Book Review - House Rules by Judi Picoult

[forumAdmin]

Book Review - House Rules by Judi Picoult

If you like the fact that some books should just educate the public in an engaging way

http://dc13.com/ramblings/book-review-house-rules-by-judi-picoult.html

[kyu60]

I lent this book to a friend who is a teacher, here was his response..

Thanks for recommending this book. I found it very interesting. I found it very frustrating at first because with such a literal character I couldn't understand why such experienced police officers and lawyers didn't ask Jacob a fuller range of questions about the way in which Jess died. If the had asked, "Was Jess dead when you arrived?", for example, he would have answered honestly and there would have been no need for Jacob to go to court at all.

That said, she did use clever techniques, like naming each section after a character, which made it very interesting. I certainly better understand Aspergers now, and I guess that was the whole point.

[forumAdmin]

This is possibly why listening to this book is important.
Each time there is a delay and a name is mentioned - it is in the voice of the actor. Therefore when there is a gap that says Jacob it is him speaking from his perspective from that point till the next name. Not a simple naming of a section. This makes a HUGE difference to the story and the understanding of the point.

Often the same story is repeated from different perspectives - knowing who is speaking is VITAL.

[kyu60]

Yeah I have only read the book, and at times I found myself checking from who view was the story being told (unless it was Jacob) might try the audio tape.