cambridge, Massachussetts Paige meets Nicholas Prescott, a handsome, larger-than-life Harvard medical student. The two quickly fall in love to the dismay of Nicholas’ affluent parents and Paige is forced to help put her husband through medical school. Soon after marriage Paige learns that she is pregnant and is forced to face the demons of her past. Can she be a good mother? Will she fail her son as her mother failed her? Will she cause her son the same pain as her mother inflicted on her? These are all questions that Paige struggles with as she enters the first few months of motherhood. As she does the unthinkable Nicholas and Paige are forced to look inside themselves to see if love is enough and whether or not they can erase the mistakes of the past and look towards the future together.
As I digested the book a bit my feelings went from completely disgusted with the main character, Paige to feeling sorry for her. I often think of myself as mama bear and would die to protect my boys. I find all the clichés they say about motherhood to be true. Everything from the intense love you have for your child to the time going by so fast you don’t know how they got so big, so fast. I remember telling my mom that now I finally understood how much she loved me, because before my son I never knew a love like this. I can’t imagine the kind of turmoil a mother is faced with when she feels the need to leave her child. The thought is so foreign to me that instead of anger I felt sympathy for Paige.
Picoult is amazing – stay tuned for more blogs on her books as I become a huge fan!
All the best,
Lipstick Blogger
4 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Paperspine Blog 
I find it humorus as you have picked two of her books that I have not read. I have Harvesting the Heart in my room and its my next read after I finish the last summer of you and me by Ann Brashares. If you really want to get angry at a character read “The Pact” by Jodi Piccoult. My girlfriends and I were ready to rip out the pages just to knock some sense into one of the mothers in that book. Glad to have you on board the Jodi fan club.
Comment by Vicki Decker September 26, 2008 @ 10:04 amHi Vicki – Thanks for the comments! I will be interested to hear what you think of Harvesting the Heart. I have added both “The Last Summer of You and Me” and “The Pact” to my queue and am excited to read them both!
Comment by Lipstick Blogger September 29, 2008 @ 3:02 pmFinished it and LOVED IT!!!!
Comment by Vicki Decker October 11, 2008 @ 1:23 pmSo glad to hear it!!!
Comment by Lipstick Blogger October 13, 2008 @ 10:39 am