I pretty much love everything Jodi Picoult has ever written. I think I have read all but 3 of her books.
So, I placed a hold at the library on her new book, "Change of Heart," and it came in last week. I read it Sunday. I guess the fact that I read it in one day says something.
But, what? lol
Here is the synopsis from Jodi's website;
Shay Bourne - New Hampshire’s first death row prisoner in 69 years – has only one last request: to donate his heart post-execution to the sister of his victim, who is looking for a transplant. Bourne says it’s the only way he can redeem himself…but with lethal injection as his form of execution, this is medically impossible. Enter Father Michael Wright, a young local priest. Called in as Shay’s spiritual advisor, he knows redemption has nothing to do with organ donation – and plans to convince Bourne. But then Bourne begins to perform miracles at the prison that are witnessed by officers, fellow inmates, and even Father Michael – and the media begins to call him a messiah. Could an unkempt, bipolar, convicted murderer be a savior? It seems highly unlikely, to the priest. Until he realizes that the things Shay says may not come from the Bible…but are, verbatim, from a gospel that the early Christian church rejected two thousand years ago…and that is still considered heresy.
Change Of Heart looks at the nature of organized religion and belief, and takes the reader behind the closely drawn curtains of America’s death penalty. Featuring the return of Ian Fletcher from Keeping Faith, it also asks whether religion and politics truly are separate in this country, or inextricably tangled. Does religion make us more tolerant, or less? Do we believe what we do because it’s right? Or because it’s too frightening to admit that we may not have the answers?"
What would you do if your child needed a transplant and the only available donor at that critical moment was a criminal? The very criminal that took the lives of your loved ones?
The book really isnt that cut and dry. But, to reveal more would ruin it for anyone else who might want to read it. I can honestly say I was disappointed. But not for reasons you would expect.
