Mercy - Jodi Picoult

...novel is not really the mercy killing itself, but how far beyond accepted social behaviour someone would go for a loved one. If you like well developed characters who act in psychologically convincing ways over a period of time, then I’d look elsewhere. If you’re more interested in reading about clearly sketched characters in a fast moving plot, then you may well enjoy this novel. For me, I think this will be my last foray into Picoult’s writings…until ...

brokenangelkisses 29.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

*** I've given away a fair amount of plot information in here, so please don't read on, if you'd prefer not to know. I just felt it relevant to my review on this occasion.*** I've heard some good things about Jodi Picoult's stuff. I know a lot of intelligent people who read her work and rave about it and the critics seem to like her too, which is a rare thing these days. So, whilst browsing around the bookstore, I decided it was high time that I ...
...a 2 for 3 offer at Waterstones, so that gave it the thumbs up in my opinion. First things first: I really wanted to like this book. Although I haven't read any of her other works and can't really pass judgment until I do, I can only hope that my well-read friends were referring to her other works when praising this author. It's not that 'Mercy' is a particularly bad novel. It's just that it's not particularly well-handled and it occasionally feels ...

Tadders 19.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

I love a good book, one that I can really get stuck into and can't put down forget the housework and just escape. I usually don't get the luxury of doing this unless we are on holiday but at the moment I am stuck indoors due to an operation on my foot and am confined to the sofa! So I sent the other half out shopping (culture shock for him!) and asked him to pick me up a book, I was initially a bit worried what he would bring back I had visions of ...
...bought back this one, so did I get stuck into it? THE AUTHOR Jodi Picoult was born and raised in Long island in America in what she calls a very happy and uneventful childhood, which to me is quite refreshing. You hear a lot about people who have such trauma in their life and they contribute this to their writing but it is interesting to see how someone who hasn't got that can still write so well and cover a large range of thought provoking topics. ...

lisa8871 09.10.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

I have read one of Jodi Picoult's books before and enjoyed it so while browsing in the library I saw this one and thought I'd give it a go. The book is based in a small town, Wheelock, in America where many years before a clan had moved over from Scotland and built a replica village. Cameron Macdonald is "head of the clan" and the police chief for the town and he lives with his wife Allie. Jamie MacDonald is a cousin of Cameron's and his wife Maggie ...
...to kill her then they travel to Wheelock to do it and Jamie hands himself in to his cousin. Cameron sees it as black and white and that Jamie is guilty of murder and he arrests him and sends him for trial. Cameron's wife Allie however can see the grey area, as she loves her husband more than life itself and puts herself in his shoes. For the first time in their marriage she disagrees with Cameron which makes her think does he love her as much as ...

starjen 27.06.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

...her storylines and her novel Mercy is no exception. I was a bit worried when I first started reading the book though as I found it quite difficult to get into. I wondered whether I had been spoilt after reading such fantastic novels as Plain Truth or Nineteen Minutes. However, in true Picoult style she slowly reeled me in to the story and after about one hundred pages I was hooked! Jodi Picoult is not afraid to tackle difficult topics and in Mercy ...
...mercy killing. Jamie McDonald has killed his wife Maggie - but only because she asked him too. She had been suffering from cancer which has been slowly spreading and taking over her body and she had had enough. Because Jamie loved her so much he agreed to do what she asked - reluctantly! Jamie's cousin is the chief of police in the small town of Wheelock and he has to arrest Jamie. This leads to a rift between him and his wife Allie because she ...

kingfisher111 04.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

...is a case of a mercy killing. His wife was riddled with cancer and she was going to die an even more painful death than the life she was trying to live and she had asked Jamie to kill her. Trouble is - where is the proof? I have read and enjoyed lots of other Picoult books before this one and I was excited to start this, expecting to be lost in the story immediately, however it took me a few days to really get into it and I contemplated giving up ...
...immediate connection with the story. There is a lot of talk about Scottish clans and Scots vs. English history, and I found this really boring to read about. Some of it was associated with the story, like Cam's family history and how he ended being chief of police in Wheelock and other family background stories were needed as well to help us realise the way the family had been brought up over the generations, however a lot of it left me glazed over ...

wendybull 21.06.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

...controversial issues, very little of Mercy takes place in court and I felt that the topic at hand - euthanasia - wasn't discussed as fully as Picoult usually discusses these issues. In fact, the euthanasia plot takes a sideline so that the story can focus on domestic issues. Of course, this problem could be explained by lack of research: whereas Picoult is known to research her later novels exhaustively, she probably wasn't in a position to spend ...
...involved. Over all, Mercy was definitely worth reading, but a disappointment compared to Picoult's most-praised works. I was expecting a literary debate on euthanasia, but I got the conventional story of a marriage problem with the euthanasia as a subplot and a lot of Scottish references that gave very little to the story and detracted from it in some cases. It's a sweet story, but not as complex or insightful as the other Picoult novels I've read. ...

DoubleFantasy11 20.12.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

Mercy focuses on the issue of euthanasia, and the balance of love within a relationship. The storyline follows two couples, Allie and Cam McDonald, and Jamie and Maggie McDonald. Cam McDonald is the police chief of Wheelock, Massachusetts and has been married to Allie for 7 years. Allie runs the town flower shop, and spends her day thinking of ways to make her husbands life easier. Allie is completely devoted to Cam, and there is a clear imbalance ...
...their early relationship increase the sense that she gave up a lot of her own personality to be the perfect wife to Cam. This made me feel quite uneasy, and loose respect for Allie. I do not believe this was intentional on the part of the author, as Allie increasingly appears to be the central character and has a strength of will towards the end that comes from nowhere and is hard to believe. Allie however seems like a good woman, trying her best ...

Dinah93 19.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

Mercy by Jodi Picoult 449 pages Modern fiction Another Jodi Picoult book to add to my review list! Although I found this one a bit disappointing compared to Picoult's other works. Maggie and Jamie are living an almost fairytale marriage life, until that is Maggie discovers she is suffering from cancer. With no hope of surviving it Maggie asks Jamie to kill her, he wants to end her pain so he smothers her with a pillow. Jamie takes the body to ...
...story would be focused on mercy killing but instead it barely touches upon the subject, instead the book is more about Cam and Mia's secret relationship and infidelity. I found it slow reading for the first couple of hundred pages but it began to pick up when scenes of Jamie's trial appeared. It is written in third person with one page of first person written in letter form inbetween chapters (although it's hard to tell which character is writing ...

Mistybrook 05.04.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

Should you kill your wife? Should you do it because every day is a nightmare, as you try to cope with the ravages of terminal cancer. Should you kill her just because she asked you to? Should you put the pillow over her head and hold it there, even when she struggles, because you discussed it beforehand and she agreed that this is what you should do? Audra, the prosecutor thinks not, but Graham the defence attorney says you were out of your mind ...
...the most important person in your life. So, the book tries a little too hard. It is a little too conscious of its weighty subject, no less than the mercy-killing, some would say murder, of a terminally ill woman by her loving husband. There is the obligatory adulterous marriage story running parallel with this. The adultery takes place in the marriage of the lawman who has brought the wife-killer to justice, so the moral seems to be: the lawman is ...

maklhouf 20.02.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

this was the first Jodi Picoult book i read, and the reason i read more of her work. The story is a heart wrenching tale of a man, Jamie, driven by love to commit a crime. The crime was euthinasia. Jamie loves his wife so much he agreed to help her kill herself to put her out of the misery she was already suffering due to terminal cancer. when Jamie seeks out his cousin Cameron, a police chief of a small town, he is arrested. so now we meet Cameron ...
...with their own story of love, betrayal and decipt. i dont want to say too much more about the story as i wouldnt want to spoil it, but what i will say is that this book affected me more than i thought it would. it has stayed with me a long time, i even found myself missing the charachters and wanting to know what happend next. the only bit i found myself uninterested by were small sections of scottish family history laced through in dream format, ...

smh21 09.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult

In my opinion, this book satisfies all emotions. It's a rollercoaster. Such poetic words to demonstrate the emotions between character Cam McDonald, his wife Allie, and also floral assistant Mia Townsend. The book depicts love, loss, and what happens when there's a combination of the two. I was a law student and an avid reader when I read this, and I found it gripping and tantalising as it combines beatiful literature with an idea of how american ...
...also how far you'd go for someone you love. It's an amazing read, as are any other books by Jodi Picoult that I have read. I believe this book would appeal to anyone who enjoys reading a book they can relate too and feel involved in. All books by this author seem to involve some sort of twist, very satisfying read!! I wouldn't recommend it to a young reader, as some topics and language used may not be understood. I am currently re-reading this book ...

jesskar1401 26.07.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Mercy - Jodi Picoult