 |
| Handle With Care |
What will you do, and how far will you go, for your very sick child?
Charlotte's daughter Willow is suffering from brittle bone disease, a disease that has caused over a hundred broken bones in a span of 5 years.
Apart from the financial and physical difficulties taking care of Willow entails, seeing her break her bones and suffer has caused her family way too much emotional distress as well.
And suddenly, Charlotte has a chance to change things. Although she cannot cure Willow, if she proceeds, she will be able to get sufficient funds to cover Willow's unending medical needs. If she pushes through, then she can assure a good future for her very sick daughter. If you are as loving a mother as Charlotte is, you would not have to think twice.
However, the choice is not as easy as it seems. What her plan involves is for her to sue her bestfriend for medical malpractice, and for her to publicly claim, even in front of Willow herself, that she would have terminated the pregnancy had she known Willow had the disease. She would have to ruin her bestfriend's career and make people believe that Willow shouldn't have been born...
The book is brimming with drama, be sure to have a hanky nearby when you read it. You will definitely fall in love with Willow, who is smart and funny and everything a darling daughter should be. And as her bones break, you will find your heart breaking as well, wishing she need not have to suffer that much. And because of it, you too will ask yourself, "If I were Charlotte, how far will I go to protect her?"
I recommend this book, especially to those who have not read a Picoult yet. You will find her prose easy to read, and the medical and law information she provides is enough to get you interested on the topic ( and maybe start researching it in Google) but controlled so as not to bore and drown you. The different questions on friendship, motherhood, love and life the book poses are sure to keep you thinking way after you have put down the book. It can be a good topic for those who like deep conversations with others (very good for book clubs as well) or a very good source of self reflection. You will be hooked, and would find that its 500 pages is actually not that long.
What will happen in the end? Good question, and for Picoult first-timers, it is something that you should really anticipate. I'm going to hold my tongue for those who have read her other novels though (and exactly what I am referring to), as I might spoil the ending for you...
Happy reading!
