Handle With Care (LARGE PRINT) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Jodi Picoult (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

Good Storu

Product Details

• Hardcover: 959 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607516772
• ISBN-13: 978-1607516774
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (456 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up on Long Island with my parents and my little brother, the product of a ridiculously happy childhood. My mom says I've been writing as long as she remembers - my first masterpiece was "The Lobster That Was Misunderstood," at age 5. I honed my writing skills beyond that, one hopes, before I headed off to Princeton, where I wanted to work with living, breathing authors in their creative writing program. Mary Morris was my teacher/mentor, and I really do believe I wouldn't be where I am today if not for her guidance and expertise. I had two short stories published in SEVENTEEN magazine when I was in college. However, when I graduated, a desire to not eat ramen noodles exclusively and to be able to pay my rent led me to take a job on Wall Street (not a great idea, since I can't even balance my checkbook). When the stock market crashed in 1987, I moved to Massachusetts and over the course of two years, worked at a textbook publishing company, taught creative writing at a private school, became an ad copywriter, got a master's in education at Harvard, got married, taught at a public school, and had a baby. My first novel was published shortly after my son was born, and I've always said that the reason I kept writing is because it's so much easier than teaching English.

In fourteen years, I've published thirteen novels: Songs of the Humpback Whale, Harvesting the Heart, Picture Perfect, Mercy, The Pact, Keeping Faith, Plain Truth, Salem Falls, Perfect Match, Second Glance, My Sister's Keeper, Vanishing Acts, and the upcoming The Tenth Circle, this March. Two of my books (Plain Truth and The Pact) were made into Lifetime TV movies; Keeping Faith will be another. My Sister's Keeper is in development at New Line Cinema to be a feature film. And there isn't a single day that I don't stop and marvel at the fact that when I go to work, I get to do what I love the most.

My husband Tim and I live in Hanover, NH with our three kids, a dog, a rabbit, and the occasional donkey or cow.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "My Sister's Keeper" Part Two, March 11, 2009

By 

Bookreader "[e-mail]" (Danville, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Handle with Care: A Novel (Hardcover)

I really love Jodi Picoult's books. I find she tackles very tough subjects in a captivating and stimulating manner. She takes chances on subjects that other authors just gloss over too afraid to really speculate about the feelings of the participants. If you were the mother of a child that was bullied or was the bully, "Nineteen Minutes" was your worst nightmare. So believable.

I found "Handle With Care" engrossing. I have a child with limited handicaps and I felt for Willow with every breath. But for me this was one more trial, one more heart-wrenching child, one more set of confused and inarticulate parents, one more lawyer with "issues" and one more manipulated ending too many. I can't tell you how very disappointed I was with this book. Lots of meringue but the filling was not fresh.

126 of 152 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is the last Jodi Picoult book I will read, March 19, 2009

By 

Jennifer Brooks (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handle with Care: A Novel (Hardcover)

I've read ALL of Jodi Picoult's books. Some of my favorites are Perfect Match, My Sister's Keeper, and The Pact. Compared to those books, her latest release, Handle with Care, is contrived, sloppy, boring, and disappointing. Oh, and too many points of view included. I almost laughed at the ending because I honestly didn't think the book could have ended with more of a cop-out.

It doesn't seem like the publishers bothered copyediting or proofreading this book. Kitty Litter should not be capitalized. I don't care how "mature" a 6 year old is, she would create a Gmail account. And, Jodi, please spare me the gratuitous references to Facebook. These are just a few things I can think of off the top of my head -- there were many more.

Perhaps releasing one book a year is too much for Jodi Picoult, because the product is suffering. Her stories used to be contemporary, heart-wrenching and full of plot twists.

Handle with Care is simply a regurgitation of lawyers, sisters with issues, second marriages, etc. With some bulimia and cutting thrown in and not really addressed. Not to mention the recipes. What was the point of those? Charlotte's career as a pastry chef seems conveniently trendy and never becomes anything more than that, except for the lame recipes scattered throughout the book. It's like Jodi's editors and marketing team sat around a table and came up with every single thing they could incorporate into this book and then threw each thing in, none of which were successful.

I'm glad I got this from the library instead of purchasing it. What a disappointment. Don't bother.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So disgusted - SPOILER, August 21, 2009

By 

J. Micalizzi "yes fan" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handle with Care (Kindle Edition)

If my best friend were to ask me if she should read this book, I would say no. OK, I'll give the author credit, she is a good writer that keeps your attention. But I found myself either irritated or just plan angry almost the entire time. For example, before the trip to Disney, the parents make it a point to tell the older sister, Amelia, that she will not be able go on any of the rides that she wants to go on. Apparently this is because her little sister (Willow) can't go. That is ridiculous. Why can't the dad just take Amelia on Space Mountain, while mom and Willow shop in the stores or eat lunch or something? Many 5-year-olds are not big enough to ride roller coasters anyway because of the height requirement. Can you imagine if no teenagers were allowed to ride roller coasters because their younger siblings could not? Geez, let the kid have some fun too.
Honestly this irritated me so much, I should have stopped reading right there. But I didn't, and the torture continued.
If money was such a struggle, maybe mom ( a master baker) should have opened a small bakery and taken Willow to work with her, instead of the lawsuit that pretty much ruined everyone's lives. She seems to be able to bake and run errands just fine at home. If she needed to be available 24/7 for Willow, she could have just taken her to work with her.
And don't even get me started on the ending. It made reading the entire book totally pointless. If you enjoy reading the thoughts of a six year old while she drowns, then this is the book for you.