by Jodi Picoult
I normally avoid Jodi Picolt like the plague, not because I think she’s a bad author, quite the opposite, but because she tends to strike a chord in that I find myself imagining myself and my children living the lives of her characters. She writes about very controversial topics that are never have happy endings but certainly make you think. “Handle with Care” is the type of book that you won’t be able to put down. Even when you’re not reading it, you will be thinking about it. It’s the story of a couple named Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe who have two daughters. Willow, the youngest, is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta. They are devastated, – she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a life time of pain and her medical fees are bankrupting the family. Charlotte thinks she has found an answer. If she files a wrongful birth lawsuit against her ob/gyn for not telling her in advance that her child would be born severely disabled, the monetary payouts might ensure a life time of care for Willow. But it means that Charlotte has to get up in a court of law and say in public that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she’d known about the disability in advance – words that her husband can’t abide, that Willow will hear, and that Charlotte cannot reconcile. And the ob/gyn she’s suing isn’t just her physician, it’s her best friend. This story portrays all views of the characters involved and although Charlotte on the surface is portrayed to be in it for the money and to be a ruthless person part of you relates to the length a mother will go to for her child, regardless of other’s feelings. This story will trigger emotions from anger, frustration and sadness. The ending is a real twist and I would suggest you take the time to really READ this book.
by Hollie Reuver
