Jodi Picoult can create a set of characters and circumstances, so captivating, that as you read you begin to feel that their lives are intertwined with your own. The story comes off of the page and just like your family and friends, you begin to know the characters intimately, though they sometimes shock you.
I came across my first Picoult novel inadvertently, not by simply plucking it off of the shelf. At a friend’s house, browsing the watch on-demand list on her TV, I spotted “My Sister’s Keeper”. My friends had seen the movie before and I had heard good things about it. So we watched it. I laughed, sobbed, and was completely sucked into the story.
” I have the book if you want to read it,” my friend offered. She went off searching for it and didn’t find it. Instead she brought out “Nineteen Minutes”, also written by Jodi Picoult about a school shooting. I promised to give the book back after reading it. I still have it in my room and it is now my favorite book.
I see Jodi Picoult as the kind of writer that I would like to become. She writes about situations with a new slant that makes them stimulating and fresh. Although the stories peak the reader’s curiousity, they seem to be snatched right out of real-life. They are not to hard to believe, or just works of pure fiction. They resonate with the reader because they bring up profound questions that they must ask themselves in their own life.
What also resonates with me about Jodi Picoult, is learning about what challenged her in the beginning. She was born on Long Island, NY, and despite her time studying creative writing at Princeton, she felt challenged by the lack of drama in her surroundings. You can see, though, that in her novels, Picoult cuts below the surface and finds the internal struggles of her characters, often from multiple point of views.
So as I continue to read Picoult’s novels, hopefully some of her greatness will rub off on me.
Sources:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp?cid=1021641