Customer Reviews

Plain Truth

5 star:		(160)
4 star:		(96)
3 star:		(36)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

My very first novel by Jodi Picoult has lived up to all the hype I've been hearing about for so many months. I don't know what's taken me so long to finally read one! Having closed the last page in Plain Truth just a few moments ago, my mind is now reeling from all that I've read this past week. I have a feeling this story will be with me for quite awhile.

Plain Truth tells the story of an 18-year-old Amish girl, Katie Fisher, who secretly gives birth to a child out of wedlock. Mysteriously the baby disappears and a few hours later is found dead in the barn located on the Fisher farm. After an initial investigation, Katie is charged with murder and a Philadelphia attorney, Ellie Hathaway, is set to defend her case. Adding to the fascination of this particular murder trial is the fact that Katie Fisher is Amish, and the Amish convictions are very different from others in the English world. The fact that an Amishman, who by nature does not believe in confrontation and violence, would kill another is entirely unheard of.

Plain Truth is a very intricate and richly detailed tapestry of Amish life and a court case that shocked the small town of East Paradise Township. Each page turned revealed a little more of the mystery and added to the bewilderment and beauty of the story. There is much to be said about this novel because it is so much more than just what is written on the back of the book. It is truly a three dimensional piece of work that kept me in awe and rapt attention until the surprising (and completely unalluded to) ending. A novel of true page-turner status that will reveal bits and pieces, layer by layer, until the very end.

I first became a fan of Jodi Piccoult after reading her amazing story, PICTURE PERFECT. With PLAIN TRUTH she joins the ranks of those on my "automatic buy" list. She is a talented, versatile writer and I hope to read her other books soon. PLAIN TRUTH is set in one of my favorite places, Pennsylvania's Lancaster county. Ms. Piccoult has detailed Amish life with great accuracy - something not all authors do this well, either depicting Amish stereotypes or giving the reader so much information it's like reading a textbook. The Amish characters are realistically portrayed, evoking both sympathy and envy for their way of life. PLAIN TRUTH has mystery, a wonderful romance between big-city attorney Ellie who moves in with the Fisher family to keep young Katie from having to go to jail and the former college beau who is now a psychiatrist hired to help her understand 18-year-old Amish woman, Katie Fisher, accused of giving birth to a baby and then murdering it. Complete with a surprise ending, this book is a compelling read which readers will find difficult to put down once started. Another winner from Jodi Piccoult!

After reading five of her novels, I have become a fan of Jodi Picoult. I will admit (and this probably proves that I am a sucker for marketing rather than letting the literature speak for itself) that I've deliberately read all of her best sellers before reading the books that didn't make it on the list.

Initially I liked the book and it kept me reading, though maybe just out of habit. I enjoyed reading about the Amish way of life and the Amish traditions - though it did make me think of that Harrison Ford movie, Witness (circa 1989 or something). I like that she used one first person voice as well as the third person narrative in a well crafted and varied way.

I like that her main character has a powerful job that challenges gender stereotypes by being the morally questionable lawyer. That being said, she doesn't explore this as well as she could. We sort of forget that Ellie has blatantly suppressed evidence and watched as little girls saw their rapist acquitted. Rape, she can defend, but infanticide creates some problems for the notorious defense attorney.

Something about the book bothered me. Maybe I am reading too many of her books too fast but I am seeing a formula here.

- Many of her plots include a court room drama.

- All of her plots feature romance or end with the obvious potential for one.

- Mothers and their powerful (all encompassing, self-sacrificing) love for their children are a theme in all of her books I've read.

- There is usually a "twist" at the end. She's becoming Koontz like in her formulaic predictability and I stopped reading his novels as a teenager.

Most of her books left me content, like I'd eaten a good, hearty meal. However, this book left me hungry and searching for critical reviews to see if others shared my dissatisfaction.

So:

- I was unimpressed with the "twist" at the end of this one - I knew "whodunit" about 1/2 of the way through. I was getting bored with that part of the story. The red herrings are too obvious and her suggestions that Katie didn't do it were there from the beginning. She should've stopped the heavy handed attempt to make us question that and just made it known through the 3 person narrative exactly who did the killing or hiding. Then she could have explored that character in depth instead of hiding her and others she wanted you to be suspicious about. Just because we, the readers knew, didn't mean that Ellie had to know - or anyone else for that matter.

- The characters in this novel were a tad generic. I am sorry, I like her, but they were boring.

For instance, I was bored with Ellie's dilemma over Coop - to the point where I often skipped the interaction they had when they discussed their potential future together. Duh, I knew they were going to get together after a little drama from Ellie through which Coop - being the quintessential "sensitive ponytail guy" - would wait, albeit in pain. It was just too predictable.

Hannah's ghost; she has a ghost hunter in a later novel and I was a disappointed to see another one. But other than that, Hannah's ghost seems a bizarre and meaningless addition. Is it to suggest that she, Katie, might be crazy and a murderer? Is it to explain why she was so drawn to Adam? Katie being the good Amish girl could only fall for someone who could share her secret ability to see her sister... In a book that is so Amishly pragmatic and logical in every other way makes it so the supernatural element clashes with the rest of the novel. Maybe Hannah's ghost killed Katie's baby or hid it.

I liked the details. The Amish and their daily lives, those who assimilate and those who don't, and how the religion and way of life affect one's thinking offers a neat, un-scholarly insight into a different culture. I liked the culture clashes and I wondered how they would be resolved. But what I did like, doesn't measure against my dissatisfaction.

My most recent book purchase included three works of fiction; two by Picoult and one by Atwood. I think I'll shelve the unread Picoult for a while. I'll have some time to forget her modus operandi. I'll read the Atwood and then I'll buy a book by a different author.

Jodi Picoult's "Plain Truth" is a gem of a story. I had a great sense of enjoyment as I read it. Her characters seem real and believable and the plot is well crafted. Katie and Ellie, as well as all the other characters, were likable, and acted like we might all act under the circumstances. The relationship between Katie and Samuel was sweet and touching. Underneath it all runs the thread of a tragedy that has affected the entire Fisher family. There could not have been a better ending...grounded in reality instead of implausible heroics. I enjoyed the setting amid the Amish culture. Ms. Picoult obviously researched her topic thoroughly, to be able to give her readers such a detailed view of their world. I look forward to reading other books by the author. I am starting "Harvesting the Heart" very soon!

In her previous book, The Pact, Ms. Picoult writes about a suicide pact between two teenagers. When the boyfriend doesn't die, the book probes not only the previous relationship between this young man and his girlfriend but their parents' reactions as well as the legal ramifications concerning the one who survived.

In her newest book, Plain Truth, Ms. Picoult enters the world of the Amish sect who still today live by priciples contary to the 21st century. And again as in The Pact, when a young unmarried woman, Katie Fisher, is accused of murdering a newborn which she has presumably given birth to, the law steps in and these events tear apart a family and community steeped in the Amish traditions and mores. For Ellie Hathaway, an urban sophisticated lawyer somewhat related to this community and the other major character in thsi book, defending this client provides her not only with a world filled with "plain" truths and different rules, but also a glimpse into the failures of her own life.

Jodi Picoult has written another fascinating book. One which can takes its place amongst many of her other books such as Keeping Faith, The Pact and Harvesting the Heart. Her characters in Plain Truth, as always, are well pprtrayed and stay with the reader long after they close the book. Also, it is apprent that Ms.Picoult did a great deal of research as well as live amongst the Amish to learn more about the ways of the plain.

Finally, the author sheds new light on events often in the news today along with presenting a lifestyle which I as the reader knew very little about before reading this book.

Bravo for a first rate novel, Jodi.

She turned her back on love two decades ago because she neededto prove to herself that she could do it alone by climbing to the topof a prestigious law firm. Philadelphia attorney Ellie Hathaway obtains an acquittal for her client, which earns her a job offer from one of the legal elite firms. However, instead of elation, Ellie feels guilty for gaining freedom for a pediophile who molested at least six children. Ellie walks out on her lover of eight years, seeking sanctuary with her aunt in the heart of Amish Country in East Paradise, Lancaster County.

Shortly after her arrival, Ellie is asked to take on the case of eighteen-year-old Amish woman Katie Fisher, accused of killing her newborn child. Katie hid her pregnancy before she went to the family barn to give birth by herself. She wrapped her baby in a shirt and fell asleep. When the teen awakened, the infant was gone. Later the dead child was found and Katie was accused of smothering the baby. Ellie agrees to take on an "Old Order" client that the lawyer thinks might be guilty in an English court.

Judy Picoult is a gifted storyteller whose compelling works profoundly impact her audience. Anyone who wants a glimpse at the Amish culture will want to read PLAIN TRUTH. The complex charcaters appear more like multi-dimensional people who capture a niche in the reader's heart. If justice is served, Ms. Picoult will become a best-selling author for this warm insightful novel.

After reading these reviews, I expected a great deal from this book. I was disappointed to find it a standard "beach novel" with cardboard characters, a contrived plot, and a none-too-compelling mystery. I had a difficult time caring about these characters because they are all cliches. I found the main character, Ellie, mildly interesting as long as the author stuck with writing a legal thriller about a highly competent attorney. Unfortunately, at the one-third mark, the book transforms into a trite, Harlequin-like romance about a hopelessly lonely careerwoman who leaps from Boyfriend 1 to Boyfriend 2 without spending so much as a week alone. We are meant to believe that Ellie suddenly finds her worklife empty and that all she needs for fulfillment is the new man in her life. She becomes increasingly LESS interesting as this implausible romance progresses. The mystery's solution can be predicted several dozen pages before it's revealed.

It's commendable that Picoult did research on the Amish before writing Plain Truth -- but that doesn't make it good fiction.

The story had some really original components, including an accurate but simple depiction of Amish life. Piccoult didn't spend more time than she had to with novelty details, or romanticizing the Amish. She gave us a balanced glimpse of both the pros and cons of the Plain Lifestyle, and how different Amish individuals interpret and respond to their unified beliefs and what's expected of them. This was really the most important point for me, since I was reading the novel as part of my research for a nonfiction article on the Amish. I believed, correctly, that I would find subtle characteristics in a novel that might be absent from text books, or even short stories by the Amish themselves. Things only an "Englisher" would notice. (And, as it turns out, Piccoult did spend a week on an Amish farm, which I had guessed from the writing, so that's a definite boon).

The storyline kept me guessing as well. Despite being reasonably good at guessing endings, I floundered a few times during the book in terms of what I thought had happened and what would become of the main characters.

The title "The Plain Truth" sounds like a superficial play on words about courtroom truth, but is actually a complex, fitting title, because much of the book is, in fact, about what the Amish hold to be true, vs. what the general U.S. population thinks "truth" is. Those distinct differences create a lot of tension, confusion and mystery, inside the courtroom, and out.

The ending I only enjoyed because it took me by surprise. I don't think it was the right one, if I take it literally, as most readers have. I chose to interpret this revelation with Amish ethics in mind, assuming that it was not the drastic situation it's made out to be, but more of an acceptance and aid to what was already transpiring. (I'd like to be more clear on that, but don't want to toss out any spoilers here!)

While a lot of this novel is subtle and original, there are some cliches that could have been played down a little, and not announced so blatantly, as if by a narrator who thinks the audience is a tad slow. Ellie's relationship fears, for instance. That courtroom scene where they are really talking to each other personally, and not about the case, or the scene where Coop explains how some people leave before they can be left. These were short snipets compared to the whole book, but the manuscript could have been all the better if those issues had been presented through actions and dialogue that wasn't so glaring.

The final of my few complaints is a big one. I may be a lot more sensitive to this than other readers are. It's kind of a pet peeve of mine. But... how many times in the same book can the entire cast of characters narrow their eyes and snort? It literally seemed that every few pages, "he narrowed his eyes," or "Katie narrowed her eyes," or "The judge narrowed her eyes slightly," or "she narrowed her eyes." It was so prevalent that I pictured all these bad actors in a film version of Plain Truth, all working very hard to narrow their eyes. There are so many different ways a face can look when its owner is wondering whether or not something sounds odd or suspicious. And such a variety of ways to describe that facial expression. The same goes for "snorting." Most every time in the book that anyone laughs, they "snort." The shy Amish girl snorts. The savvy tough-as-nail lawyer snorts, the prosecutor snorts, the good Amish wife snorts, the hopeless romantic psychologist snorts. All this snorting isn't terribly appealing and seems inconsistent with most of their personalities. Sure, once in a while, we all laugh a little too loudly and end up sounding like a hungry hog, but would this not distract you terribly if, in a two-hour movie, someone snorted every five minutes? I wish they could just simply "laugh." If the words used excessively were simpler, more common words, I wouldn't have noticed their high frequency as much, if at all. Sometimes a writer has written and rewritten and read and reread her own material so often, that the pages all blend together. That's why there are editors. These really minor fixes are things that an editor should have caught. Doing so would have made a good book great.

In movie terms, this book might be a cross between "Witness" and "The Accused" with a few overtones of "Agnes of God", but, all in all, it works. Jodi Picoult's novel, The Plain Truth was intriguing and, frankly, one of her best books yet. It provides a gentle, yet unbiased portrait of genuine Amish life while avoiding a great deal of sentimentality. I particularly enjoy fiction that allows me to gain insight into another culture and Picoult's novel accomplished just that. The complexity of Amish life is surprising and provides a fascinating background for a well-crafted story.

Although the main character, Ellie, occasionally drifted into the realm of the stereotypical, Picoult's characters were generally well crafted and believable. A reader cannot help but like Katie, the Amish girl central to the mystery. Even the romantic aspects, including a rather sweet and tragic love triangle involving Katie, her Amish boyfriend and a man from the outside world, was believable and moving. As far as character development and romance are concerned, this is Picoult at her best.

Perhaps the novel's greatest virtue is Picoult's examination of the culture of justice and the contrast between the Amish and standard American view. The concepts of truth, justice, forgiveness, and the human perception ran as sub-text throughout the novel, making it a far deeper and more interesting book than any of her others. I enjoyed it very much.

Plain Truth is an interesting glimpse into the life of Plain People, also known as Amish. The play on words in the title becomes apparent halfway through the book as the truth of this mystery lies embedded in what is true in the Amish way of thinking, not necessarily what is right or true in our American judicial system. Author Jodi Picoult gives us two very different women as main characters in this mystery/courtroom drama. There is Katie, the young Amish girl who hides her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, gives birth in the barn to a baby later found dead, and stands trial for his murder. There is also Ellie, the burned-out Philadelphia lawyer who defends Katie. As fate would have it, thirty-nine-old Ellie would like nothing better than to have a baby. Because of circumstances, Ellie must live on the Amish farm with Katie before and during the trial. Her "baptism by fire" is an accurate and engrossing look at the Amish life in Lancaster County, PA. Add to the mix a cold-hearted father, a complacent mother, a shunned brother with a roommate who studies ghosts, Katie's Amish boyfriend who planned to marry her, a former college sweetheart who happens to be a psychiatrist, and you have an absorbing mystery with motive, romance, and a somewhat-surprising if not disturbing ending.