Change of Heart Entry # 2: Critsizing Time!

I've got to say, this book has gotten interesting. But for some reason, I don't want to talk about that. Instead, I'd rather talk about the thoughts this book provokes by using Shay. I mean, here we are, in other people's points of view (the best being Lucius in my opinion) watching Shay, a convicted murder, preform miracles in prison such as bringing a bird back to life and turning the water in the plumbing to wine. While these acts make the reader question religion, they also make Jodi Picoult seem like a bit of a showoff as a writer, proving that she can have a character do all of these amazing feats and still write a good book. This undertone leaves a bad taste for me, though not enough where I'd want to stop reading the book. However, it did make me stop reading for a while. You see, I'm one of those people who will read for hours on end until I have to do something, or I get knocked down from my cloud. These moments did just that, making me want to put down the book for a little while. After all, who likes it when an author does things like that? Well, I know that I don't. Maybe that's why the book is never in Shay's point of view (at least so far anyways), but is instead in the POV of Maggie, Lucius and other characters.

Talking about the characters, they all seem to be undeveloped, even my favorite, Lucius. Because in my opinion, Jodi Picoult seems to be describing the characters and breathing life into them, hooking the reader at first, but then shows no development or growth at all, making each chapter more boring than the last. In addition, the only character that's relatable is Maggie. I mean, most people can't relate to the cliche sob story June and Claire went through, not many people are priests questioning their faith like Michael, and I'm pretty sure that most people reading this book aren't convicted murders like Lucius (though if a convicted murder is reading this book, I'd definitely want to meet him or her). So if you can't relate to Maggie's feeling of wanting to prove herself, then you can't relate to any of the characters in this book at all. This is enough to make readers drop the book, if they can't find anything else to be interested in that is. While I myself have found an interest in Lucius (who wouldn't be interested in a gay guy who killed his lover because he was cheating on him?), that may not be the case for others and it makes me wonder what Jodi Picoult was thinking while she was developing her characters.

So there we go, those are what I consider to be the bad points of the book so far. That doesn't mean that I don't like the book, I would have dropped it if I didn't like it, and it doesn't mean that I have nothing good to say about the book, these are just some complaints about the book so far. Anyone who would like to disagree with me can go right ahead, since after all, each person has her own opinion. So for now this is Rebecca Fishman, finishing her blog entry! And wondering, besides what Jodi Picoult was thinking when she didn't develop her character, why news anchors talk in third person when "signing off".