Book Reviews - P

Picoult, Jodi

Title of Book : My Sister's Keeper
Reviewed by : Chris Hawker - Staff
Category :Fiction
Suggested Audience :Readers of modern fiction.

It reveals no secrets to tell you that this book is about a 13 year girl who engages a lawyer to prevent her parents continuing to use her as a donor for her older sister.   Anna was chosen from a number of embryos so that she would be the right tissue match to do just that and it has been ongoing since the minute she was born - her umbilical cord blood was collected to cure her sister Kate's leukemia.

Once again Jodi Picoult has managed to produce a provocative and thought provoking book about an important modern issue, that still manages to be a darn good read.   I finished it in two sessions. It is never predictable and like all her books has a sting in the tale/tail that you do not expect.   She has a knack of laying out the issues very clearly whilst at the same time making it very clear that there are no easy answers and only shades of grey - no black and white positions - even for those involved, who each tell their own story in their own words. I would certainly recommend you give it a try

And do have a look at some of her earlier titles if you are not already amongst Jodi Picoult's readers.

Title of Book : Plain Truth
Reviewed by : Book Club Member
Category : Fiction
Suggested Audience :Readers of modern fiction.

This novel is based on the Amish way of life in the U.S.A.  A young farm girl visits her brother who is away in the city studying at University.  There she meets his friends and the inevitable happens.  When a baby is born, her family haven't realised that she is even pregnant.  The baby is found dead and she is charged with infanticide.  Gripping courtroom trail follows.

9/10

Pryce, Lois

Title of Book : Lois on the loose
Reviewed by : Book Club Member
Category : Non-Fiction
Suggested Audience :

Lois is a motor bike junkie.  So much so she decideds to throw in her job and takes off on extented trips starting in Alaska and ending on the southernmost point of South America.  Her adventures are many and varied, as are the people she meets on the way.  She has an interesting and amusing style of writing and her description of an encounter with an American woman shortly after missing the border from Canada is just hilarious.  For me it was on of the highlights of the book.  A really good read and one of the better travel books.

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