.: Jodi's Story (Part II) :.

I have finished reading two of Jodi Picoult’s novel which I have picked out from the library a couple of weeks back – The Pact & Vanishing Act.

The Pact - definitely a good read, I must say one of her best novels I have read. But, it can get a lil bit depressing especially when you have at a point in your life dwelled into depression and thoughts of suicide. But kudos Jodi for being able to capture the inexplicable mind and thoughts of a teenager!

Vanishing Act - this book took me like two weeks to read. It wasn't the best of Jodi I would say, and the plots and characters are someone monotonous and just didn't hit the right spot for me I guess. I felt that some of her elaboration are off tandem with the theme of the books, causing myself to very quickly lose interest as the plots seems to have diverged into too many sub-plots.

Again, the problem with reading novels that are written by the same author is that you kinda get bored with the writing styles. Tho Jodi did try very much to change her style in writing across her novels, I seem to notice that after reading 5 of her books, there are really some strong, distinct style of writing that you could almost immediately say – ah-ha, that’s a Jodi novel.

Number 1: The way she loves to describe so much about court cases and prison time. She goes really deep into it, and it is good in the sense that it shows that she has done her research well (or perhaps she has been to prison/involved in a hearing case herself?) but there are some novels that can give a go at all the explicit details.
Novels in which is used : Vanishing Act, The Pact, Perfect Match
Where it was appropriate : The Pact, Perfect Match
Where it wasn’t appropriate : Vanishing Act

Number 2 : Playing with time-zone/flashbacks. How she write about 'now' in one chapter, and then 'flashbacks' in the next chapters. Really worked really well for The Pact, but in my humble opinion, Songs of the Humpback Whale can do without.

Where it was used : The Pact, Songs of The Humpback Whale, Second Glance

Where is was appropriate : The Pact, Second Glance

Where it was not appropriate : Songs of The Humpback Whale

Number 3 : Narration among individual characters of the novel
Novels in which is used : Vanishing Act, Songs of The Humpback Whale

Where it was appropriate : All of the above
Where it wasn’t appropriate : N/A

But what I really do love about her is how she manage to touch sensitive issues - genetic selections and races in Second Glance, teen suicide in The Pact, child sexual molestation in Perfect Match, the right way vs the legal way in Vanishing Act.

Overall, still a brilliant author :)