Handle With Care

I finished “Handle With Care” last weekend. I have to say it was disappointing. I also should say that I was prepared for disappointment after reading many of her books. A couple years ago, I read Picoult’s “My Sister’s Keeper” and really enjoyed it. It was a story of a family with one child who had leukemia and another conceived to be a genetic match and live life as a perpetual donor to her older sister. I enjoyed the story – and the writing style as each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective.

Since then, I have read a few of her books and they all seem to follow the same formula: a tragedy, multiple perspectives, one tragic character, one character denied much needed attention, and some surprising twist at the end. Though, now the surprises are getting quite predictable.

“Handle With Care” followed the same pattern. Willow is born with osteogenesis imperfection – brittle bone disease. Amelia is the much neglected older sister. Then comes the wrongful birth lawsuit as Willow’s parents sue their obstetrician for not informing them early enough of this condition….

I’m sure you can imagine how this all pans out. It is an easy enough read. And not awful. Just disappointing when comparing it to Picoult’s other books.