I have recently discovered an author that has made me love her so much, that in an effusion of enthusiasm I borrowed her books from the library – all 14 of them. At the same time. Her name is Jodi Picoult, and even though in the mean time I decided to return 8 of them, and take them out one by one leaving a certain time interval between them (this way I can enjoy them better, and also what else I read in between), I kept wondering what makes her books so special in my eyes. I think I’ve got the answer!
What makes me want to read her books and not miss a single page, or a single book of all that she wrote, is the fact that I want to get to know her characters. Her books have many many qualities: her research is extensive, and the way she includes it in the fiction doesn’t take away from the informative quality, but at the same time it makes it accessible. She sets her books somewhere that I know (New Hampshire mostly, or New England in general), and her characters are people we can all identify with, with problems we could all have (and as a nation the United States had all these problems). But what is most important in my eyes (maybe because I am a psychology student, after all) is character development.
Jodi Picoult takes her time with presenting her characters. She never gives more than she needs to at a certain time, she perfectly paces the speed at which we discover a character. This is why I read breathlessly, waiting to hear what else “June,” for example, is thinking, or doing, to understand her motivations and feel what she is feeling. It is easy for me to empathize and identify myself with a character I have gotten to know so well. I have grown to love some characters and despise (but not hate, Jodi Picoult never gives the opportunity to hate her characters, there is a shred of humanity even in the hardest of crimes) others, I have imagined what it would be like to go through the experiences that her families go through, and I have learned with her and from her.
I have learned about the Amish and their customs, about the Gnostic Gospels and what they mean, and much much more. I am now learning about the humpback whales’ songs. Did you know that only males sing?
I am planning to write an entry about each book, but in time… now I am going to bed. I am wiped out.
Diana Goes to America 