Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult

...surprised to find Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart to be such an irritating, contrived, absurdly derivative book. A tale of faith, parental duty and the morality of retribution, the novel is set in and around New Hampshire State Prison, specifically Death Row.

There, inmate Shay Bourne awaits his upcoming execution for the murder of a young girl and her step-father some eleven years earlier. Crossing paths and narratives with Shay (for ...
...are some interesting ideas in Change of Heart, and a decent pace which prompts us to keep reading. However, Picoult struggles to bring it neatly together and the book fizzles out into a muddled, frustrating conclusion which doesn't really answer any of the questions raised along the way.

This being the first of Picoult's books that I've read, I'm prepared to accept that it might not be representative of the extent of her abilities. ... more

"Faith is like Electricity. You can't see it, but you can see the light."
(Author unknown)

Excuse the philosophising, but if empty pontificating has got a hold of me, it's this book that's to blame. If Faith is indeed like Electricity, then so, I think, is a good novel - we don't necessarily need or want to see the workings too clearly, we want to see and feel the product. That is, we want to be able to immerse ourselves in the story and let the author take control, without feeling like we're being pulled roughly through a narrative littered with clunky symbolism, beaten repeatedly over the head with leaden metaphors.

I should know better than to expect good authors and famous authors to be one and the same thing (see Coelho, Paulo), but I was surprised to find Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart to be such an irritating, contrived, absurdly derivative book. A tale of faith, parental duty and the morality of retribution, the novel is set in and around New Hampshire State Prison, specifically Death Row.

There, inmate Shay Bourne awaits his upcoming execution for the murder of a young girl and her step-father some eleven years earlier. Crossing paths and narratives with Shay (for this is a novel told from a number of perspectives) are lawyer Maggie Bloom and priest Michael Wright, the latter assigned to be the prisoner's "spiritual advisor".

Bourne's dying wish is an unusual one. Claire Nealon, the sister of the murdered girl is suffering from a soon-to-be-fatal heart defect, and is in need of a new one, conveniently enough for us (though admittedly, not for her mother, who having already lost two husbands and a daughter must be getting used to family members buying the farm). Shay, of course, isn't going to need his organ for much longer, and is keen to give the girl the heart when he is executed.

This, with all its legal and moral consequences is one thrust of the book. The second is a more spiritual one - for a spate of apparent miracles soon begin to occur on Death Row, with Shay seemingly the architect. In something of a leap of logic, not to mention faith, those around Bourne start to wonder whether there might be a divine presence amongst them - but would He really return to us in the body of a murderer?

***

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
(Albert Einstein)

(These kinds of little quotes are scattered throughout the book. They don't really say an awful lot in relation to the plot that hasn't been rammed down our throats five times previously, but I guess Picoult felt they added a bit of worldy-wiseness to the novel. And they look quite pretty.)

***

So - man condemned to death for child-murder may or may not be guilty, performs an assortment of divine miracles and profoundly changes the lives of those around him. Jodi Picoult must have enjoyed The Green Mile as much as I did. Or maybe she's just an all-round fan of Stephen King books-become-films - after all, one of the main characters on Death Row is named Lucius Dufresne, sharing a surname with Andy of The Shawshank Redemption. Of course, this is just a name; there's nothing wrong with a nod to one's influences here and there. The similarities with The Green Mile, however, are less easy to understand - on top of the distinctly familiar premise, there are a number of scenes in the book which are near-identical to those in King's book and film. Less subtle allusions than direct rip-offs, it's hard to imagine the author thought no-one would notice.

In truth, it does nothing for the book to borrow these aspects, as it pales in comparison in every way - where the characters in The Green Mile are wonderful, believable figures, Picoult's are curious, uneasy concoctions. So often what is said about the characters just doesn't tally with what they say and do. The central character, for instance, Shay Bourne, is supposed to be somewhat simple, of limited intelligence and verbosity - a slightly childlike figure with little education. The reality on the page is very different though - he is an eloquent speaker who is quite at home discussing abstract concepts like religion and morality with others. It's as if Picoult wasn't willing to compromise her big ideas and consequential themes for the sake of character integrity - unfortunately, though this allows her get her ideas across, it makes for unconvincing caricatures as key players.

Amongst the many failings of this novel is its simple over-ambition in trying to balance the great dual focuses of religion and the American prison system. The Green Mile managed to do this because its characters were strong and well-rendered enough to fill in the blanks where things were left unsaid. Picoult's characters, however, are in no way as well-defined, and there are no blanks - nothing is left implicit, and the whole thing drowns in its wordy hubris.

There are some interesting ideas in Change of Heart, and a decent pace which prompts us to keep reading. However, Picoult struggles to bring it neatly together and the book fizzles out into a muddled, frustrating conclusion which doesn't really answer any of the questions raised along the way.

This being the first of Picoult's books that I've read, I'm prepared to accept that it might not be representative of the extent of her abilities. That said, the positive reception her fans have given this book suggests it probably is - but for me (based solely on what I've read here), the talents she possesses amount to little more than being able to take other people's genuinely thought-provoking work and render it impotent and sugar-sweet.

 

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