Jody Picoult is one of my favourite authors. I love the way she explores the moral dilemmas of human existence, asking us all how we would respond if we were faced with seemingly impossible situations involving our loved ones.
In this novel, Luke Warren is in a coma following a traffic accident in which his daughter was also involved and injured. Medical opinion is that he will not recover. His 17 year old daughter, who lives with him, wants to keep him on life support, his hitherto estranged son wants to let him go. Luke is a celebratory, having lived in the wild for 2 years with a pack of wolves. This experience has coloured his life and relationships ever since, and not always to the good.
The story explores the personal relationships of his family as they battle with each other and their own feelings and natures over who should make the decisions about Luke's care and future.
As always, Jody Picoult does this very well, although I think I detect the merest hint that she might have struggled to come up with a new theme after all the tales she's written before. It can't be easy to think of a new dilemma for a new novel every year or so in order to keep the publisher and readers happy. I could be imagining it, however. Whatever, I hope she continues to write because I really enjoy her writing. Keep it up, Jody, please.
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