Friday, May 20, 2011

Sing You Home - Jodi Picoult

It's my turn to choose a book for my baby group book club. I racked my brain trying to think of one. And then I remembered my cousin had written about reading Sing You Home. So I decided this would be our June book.

The first chapter was extremely hard for me to read. I think it took me over a week to get through it. Not because it was horrible, but it hit too close to home. But once you get passed the first chapter, it's a lovely read.

Sing You Home begins with Zoe and Max Baxter. They've been married for about 9 years, and have been trying to conceive. It's been hard. They're going through IVF, have had two miscarriages, and are now expecting their first. 

Unfortunately, Zoe has complications, and her baby is still born. This puts a strain on their marriage, and eventually, Max asks for a divorce.

Max moves in with his brother and becomes an alcoholic. Zoe develops a friendship with a colleague. Eventually their friendship blossoms, and they fall in love. Zoe's new love is Vanessa. 

Zoe and Vanessa get married, and decide to start a family. There are 3 embryos left, but they need Max's consent. By now, Max has sobered up, joined a church, and fights for his children to be raised in a traditional family.

It's a pretty predictable story. It's a lovely one, but the ending comes out the way you'd expect it. I gave it 3 stars, as I think the author misses something here. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against gay rights, however, Zoe is upset that Max can't accept her for who she's become, yet she never accepts him, or what he went through when she lost their child. And this bothered me.

Sing You Home comes with a CD. I've never read a book that comes with it's own soundtrack. Unfortunately, I was reading the book in the car, in bed, on the couch, and putting in the CD didn't always work, so I didn't get the music. 

I do however, need to seriously think about the songs that "would be on the mix tape that describes" me. 



1 comment:

Faiza said...

something definitely missed the mark in ths book and you captured a good piece of it in describing zoe's nonacceptance of max's journey. i usually love picoult but this one wasn't one of her best.