Truthfully, this book was good enough for four stars. The story had its engaging moments and the overall plot was quite interesting. However, I absolutely loathed the entitled and egotistical character of the husband. His actions and attitude throughout the book really grated on my nerves and I just couldn't get over it. It was as if he was completely oblivious to the consequences of his behavior and only cared about himself.

Interestingly, the fact that he elicited such a strong reaction from me is actually evidence of what a great writer Jodi Picoult really is. She has the ability to create characters that are so vivid and real that they can evoke such intense emotions in the reader.

Also, I have to say that I really, really, really did not like the protagonist's parents. Their actions and decisions seemed to be completely out of touch with what was best for their daughter. On the other hand, I totally loved her in-laws! They were kind, supportive, and really added a nice dimension to the story.

So yeah, overall, the book actually deserves four stars. The writing was excellent, the story was engaging, and the characters were well-developed. But let's say the writer did too good a job in creating the husband character. He really needs to grow up if he's got any chance of being a good father and a better partner to the protagonist.

For me, taking a break from reading is a happy place on its own.

You know you’ll come back to it, just like a traveler returning to a beloved destination. You know you’ll love it just as much, perhaps even more, with each new encounter. You know you will love it always, through the changing seasons of life.

There will be books until the end of time, a never-ending source of inspiration and wonder. It’s not the kind of happiness that makes you bounce with joy, like a child on a trampoline. Instead, it’s more of a quiet truth that makes you smile, a gentle warmth that spreads through your heart.

It’s the knowledge that no matter what, there will always be a book waiting for you, ready to transport you to another world, to make you laugh, to make you cry, to make you think.

Taking a break from reading is not an end, but a beginning, a chance to recharge and return to the magical world of books with a fresh perspective and an open heart.

This was incredibly dull and the main character was so pathetic!

The story seemed to lack any real excitement or engaging plot. It just dragged on and on, making it a real chore to get through. The main character, on the other hand, was a complete pushover. They had no backbone and seemed to let everyone walk all over them. It was hard to feel any sympathy for such a weak and unlikable character.

There was no real development or growth in the story or the character. It was as if everything was just static and unchanging. The writing was also rather平淡, lacking in any real style or flair. Overall, it was a very disappointing read and I would not recommend it to anyone.

Vintage Picoult

Vintage Picoult refers to the works of author Jodi Picoult that have withstood the test of time. Her novels are known for their complex characters, thought-provoking themes, and intricate storylines. Each book takes readers on a journey through different emotions and experiences, making them both engaging and unforgettable.

Some of her most popular vintage works include "My Sister's Keeper," which explores the ethical dilemmas surrounding organ donation, and "The Pact," which delves into the consequences of a teenage suicide pact. These novels not only entertain but also raise important questions about life, love, and morality.

Vintage Picoult books are a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good story that makes them think. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to her work, you're sure to find something to love in these classic novels.

This book was truly dreadful.

It doesn't deserve just one star solely because I was able to persevere until the end out of curiosity to find out what would occur. However, not much actually happened throughout the story.

I typically enjoy Jodi Picoult's books, but this particular one was extremely lackluster. Nicholas is by far the most narcissistic jerk. His character was both unpredictable and inconsistent, making it difficult to understand or empathize with him.

Moreover, none of the characters in the story seemed to know how to effectively communicate their feelings. It was incredibly frustrating to listen to their muddled conversations and unexpressed emotions.

In conclusion, I'm relieved that I've finally finished this book and can move on to something more engaging.

I'm not truly certain about my assessment here.

For me, certain sections were truly emotional, revealing the most crucial values in life. The book is written as skillfully as other Picoult's works. However,

many individuals believe the main character is extremely irritating. And even if one enjoyed the book, it's difficult not to concur with this assertion. But it's not solely about Paige; it also pertains to other adults in this book.

The way they sometimes conduct themselves is simply too much to bear. Everyone is prideful and has the attitude of "God, why is this happening to me, I don't deserve it, I now have the right to do whatever I want" or "I will let the person I love sleep outside for weeks because she hurt my feelings." I mean, seriously, are you okay?

Nevertheless, I myself sometimes have apprehensions about being completely dedicated to someone, and thus I can partially fathom the actions these people chose to take. But they were simply exaggerated.

This book is truly captivating and keeps you on the edge of your seat, constantly wanting more...

It is a real page turner that grabs your attention from the very beginning and doesn't let go. The story unfolds in a thrilling and engaging manner, making it difficult to put the book down. However, as much as I enjoyed the majority of the book, I have to admit that I was quite disappointed with the ending. I felt that the author had the opportunity to wrap up the story in a more satisfying way, but instead, she left the reader with a sense of dissatisfaction and even a feeling of being cheated. It was as if all the build-up and anticipation throughout the book led to a somewhat lackluster conclusion. Overall, while the book had its strengths, the ending really let it down for me.

This book was truly dreadful. It gave off the impression of being one of those lackluster made-for-TV movies.

I have perused several of Picoult's other novels. They frequently possess some sort of topical theme. Although not precisely the most intellectually stimulating works, they generally present the theme in a rather entertaining manner. However, this novel, with its theme of ambiguous motherhood, was an utter letdown.

Perhaps the most egregious aspect is the character development, or rather the absence thereof. The young mother is not at all sympathetic. She is self-destructive, overly indulgent, and simply not believable. Her mother, the original self-destructee, is even worse. The reconciliation between mother and daughter was overly sentimental and contrived. The young, uneducated wife stalking the Harvard-educated physician through a hospital was just downright strange.

Ambiguous motherhood and the theme of abandonment can indeed be a worthy subject if dealt with appropriately. For instance, check out Anne Tyler's 'Ladder of Years', which is truly outstanding. But this book fails to even come close. I would not recommend it under any circumstances.

I have a deep affection for Jodi Picoult. Her works usually captivate me with their engaging stories and well-developed characters. However, this particular book was a real struggle to get through.

At the beginning, I found the characters to be quite endearing. Their personalities and circumstances seemed interesting, and I was eager to see how their stories would unfold. But as the book progressed, something changed. I gradually lost my liking for the characters. Their actions and decisions didn't resonate with me anymore, and I found myself not really caring what happened to them.

The last one-third of the book was especially difficult. I was already invested a significant amount of time in reading it, and based on principle, I felt I had to finish it. But it was a real chore to plow through those final pages. Despite my initial love for Jodi Picoult's writing, this book left me feeling a bit disappointed.

Perhaps it was just a matter of personal taste, or maybe there were aspects of the story that didn't quite click with me. Nevertheless, it serves as a reminder that even the works of our favorite authors may not always meet our expectations.

In recent years, usually only one or two Picoult books came out in a year. So we can say that I have now completed my "quota" early, and indeed, perhaps I won't read any more from her this year. I am slowly making my way through her body of work, and not every one will be the same. But this is ultimately not surprising, as not everyone can be Rowling. :D

I have been eyeing the novel "Harvesting the Heart" for a long time. I have gone through several virtual bookshelf lists, and it has been sitting on my shelf since 2013... (and there are still several more like it, oh dear!) Now I have finally managed to read it, but despite the interesting theme, it didn't really make a big impact on me. This is an early, 1993 Picoult book. There is no sensation or controversy in it, but there is saliva, a lot of mistakes, and horses... So where was the usual dilemma? It's not hard to guess from here that this (wasn't) my book. Am I too critical lately, or is it really that hard for good stories to reach me?

The main character, Paige O'Toole, is a woman blessed with artistic talent. However, she cannot fulfill her creative ambitions. After leaving home at the age of 18, she mostly just sketches portraits of the customers in a coffee shop. The portraits are special, hiding small, detailed drawings behind a strand of hair, on a wall, or in a suddenly not so prominent part, and they always have some underlying meaning. In this coffee shop, Paige meets Nick, her future husband, and she also draws him. Nick is a heart surgeon, loves his work, and is always working. Soon their child, Max, is born, and the care of the child almost entirely falls on Paige.

Paige's mother left her when she was 5 years old. And now history is repeating itself... Will Paige find the answers to the questions about her past, present, and future?

That's perhaps a brief summary of the story, like a blurb. The book's own blurb in both English and Hungarian seems a bit misleading to me. It doesn't convey itself well. The English title page hinted at an interesting dilemma, but unfortunately, this is also a bit mispositioned, and we don't get the usual real dilemma.

!SPOILERS!

It's not easy for Paige, but she cuts the branch she's sitting on... Why did she "run away" from home? Why didn't she pursue her dreams further? Why didn't she try? Why did she sit down next to a jerk? Why does she get involved in the fact that Nicholas is belittled and treated condescendingly in the glittery, snobbish medical community that she has to go to with her husband because of his reputation...? Why does she have a child with Nicholas? Why does she have a child at all? Why doesn't she ask for help? Why does she go back to Nicholas (and Max)?

Nicholas is such an arrogant jerk that it's not true... And he doesn't change anything by the end of the book either. The ending is very rushed, and Jodi leaves things hanging in the air, all while saying that now everything will be different and will be okay...

It was extremely annoying that everyone forgives and excuses everything for everyone. Nicholas's parents almost disowned him when he wanted to take Paige away. But now everything is super, and they love their menu. Now that she has left and abandoned their 3-month-old grandson! :D... Paige's mother left her when she was 5 years old, but now she looks for her, and it's almost as if nothing happened, everything is suddenly okay. Nicholas doesn't help with anything, is never present, forces Paige into things, but it's all okay there too. Because Paige realizes that she loves Nicholas. (Ugh, but why?) Paige leaves the child and Nicholas, but then Nicholas has a fit because of a past, hidden abortion that wasn't even his child but from a previous case, and he reacts even worse?! Oh my. There is of course some anger and a bit of resentment between Paige and Nicholas, but this makes everything even more unbelievable, as the threat with the lawyer and the fact that you will never see your child again goes very easily into forgiveness and reconciliation.

And why, oh why, didn't she explore this interesting ability that Paige had with drawing better? There was always a bit of mystery around it when she drew something secret into a portrait, and there were such sensitive descriptions, and then it just died away like that... What a pity.

Nicholas's mother was an interesting character, although I couldn't really "like" her either. Maybe she was the best-written one.

!END OF SPOILERS!

There was unfortunately a lot of nonsense in the book, which now that I have a child, annoyed me even more. It's almost unbelievable, but as I looked at the reviews, no one seemed to notice them... I didn't find anyone in either the praising or the critical reviews who mentioned these things, although it's certain that they only bothered me. Max is a 3-month-old baby in the book. They describe several times that he is just 3 months old, and they emphasize his age.

And this 3-month-old baby:

- can get cereal porridge!
- is taken to the playground to HINT and SAND!
- turns off his father's TV to watch
- coos and stretches out his arm to be picked up
- his first tooth comes out - okay, this can absolutely happen, but come on, this first emerging tooth on the playground is TAPPED INTO the baby's mouth by every mother present!!! WHY? WHY? WHY?
- crawls around on the blanket

At such times, I just can't understand why this unfortunate child couldn't be written as older. Why do we have to describe such absurd and impossible things about a 3-month-old. A 3-month-old baby is still a vegetable. He smiles, but he's a cabbage. He lies down and looks if he's not crying. His awake window is about 1.5 hours - of course, except when he's entertained so that he doesn't sleep all morning, or all afternoon, or half the night, but then he's fussy, and there's no way you can go out to the playground with him to play, otherwise he'll choke three times and be hungry again when you pack a bag for him to leave! :D Moreover, the father approves of this playground adventure after being left alone with the child, whom he has presumably bounced on his knee twice a week in the past three months and has had nothing else to do with the care, so he doesn't even know which is the front and back of the diaper, let alone go out with the child and know what the necessary diaper bag is! :D Ridiculous!

On the day he is left alone with him, they both lie down and fall asleep together, but in the morning he can easily get up and go to work and take the child with him! Then he doesn't even know who will take care of him exactly, he finds volunteers, he takes a glass of juice for the whole day, and they just give the child ice cream. :D Okay.

Feeding? Sitting, sitting up? Crawling around? Collecting all kinds of exotic playground diseases at such a young age? Oh well. Why didn't anyone fix this? Not even in the later editions?

Later in the book, he is a bit older, 6 months old. Of course, by now he has also started to talk a little. Hilarious, because children don't really say "mama" or "dada" at this age... They gurgle, and there are sounds, and sometimes the gurgles resemble words, but they don't say anything yet...

Why didn't Nicholas turn to his mother for help regularly? I just don't understand, there wasn't that much hurt pride and arrogance in him. The first night, he should have taken the child to his mother, that would have been reasonable and believable from him. Not take the child to work and endure a week of forced babysitting during which he can't find a babysitter...

And what was also annoying for me was the horseback riding part in the middle of the book. When Paige meets her mother, there is a long description of horseback riding, learning to ride, how they bond, etc., and then there is also a sick horse, and you have to assist in its suffering (no, don't worry, it doesn't die :S). Enough with the horses! I should have had a trigger warning for this, because I get stupid from horse-related things! But as I saw, I wasn't alone in this, others also criticized the horseback riding part, if not for other reasons, because it was long, unnecessary, and simply uninteresting...

There are those who liked this volume precisely because Jodi brought in everyday problems and ordinary people, but in my opinion, the emotional charge of her more sensational books is somehow greater - in a way that there is less saliva in them -, they are also more exciting, and are much better developed and polished. What a pity, because experiencing motherhood, "running away", and dealing with the past could have been an interesting theme, but unfortunately, this didn't work out so well this time. A confusing volume, filled with strange things, but I didn't hate it. I'm more disappointed. The raised eyebrow remains as a conclusion.

This was the first book on my waiting list that I reduced this year.

I didn't get completely angry, but I did let off some steam now, phew.

It can also be read on the blog: https://pupillaolvas.blogspot.com/202...

Please provide the article that needs to be rewritten and expanded so that I can help you.

**"Harvesting the Heart" by Jodi Picoult: A Review**

I have a penchant for Jodi Picoult's books, but lately, I've begun to sense a certain formulaic pattern in them. However, "Harvesting the Heart" is a departure from that. When I first read it, I assumed it was a newer work, only to discover it was one of her earlier ones. I must admit, I prefer this to some of her later writings.

Picoult once again delves into a controversial subject, this time postnatal depression and the challenges of motherhood. She combines this with the attitudes of those raised to believe they are superior and their behavior within a marriage.

The characters in the book are quite engaging. At times, I wanted to give them a good slap, while at others, I felt a deep sense of sympathy for them. This makes them seem very real. For instance, Paige, the daughter of an Irish immigrant father and a mother who abandoned her at five, is a complex character. She leaves Chicago and her father after having an abortion, fearing his disappointment and the strain it would put on her relationship with her boyfriend. In Boston, she gets a job in a cafe and starts drawing the customers, developing a cult following for her work.

She meets Nicholas, a trainee doctor from a privileged background, and they eventually marry. But when their son is born, Paige struggles, receiving little support from Nicholas, and things take a turn for the worse, leading to a major upheaval in the family.

Nicholas is portrayed as cool, calm, self-centered, and determined. He is a brilliant heart surgeon, which gives the book its title, but the title also has a double meaning related to Paige's heart. Paige, on the other hand, is a sympathetic character. She has a talent for drawing and has endured a lot of emotional trauma in her life. She seems to forgive easily, despite being let down by many people. However, her anger towards her mother dominates her actions and emotions.

The chapters alternate between Paige's and Nicholas' points of view, with Paige's chapters written in the first person and Nicholas' in the third person. While I liked the two different perspectives, I found it a bit annoying that the narrative switched between the two.

Overall, I found "Harvesting the Heart" to be an interesting and engaging story. It doesn't follow the same formula as Picoult's other books, and the central topic is less easy to define. This has reignited my interest in her work, and I'm eager to see what she writes next. If you, like me, have found her books to be a bit predictable, I highly recommend giving this one a try. It's a good story with believable characters that you can easily relate to.