Another hit for this extremely talented writier....

books:


	• Salem Falls Jodi Picoult Washington Square Press, 2002 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 130 reviews view larger image
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Salem Falls - - - - she does it again

Another successful Picolut novel. Instantly drawn into the story, waiting for the first twist as Picoult always delivers (in my humble opinion). I figured out the 'draw' of the book not to far in to the story but still could not put it down.

Salem Falls, a small New England town, where Annie Peabody owns and runs a local diner. Her father Roy is an alcoholic and has secrets. Annie has secrets. A stranger comes to town, Jack, and he has secrets. A young group of teenage girls, lead by Gilly, have secrets, too. Secrets mean the "small town" has calm no more.

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Another hit for this extremely talented writier....

I finished Salem Falls in two days and am mad at myself for not reading more slowly so I could savor the quality of the writing and the intriguing plot which is absent in so many modern fiction novels. However, I just couldn't put the book down and just had to see it through its many twists and turns.

As an avid reader and huge fan of Jodi Picoult, I highly recommend this novel and believe its is one of her best (along with "The Pact," "My Sister's Keeper," "Plain Truth" and "Nineteen Minutes").

Jodi Picoult is a phenomenal talent. She is not afraid to take risks in her writing, to approach current events/topics and especially controversial topics that other authors would find too challenging to take on. Her books, and this one in particular, lead the reader through an emotional and intellectual journey whereby the reader is forced to confront both or many sides of a particular issue and examine things from multiple perspectives that he/she may not have wanted to acknowledge. For example, in "Salem Falls," the reader is exposed to the difficult topics of rape and sexual assault; being falsely accused of a crime; trust; taking the law into one's own hands; witchcraft; death of a child and incest, to name a few. However, these topics are not merely discussed, they are disected and experienced from various viewpoints until everything comes together in the end. But, as with Jodi Picoults other books, the effect of her story and writing does not end simply because there are no more pages left to read. Rather, the reader is left with so much to think about and dicuss afterwards, that her books will never truly leave you.

I can't recommend this book and her other works highly enough. They would all make remarkable book club selections and are wonderful to share with friends and family of all ages.

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Very Believable and Well Written

Salem Falls was a very interesting book to me because of the believable characters and some things I am not familiar with such as jail and witchcraft. Unlike some books that start out slow, this one got my attention right away and kept it throughout. The main plot involved a girls' soccer coach who just got out of jail for accepting a plea bargain and served 8 months for raping a girl on the team. His life was basically ruined. He tried starting over in a small town and had to deal with another rape charge that a girl involved with witchcraft made against him. I enjoyed trying to anticipate how the defense attorney would defend Jack, who was a nice guy charged with sexual felonious assault. Jodi makes the trial so interesting by adding humor into it as well as just the suspense of wondering how it will turn out and who the jury will believe. The bright spot though was Addie, a diner owner who gave Jack a break and the benefit of the doubt. She hired him as a dishwasher and they respected each other's privacy which gradually developed into true love and admiration.

The author used flashbacks to go into the background of some of the characters which I found to be interesting, except for Jack's mother. I didn't really see how that added to the story, but still found it interesting. I liked how the verdict turned out, but the ending was a shock to me. I wasn't expecting that at all. I would say a main theme of the book is not to prejudge people--that everything is not always as it seems to be as the defense attorney pointed out to the jury and how much damage lies can cause. I liked this book very much!

Karen Zemek, Author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

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Jodi Picoult's "Salem Falls"

I've been enjoying reading Ms. Picoult's books - this is the latest one that I've read. An interesting read, it might make you look at your own opinions of the book's subject, and I'm sure you'll wonder why the characters are behaving in the way they are behaving - would I do that? I like all of this author's books that I've read so far and plan on reading more.

Very intriguing...

I'm not going to bother writing a detailed summary of the plot - just read the reviews before and a head of me. More of less, a previously convicted sexual offender moves to a new town, looking for a new start, only for the same thing to happen again. The story involves the offender's new girlfriend, the accuser and her family, his lawyer (a wonderfully developed Jordan McAfee) his old accuser, the police - just about the entire town.

To be certain, I hugely enjoyed reading this book - I read it in less than a day and a half. Picoult always impressed me with her ability to developed a variety of characters in a way that doesn't seem confusing nor redundant. We learn everyone's stories at just the right time in just the right way. On a side note, while you read this, look out for her metaphors (or are they analogies?) - they are hugely creative, beautiful and powerful, all in one. Additionally, some of her characters are just so wonderful and amusing - in powerful and quirky ways - that I'll be seeking out other books with them in the future.

As a female, I always give the victim the benefit of the doubt. It might not be the most honest thing to do, nor the most just, but it's how I think. Curiously, "Salem Falls" made me doubt this conviction of mine. I found myself feeling more for Jack than the victim (who, at the same age as I, annoyed me to no end). It was an interesting conflict (there's a psych term for it, I know) which I will certainly think about further.

On a completely different note, I was a little annoyed on the fact that "Salem Falls" made a fairly weak stand on the idea of rape and sexual assault. I wasn't sure whether the moral was that some times bad things happen to good people, or just the opposite: some times good things happen to bad people. It's clear that Picoult warns readers not to judge others and to understand, but other than that, it's a little foggy. The idea of justice is foggy as well - yes, in some ways, justice is served. But in other ways, there are a huge number of simply atrocious and life altering crimes that no one ever gets punished for. I understand why Picoult didn't develop those ideas further - the book was already pretty long - but it made me think about what the court decision exactly meant.

Another thing that I feel like I should note, however, is something that occasionally bothers me with Jodi Picoult's books. She tries very hard to create diverse and interesting teenage characters - ones that are different from the flat and uniform personalities in most TV shows. And, for the most part, she succeeds. However, in "Salem Falls," I felt that she strayed from her normal portrayals. The male teenagers were sex obsessed while the female teenagers (with one exception) came off to me to be very self absorbed and superficial, following their "leader" even thought they knew the difference between right and wrong. None seem to truly change, which contrasted hugely to the development of the older characters, whose ranges of emotions varied hugely.

There were also some loose ends left to tie up - the novel seemed to end very quickly. The court decision is made and then just a few pages later, it's over. I'd wonder what happened next to the characters - plenty is implied (in a very creepy and well done) manner, but it is still odd the way the end plays out. I suppose, Picoult did that deliberately, as a stylistic choice, but I felt a little abandoned at the end, like I had followed her story and her ideas for the past four hundred pages just to be ignored.

All in all, I'd recommend the book. It deals with touchy topics, be warned. But it's never graphic. Occasionally, however, the crimes (rape and the such) are described in detail, simply because it is a court room drama in the last third (half?) of the novel. I'll admit, it did make me a little uncomfortable, but that could just be a personal issue. Again, reader this book if you ever get the chance. It could just help you understand both sides of justice.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

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