Salvation or Revenge, that is the Question

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	• Change of Heart: A Novel Jodi Picoult Atria, 2008 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 181 reviews view larger image
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Amazing Book

This is by far my favorite book. The story is very captivating and keeps you guessing till the very end. I would recommend it to men and women alike absolutely amazing!!

Good but Not Jodis Best

I've read all of Picoult's books except Mercy. I guess what I like most about her books is the way she writes about hot button issues from both sides of the spectrum. Her characters are always well-developed, and the stories really make you think (no fluff in Jodi's books).

Briefly, CHANGE OF HEART is about a man who is on death row for the murder of a young girl and her stepfather. Shay Bourne is trying to redeem himself, he offers up his heart to the victim's sister who will die without a heart transplant. Would you take the heart of the man that you hated most? We also learn that Shay starts performing miracles in prison and everybody thinks that he is Jesus Christ, including his spiritual minister.

I think because of the religion and salvation issues in Change of Heart, the book has stuck with me more than some of her other novels. I definitely don't agree with the viewpoint presented, and I did not love or hate the book. The book is well written, but for me this one was just so so. In my opinion, My Sister's Keeper was her best work ever.

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Salvation or Revenge, that is the Question

June lost her husband in an auto accident that left her with a broken leg. The police officer, Kurt Nealon, who tells her of her husband's death, later becomes husband number two and stepfather to June's daughter. Life should be good for June now as she's expecting another daughter. But she's hired a handyman carpenter, thirty-three-year old Isaiah M. Bourne, who instead of being grateful for the work, kills Kurt, then molests and kills June's daughter.

Eleven years later, Bourne is on death row and wants to make amends by donating his heart to June's new daughter Elizabeth, who is suffering with pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy. He believes if he gives his heart to the dying sister of the girl he murdered that he'll find salvation, which is the last thing June wants, but she doesn't want Elizabeth to die either.

And even though Bourne wants to die, he needs an attorney, because he wants death by hanging, not the needle, as that would damage the heart. His attorney, a woman with her own problems, has more than a client who wants salvation on her hands as weird and strange things have been going on on death row. One day the prison taps started flowing with wine. Borne brings a dead bird back to life. He cures a fellow prisoner of aids. Is there a message in his name which when pronounced comes out as I Am Born? And he is a thirty-three-year old carpenter about to be put to death, what is the significance of that?

There are man who come to believe Bourne might just be the Messiah, including Father Michael, his spiritual advisor, who, before he became a priest, just happened to be one of the jurors who voted to condemn Bourne.

As you can see there is a lot going on in this book and I've just scratched the surface. Suffice it to say, as improbable and impossible as some of this sounds, when Jodi Picoult delivers it, you believe. I know I did. I couldn't put this one down and even now, I'm asking myself, what would I do were I June, let the killer have his salvation or let him save my daughter?

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Fascinating story, but not perfect

Change of Heart certainly has an exciting premise and storyline, but I also found a number of flaws that could have been fine-tuned prior to publication. Ms. Picoult has a knack for grabbing the reader from the first page and keeping their attention throughout the story. Taking on weighty topics such as capital punishment and religion are certainly no easy task and I applaud the author for her ambition in tackling these. But I do think she spreads herself a bit thin at times and tries to cover too many sides of a given issue in this book and not always successful in doing so. For example, we get the viewpoint of a priest, an ACLU lawyer, a doctor, the victim's mother, and corrections officers (all characters in the story) about how they feel about the death penalty. Does Ms. Picoult really need to cover all these basis and give us all these characters' opinions? I think focusing on the major characters (Maggie Bloom, Father Michael, June Nealon) and what they think of the death penalty would have made it more meaningful for me as a reader.
Another problem that I had with the book is how Ms. Picoult would bring characters in and out of the plot and then leaving the loose ends, never letting us know what eventually happens with them. For example: Maggie's mother, all the other inmates that we get to know throughout the story (except for Lucius- whom we do have closure on). A writer should not arbitrarily bring in characters simply as a plot device and I strongly disapprove of Ms. Picoult doing so in this novel.
I think Ms. Picoult also drops the ball a bit with creating compelling main characters. I had some difficulty empathizing with June Nealon and Maggie Bloom. I think this by far is her most serious flaw in the book. Though June certainly suffered a great tragedy, I didn't find too many moments in the story where we really got inside her head, and, sadly I didn't feel as though I cared very much what happened to her one way or the other. June makes several life changing decisions, yet Ms. Picoult barely expounds upon the reasons and motivation behind these major choices. In particular, towards the end of the story, June comes face-to-face with a disturbing possibility about her deceased husband, yet Ms. Picoult devotes barely a page to this development. I certainly wanted to know how June felt about what she had learned. I was very disappointed in how Ms. Picoult mishandled some of her major characters and never lets us get inside their heads.
The story does move at a brisk pace and is a fascinating topic that few writers have explored in fiction. It is indeed a page turner, but I think Ms. Picoult needs to spend less time in following the formula and more time and effort in fleshing out her characters. This novel could have benefited from some careful editing and fine-tuning; if not by the the author, then certainly by her editor.

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Oh my...

Sometimes Jodi Picoult hits a homer, and other times just a single or double. Change of Heart is a grand slam, built around the impact of a death row inmate upon the lives of three unrelated people who are drawn into his story by the circumstances of their own lives. Shay Bourne has exhausted his appeals and is scheduled to die in a few weeks. His last wish is to donate his heart to the daughter of one of his victims, and a battle ensues about his method of execution. Shay's spiritual advisor, a Catholic priest, must come to terms with his own religious beliefs. Maggie, Shay's ACLU lawyer, must fight for Shea's right to donate his organs. June, whose husband and child were murdered by Shay, must decide whether or not to accept Shay's gift. Along the way, all three of these individuals find themselves re-examining their own inner cores.

Supporting these fully realized characters is an equally engaging supporting cast. Picoult's plot increases in tension and suspense, first, during Shay's execution hearing, and then in his final days. The metamorphoses of Michael, Maggie, and June are entirely credible, and stimulate questions and introspection on the part of the reader. In the epilogue, Picoult concludes her story satisfactorily, yet with the apprehension that perhaps this ending is more truly a continuation.

Change of Heart tackles some of our society's most perplexing issues with grace and subtlety. Superb fiction.

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