Keeping Faith [Kindle Edition]

Jodi Picoult (Author)

Book Description

“A triumph. This novel’s haunting strength will hold the reader until the very end and make Faith and her story impossible to forget.”
—Richmond Times Dispatch

“Extraordinary.”
—Orlando Sentinel

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult (Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, Handle with Care) comes Keeping Faith: an “addictively readable” (Entertainment Weekly) novel that “makes you wonder about God. And that is a rare moment, indeed, in modern fiction” (USA Today).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Picoult's fluent and absorbing storytelling will welcome her new novel, which, like Harvesting the Heart, explores family dynamics and the intricacies of motherhood, and concludes, as did The Pact, with tense courtroom drama. In the small town of New Canaan, N.H., 33-year-old Mariah discovers that her husband, Colin, is having an affair. Years ago, his cheating drove Mariah to attempt suicide and Colin had her briefly committed to an institution. Now Mariah's facing divorce and again fighting depression, when her eight-year-old daughter, Faith, suddenly acquires an imaginary friend. Soon this friend is telling the girl how to bring her grandmother back from the dead and how to cure a baby dying of AIDS. As Faith manifests stigmata, doctors are astounded, and religious controversy ensues, in part because Faith insists that God is a woman. An alarmed Colin sues for custody of Faith, and the fear of losing her daughter dramatically changes meek, diffident Mariah into a strong, protective and brave womanAone who fights for her daughter, holds her own against doctors and lawyers and finds the confidence to pursue a surprising new romance with TV atheist Ian Fletcher, cynical "Spokesman of the Millennium Generation." Though the novel feels a bit long, Picoult's pacing stabilizes the increasingly complicated plot, and the final chapters, in which Mariah fights for Faith's custody in court, are riveting. The mother-daughter relationship is all the more powerful for being buffeted by the exploitative and ethically questionable domains of medicine, media, law and religion; these characters' many triumphant transformations are Picoult's triumphs as well. Agent, Laura Gross.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When seven-year-old Faith White and her mother, Mariah, swing by the house on the way to ballet class, they find that Daddy is home and he's brought a playmate. This is not the first time he's been caught cheating. After the fuss and feathers have settled and Dad has moved out, Faith begins talking to an imaginary friend who, it seems, is God. And God is not male but female. Faith is able to effect miraculous cures and is also occasionally afflicted with stigmata. When the media gets wind of this, the circus begins. The local rabbi takes an interest (Faith and Mariah are technically Jewish), and the local Catholic priest pays several inquiring visits. There is also a gaggle of psychologists. Throw in a professional atheist for the romance angle and a vicious custody fight with an egomaniacal lawyer, and you have a riveting read. Picot (The Pact, LJ 2/15/98) gets better and better with each book. If you can suspend disbelief on one or two points, this is an entrancing novel. Highly recommended.ADawn L. Anderson, North Richland Hills P.L., TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 785 KB
• Print Length: 434 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0688177743
• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books; Reprint edition (October 6, 2009)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001FA0U3G
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,824 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #47 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Saga
  • #55 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Saga
  • #100 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

120 of 129 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Could "Guard" really be a woman? December 10, 2000

By Denise Bentley

Format:Paperback

Seven-year-old Faith is caught in the middle of her parents crumbling marriage and in much need of a friend to confide in. That is when her imaginary friend "Guard" steps in. Not long after, miracles start to occur around Faith, and this small town in New Hampshire starts to realize that Faith is not only speaking to "God", but that her God is a woman.

The faithful start to arrive on Faiths' doorstep in search of miracles; along with the media led by a card carrying atheist whose TV show thrives on disproving such hype. They are all found camping out, waiting to have a moment, or a word with Faith. In the mean time the custody battle between Faiths' parents flares up leaving her torn between them as well as more confused with each passing day. The complications heighten when this innocent child exhibits the bleeding hands of the stigmata, leaving the doctors completely baffled.

Jodi Picoult is an author that will keep you coming back for more and will easily make a fan out of you. She takes a story and makes you question it every turn of the page. Something that may appear to be blatantly true is transformed into the totally unexpected, you will find yourself doubting just about everyone in the book at one point or another.

I suggest another of this authors books if you haven't had enough, "THE PACT, A LOVE STORY" which is about a teen suicide, another great read. The end of every chapter leaves you wondering about the veracity of each characters statement. Sometimes she does it with just one word, turning your idea of things "head over heels" when you thought you had it all figured out. Picoult is a truly talented author and worth watching and reading, you will certainly be entertained.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you wonder June 13, 2000

By J. Green

Format:Paperback

In 380-ish pages that seem to turn themselves, Jodi Picoult makes readers stop and think about several issues as simple as mother-daughter relationships and as complex as God. Mariah White, for the second time in their marriage, catches her husband with another woman. The first time, she was pregnant with their daughter, Faith. The second time, Faith was with Mariah when Colin was caught in the act. The first time, Mariah tries to kill herself. The second time, Colin leaves and Faith's "Guard" shows up. The seven year old starts performing miracles, attracting media attention, develops stigmata and quotes the Bible, although she's never been subjected to it. Mariah tries to shield her daughter from the attention while trying to find out for sure what is wrong with her. The reader switches back and forth several times, wondering if Faith is seeing God or if her mother is seeking attention. The book ends with a custody battle between Colin and Mariah and the reader wondering how much "Faith" they really have and would have if in a similar circumstance. The book is filled with colorful characters, perhaps the best Mariah's hold-no-punches mother, Millie. A GREAT book that you won't put down, and won't forget after you do.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Losing Faith in Picoult September 11, 2007

By Jade

Format:Paperback

As an avid Jodi Picoult fan, I was sorely disappointed by this novel. Normally, I can't put down her books while reading them, but by the middle of this one, I was only reading it so that I could finally finish it and move on to something else. It was unengaging at best, and just plain boring at worst. KEEPING FAITH tells the story of a young girl who has a special relationship with God. Page after page, Faith talks to God, Faith performs a miracle, Faith talks to God some more, Faith performs some more miracles, and ooh wow Faith knows things that she couldn't possibly know so it must be real! Not much else happened, save a custody battle toward the end, which was the only aspect of the book I actually found to be engaging. One of the frustrating things was that there wasn't much of a plot to this book. Essentially, after the first twenty pages or so, the plot is pretty stagnant up until the denouement, but the characters are all unsatisfied with things, and then post-exciting climactic stuff, things essentially return to exactly they were before, and that's the end.

One of Jodi Picoult's trademarks are her twist endings, which are often
aren't unexpected, but there was not one single thing about this novel that wasn't completely and utterly predictable. Insecure, self-loathing mother Mariah ends up falling for the "bad boy" atheist Ian. Shock. The worst thing about their relationship was that despite the fact that it was inevitable from before the two characters even laid eyes on one another, Picoult didn't bother to actually develop it. I'm normally a big fan of the bad boy type, and of relationships in which the bad boy falls for someone and finally opens up, but this didn't really happen here.... Ian's a jerk one day, then sees Mariah and thinks she looks like an angel and suddenly he's a saint! His insomnia is also instantly cured by her radiant beauty! They're in love and want to live happily ever after, and of course along the way they manage to completely change each other's personalities for the better as well. This takes place over the course of a week or so, naturally.

Nothing is more annoying to me in literature than relationships that aren't developed properly, and while we're on the topic of things that are annoying about this book, let's look at a few other things that just don't quite add up. It seems just a tad unfeasible to me how everyone immediately jumps on the bandwagon and thinks Faith is telling the truth and how much of a celebrity she becomes. If this happened in reality, the only media source covering it would be The National Enquirer. "Hollywood Tonight" would not be covering the story unless Faith decided to sacrifice Paris Hilton to her God, and they certainly wouldn't be camped out on her family's lawn for months at a time. A final note of frustration was the fact that for no apparent reason, the point of view keeps inexplicably switching from first person to third person, which is just jarring enough to throw the reader back out of the story and confusing because it really doesn't seem to serve any purpose. By the end of this novel I was just left wondering what the point of it was. Read more ›

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed bag June 10, 2006

By Karen Potts

Format:Paperback

As usual Jodi Picoult creates memorable characters and situations in this book. She explores the relationship between a mother, Mariah, and her daughter Faith, under extreme circumstances. At the beginning of the book, Mariah is very much in love with her husband Colin, despite the fact that he has been unfaithful to her and, at one point, has committed her to a mental hospital as the result of depression caused by his unfaithfulness. When she again discovers him with a woman, she goes into a tailspin and they divorce. About this time her daughter begins to spout scripture and relates coversations with God, who is a woman. When the girl begins working miracles, people flock to her in order to be healed. This unlikely scenario becomes even more complicated, as the girls' hands begin to bleed and the doctors cannot stop them. A custody battle ensues, and complications mount. Picoult's characters are believable, but the situations she puts them into are not, and this is what made the book less interesting to me. Hopefully, she will return to more realistic plots and will leave out the mystical aspects in future novels.

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.

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#6 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#7 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#17 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers