Change of Heart: A Novel - Dark Publications

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Product Description

The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a spellbinding tale of a mother's tragic loss and one man's last chance at gaining salvation.

Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth?

One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen.

For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.

Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?

Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.

Customer Reviews: Read 184 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Not Jodi's finest... March 4, 2008
91 out of 96 found this review helpful

I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. After hearing Jodi speak at the National Book Conference last September, and from being a fan for many years, I'd been waiting anxiously for March 4th to come around, and so was beyond thrilled last month when my boss at the bookstore where I worked parttime (not a Jodi fan herself) snuck an ARC in my mailbox before anyone else saw it.

If you know and love Jodi's books, you know that they follow a formula, and you're ok with that. They all center around a legal/ethical/social/medical issue that's come to a head; typically have at least one sassy yet insecure single female in an investigative/advisory role (who frequently finds love by the end of the story), and all end with a twist. This twist leaves the reader in one of any number of states - lost in thought, changed on a certain issue, outraged at society, or drowning in a pool of tears. (Almost literally on that last one - in fact, when My Sister's Keeper came out in bookstores, one promotion included a pack of kleenex with every sale; also, Jodi told the story at the NBF about how her daughter, upon finishing the book, stormed upstairs, slammed her bedroom door, and would not speak to her for the rest of the day). For Jodi's fans, this formula works, though reading a number in a row (as I did when I first discovered her 6 years ago) can become tiresome (I took a long break after that, and in fact skipped the two books between My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen Minutes - 2 of my three favorites, along w/ Plain Truth).

So having a background in bioethics, and being fascinated by criminology, I eagerly awaited this book and had the high hopes that I'd count it among my favorites. But this book, though gripping, made me roll my eyes WAY too often. Being a fan of Jodi's means that, in exchange for finding that rare book that you cannot put down, you also often have to suspend a bit of disbelief and roll along with some fairly unbelievable plot devices. Trust me, I'm willing to do that. But imbuing a character with supernatural abilities? Really? I just don't think this 'hook' was necessary to keep a reader's attention on a story dealing with as loaded and controversial a topic as the death penalty.

Additionally, there was WAY too little focus on the background of the victim's family and the events leading up to the murders for which the main character, Shayne, was sentenced to death. The book made me feel very little sympathy for the woman whose daughter and husband were murdered, simply because her character was hardly fleshed out. Way too much focus was put on characters that, though entertaining and interesting, could easily have retreated to the background while still being worthwhile to include - particularly Maggie Bloom and the priest.

I was also pretty annoyed that The Twist of the book seems to impact everyone besides Mrs. Nealon. Far be it from me to dance around the issue of whether or not to include a spoiler here - as a Jodi fan, I definitely know better. Suffice it to say - once you know what the twist is, especially if you've ever had a child you've loved, you may also think it was just too 'easy' that her reaction seemed like such an afterthought.

That all being said, there were some positives. As a bookseller, I've gotten to a point where, if I see one more book called or 'the Mona Lisa Lexicon' or 'the Codex Conspiracy' or 'the Templar Legacy' (wait, I think that's a real one) or any other book trying to steal the thunder of the DaVinci code in all its trite glory, I will just cry. So when this book seemed to head in that territory, I very nearly stopped reading. But in the end, Jodi gave that genre a nice little ironic kick in the butt, and for that it earned 2 stars alone. The 3rd star is because, somehow, at the end of any Jodi novel, no matter how blah, I still have goosebumps for a good 20 minutes after putting it down.

See my review of Nineteen Minutes to know that I bow to Jodi at her best, but unfortunately, this was just not it. Better than Salem Falls, but no Plain Truth or My Sister's Keeper. In any case, keep an open mind and enjoy! I'm anxious to hear what others think...

4 out of 5 stars

Picoult tackles the death penalty and the lost books of the New Testament in her latest offering March 5, 2008
72 out of 78 found this review helpful

Jodi Picoult's fifteenth novel is set around an angel-like death row inmate with a profound desire to donate his heart to the sister of his victim. The challenge? Lethal injection would render the organ useless. The inmate starts performing miracles from prison (turning water into wine, reviving a dead pet, healing terminal illness) and media quickly labels him the next Messiah. Admirers start congregating outside the prison campus. A national dialog opens, and the mother of a dying child must ask herself if she can put away her hatred to accept the donated heart of her deceased child's killer.

Change of Heart, like other Jodi Picoult novels, is told in brief chapters from over a dozen points of view. She tackles a new moral dilemma - the death penalty - complete with a true crime shock factor, courtroom drama, tension-filled romance, and an incredible twist at the end. Picoult has done her research and also introduces the Gnostic texts - namely the Gospel of Thomas, disregarded as the Church as heresy when it was discovered and published in 1975 - as a key plot element. The work comprises 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Picoult artfully portrays her death row inmate, Shay Bourne, as a man eerily similar to that described in the Gospel of Thomas.

Picoult succeeds at creating a general outline of Shay Bourne as a religious figure via a number of inventive modern-day twists on New Testament writings. Once she created the setting of a religious novel, however, she used miracles to escape plot holes willy nilly. How does the heart of a 30 year-old man possibly match that of a teen girl? Oh, it's a miracle. The same priest who convicted Shay as a jury member is assigned as his spiritual advisor? Miraculous coincidence. Let's not even mention that the entire plot twist which makes our convicted murder a martyr is (a) exploitative of child abuse as a hot button issue and (b) flimsily based upon the defendant just "not mentioning" most of the story surrounding the murder of his victims during his first trial.

In other novels, the author has balanced the stronger elements of her formula against the weaker ones. My Sister's Keeper had a touching, tension-filled romance that helped carry the book, for example. In Change of Heart, the romance is weakly developed, one-dimensional, and requires a stereotypical over-stressed, weight-watching, desperate female character. The courtroom drama is for pure literary effect - fans of legal thrillers will instantly notice that lawyers seem not to have consulted their clients at all before throwing them on the stand and that arguments are occasionally based on legally irrelevant but passion-fueled aspects of the moral dilemma at hand.

So how can I give this book four stars? Easy. If you picked up a Jodi Picoult novel, you know what elements to expect. You've accepted that you'll have to suspend belief during the legal proceedings. In Change of Heart, she succeeds with some great flourishes re-casting the son of God in the modern day. She's provides a powerful look inside the death penalty which is sure to inspire valuable dialog among readers. I learned a thing or two about religious texts, inspiring me to do some additional research on my own after finishing the book. I'm giving my copy of the book to a friend who might enjoy it.

In a recent interview, Jodi Picoult stated that she is at work at a new novel about a wrongful birth suit in which a mother sues her obstetrician for not disclosing that her child would be severely impaired.

2 out of 5 stars

Typical Jodi, but very predictable March 10, 2008
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I first became a fan of Picoult's after reading My Sister's Keeper on a friend's recommendation 3 years ago. Like most, I cried my eyes out reading the last 30 or so pages of the book and was hooked after that point. I've since read most of Picoult's 15-book library, most recently this book, Change of Heart. While I was excited for a new book of hers, I still haven't found another one that moved me like My Sister's Keeper yet. From reading the book jacket, I was hoping this one would come close. Unfortunately, it didn't even compare. While the story was told in the same manner as My Sister's Keeper (each "chapter" was a different character's voice) and made it a quick read (460 pages that I finished over the course of a weekend), it was much too predictable. I guessed what the "twist" in the plot was about 25 pages into the book (and my guess was confirmed around page 400) and found it so closely mirroring the storyline of Stephen King's "The Green Mile" that I was almost embarrassed for Picoult's lack of originality). While this book's main character is supposedly a Messiah and King's death row inmate was just supposed to be supernatural, without any sort of religious affiliation, the similarities will be clearly apparent to anyone that's seen the movie or read the book (one of the glaring similarities includes bringing a fellow inmate's dead pet back to life; a bird in this book, a mouse in King's). Despite these things, I still couldn't put the book down since it was such a quick and easy read, it was entertaining enough, and Picoult is an extremely gifted writer, even if her originality is lacking. I must agree with some of the other reviews in that Picoult does not develop a few of the key characters enough, particularly the mother/wife of the victims, June Nealon, and I found that the story line suffered because of it. One of the things that draws me to her books is her intricate character development that takes the reader into the mind and body of that character and makes them a part of the story. I felt that Lucius' character didn't add much in the way of plot development and didn't need to be focused on as much as he was.

One thing that I always appreciate about Picoult's books is the extensive research she does as she's writing them. Because of this I can appreciate the laws, doctrines, gospels, etc. that she speaks of in her novels and know that she's done her fact-finding and not making up laws to suit her story. Her legal and religious research is apparent throughout the book and I found it to be a good learning experience.

A warning - this book heavily involves religious doctrine, the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), unpublished Gospels of the New Testament. While I am not at all religious and can't count on one hand the number of times I've been in church in my life so I found no issues reading this book and was not offended in any way as I'm quite open to other belief systems, others may be quite sensitive to the ideas presented. Picoult treads a very thin line with several characters including the Priest who is in the midst of a moral and religious crisis, a reformed atheist, an outlandish televangelist, and the ACLU lawyer who was raised Jewish, but considers herself Agnostic and is fighting on behalf of the death row inmate, Shay who many believe is the second coming of Christ.

Overall, it's an entertaining book, but don't bother spending the money on it. Borrow it from a library, wait until it's available on paperback, or borrow it from another Picoult fan that bought it with high hopes on the first day it was released (me!).

2 out of 5 stars

Not very original March 10, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

A mysterious double murder. A death-row inmate who can bring other inmate's small pets back to life. I think I already read this. No, wait! That was The Green Mile by Stephen King.

I LOVE Picoult and am always ready to pounce when a new book comes out, but I think she needs to slow down and work on quality not quantity.

4 out of 5 stars

At Last ... March 11, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Finally, Picoult returns to her earlier roots. In spite of the heavy subject matter (death penalty and Biblical texts, murder), this book is a welcome change from her previous two books. This book reminds me of her earlier works like, "The Pact," "Keeping Faith," and "The Plain Truth." However, this book is not as good as the others simply because of two reasons, it was predictable and there was a feeling that this book was written in a haste.

Other than that, this is a fast-paced read and one that I wished didn't end. The characters were fascinating (even though most of them weren't fleshed out as much as her characters have been in the past). Their struggles, griefs, dreams and thoughts were all interesting and made this novel more real. There's June who suffered three tragedies in one lifetime, where she lost her first husband in a car accident, but their daughter is safe. Then she loses her second husband and daughter in the murder that Shay Bourne was accused of. Now she faces the ultimate question of all time: should she accept Shay's gift to her other daughter who desperately needs it? Then there's Shay Bourne, the man accused and convicted of murdering June's family. Did he or did he not? There are the inmates on his level at the prison, especially Lucius, the man dying of AIDS. Then there's Father Michael who was on the original jury that convicted Shay of the double murder and sentenced him to death. He ends up being the most interesting character of all of them simply because of his crisis of faith. Then there's Maggie, the ALCU lawyer who took on Shay's case at the eleventh hour.

If it wasn't for several reviewers in here, I would have never got the idea that this is similar to the Stephen King novel, "The Green Mile." In my reading experience, novelists borrow themes from other books/stories/movies that they've read and tried to flesh it out in their own way. This novel is interesting since it deals with capital punishment and different people dealing with it in different ways. Then there's the religious factor as well, which I find very interesting. The two themes tie together very nicely in this novel and wasn't disturbing to me at all.

This may not be the best novel that she has written, but in comparison to her last few, this is a better one. It definitely reminds me of her roots. It's been awhile since I have enjoyed Picoult's novels and this one, while rushed, definitely was enjoyable. It was definitely a good read and one I would recommend to everyone.

3/10/08

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