Sing Me Home by Jodi Picoult

I just finished up my first Jodi Picoult book, Sing Me Home. Alysa has read one of her earlier books, My Sister's Keeper, and she wrote an entry up about her experiences with it, and we saw the movie several times here at our house. Side note: When Alysa gets jazzed about a movie, she watches it over and over, studying it, enjoying it, peering deeper into its message. I love that she does that; in a sense, she becomes an expert of the movie. So I thought she really liked Jodi Picoult, saw this new book from her earlier this year, and bought it for her. She read the cover and maybe started it but never stayed with it. I wondered why, so I read it.

It is an interesting read, weaving newborn death, same-sex relationships, conservative religious views, and compassionate relationships together. Picoult focuses the book on a marriage gone south, aided massively by the monstrously devastating loss of a child and two adults who just can no longer find their love for each other through their ongoing lack of being able to successfully conceive a child together. Once the relationship ends, the female from the marriage, Zoe, ends up falling in love with a woman who is a counselor at the high school where Zoe serves as music therapist for emotionally-distraught students. I loved the tie in of music therapy, loved it. I haven't read many- ahem, any- books with music therapists and I loved the weaving in of this professional role. Max, the ex-husband, falls wobbles back into his alcoholic ways but then finds Jesus, moves in with his brother and sister-in-law, and recenters a bit. A bit-- that is all I will give you there-- he is a wobbler to me!!  It is the "finding Jesus" part that offers the most heft for this book, with a trial detailing who gets the leftover three eggs from Zoe's body to attempt to create another fetus: Zoe and her partner or Max's brother and sister-in-law. The courtroom work is brutal, and Picoult seems to have done her homework on many fronts. For me, the trial drug on, but I reckon that is what they do: they take forever to solve a tense and at times ugly situation where two sides just can't see truth when it hits them.

I liked reading this book, and I like Picoult's writing style. It was a good escape read for me, and I certainly sought out finishing it when I was two-thirds of the way through. I can see though why the beginning wouldn't necessarily capture Alysa. Sure, it is good work, but the subject matter just might not be something that piques her interest--- yet! For me, I will keep an open mind for Picoult's other works, and I have an idea that this winter break, when I so desperately plan to not work (or at least work less!), one of her other books may just be sitting in my lap!