Customer Reviews

A Theory of Relativity

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been looking forward to this book for a long time as I have followed Mitchard's adoption travails in the press. I faithfully read her weekly column and think it is wonderfully done.

The premise and story in this book were interesting and emotional. As I read the first 100 or so pages, I was immediately drawn into the terrible grief these families were suffering. I felt my heart pounding and breathlessness that comes when one is overwhelmed by life's tragedies.

I really and truly wish that I could say that I loved this book and that it was masterfully done.

However, the quality of the writing in this book was a major disappointment. There were many grammatical errors, the writing was disjointed and thus confusing, characters were undeveloped, and so on. References were made to things that never were revealed to the reader. I often found myself having to re-read sections of the book to see what the author was trying to say. I had to force myself to finish it----it became a chore to try to find the story and emotion in the morass of confusing verbiage that surrounded it. I ended the book wondering what the editor had done.

I have to be honest - this was the first Jacquelyn Mitchard I have read. I never read DEEP END OF THE OCEAN because the storyline was troubling to me, and by the time I decided I might want to give it a try, it was a movie, which ruined the book completely. So when I heard about THEORY back in April, I anxiously awaited and counted the days until its release. I knew Ms. Mitchard is a popular and, I heard, fantastic author and the advance reviews all predicted great reading with a heartwrming story. What book were those reviewers reading? The dialogue in this book is great and the second to last chapter really moves along with quick dialogue between two of the characters - but that's it. The first half of the book is nonstop descriptions - the car accident, the illness, the farm, the school, Gordon's teaching background - on and on and on it goes. It feels like you're reading an article in a woman's magazine about a local family's custody battle. Where's the story, where's the character development, where's the dialogue???? The few conversations that do take place are pointless - two in particular left me asking "HUH?" What was the point? (Ch. 13 - between Nora & Hayes and Ch. 15 between Gordon & Lindsay) Many of the conversations and dialogue between characters are pointless and lead to no where - some of the descriptions are also pointless and seem to have been written to just fill a page (what was the point of Nora's thought on the farm? It was never mentioned again and was never the topic of conversation or even an issue) This book could have been so much better if Ms. Mitchard had just written more interaction between characters and dialogue. The characters are often alone in a room with their thoughts and that's what you're reading - what is going on in the minds of the main characters. Not enough interaction or speaking to each other. The most important events are skimmed over too quickly leading to more reading about what the characters thought of what just happened. I would probably give Ms. Mitchard another chance based on her history and what other people have said about her writing - if the next book was about a subject I was interested in reading about that is. Hopefully, this was just a "slump" and the next book will be as good as her first.

Jacquelyn Mitchard, the Oprah anointed author of "The Deep End Of The Ocean," opens her third novel with a sure grabber: "They died instantly." Once again using family tragedy as a springboard Ms. Mitchard has created an emotionally charged work filled with very real characters who are compelled to reassess their long held beliefs in love and forgiveness.

Gordon McKenna, a handsome 24-year-old bon vivant, has cared for his niece, one-year-old Keefer, as his sister, Georgia, battles breast cancer. The unthinkable occurs when Georgia and her husband , Ray Nye, are killed in an auto accident.

Gordon and his parents quite naturally assume that they will be Keefer's guardians. However, Ray's parents believe otherwise. There is little time for each family to mourn their losses before an ugly and protracted custody battle ensues. The suit is muddied by the fact that Georgia and Gordon were both adopted, thus, by state law are not blood relatives.

Ms. Mitchard who has adopted five children and was once involved in a custody battle draws on personal experience to craft this heart wrenching tale. It's a two hanky read, and undoubtedly another bestseller for this author.

After purchasing and reading 'The Most Wanted' and 'Deep end of the Ocean', I was quite disappointed with 'A Theory of Relativity'. The book delves into the legal world of adoptions and whilst i have learnt a great deal, I found the book somewhat slow and hard to get into. The author tends to go too deeply into the legal jargon and I feel that the book loses the real emphasis of the story- the relationship between the child and uncle. Above all I must commend this talented author

This book (which was excellently read by Juliette Parker on audito cassettes)goes so far beyond the premise of exploring the unfortunate and far-reaching fall-out from the deaths of a young mother and father in an unfortunate motor vehicle accident.

As the mother of a much loved adult adopted son, this book made me think about the facets of family, relationships, adoptions, fairness, and love in ways that I had never considered previously.

I would recommend the book for any reader who enjoys a good story with in-depth characters and interesting prediciments. However, I would especially recommend it for any individual who loves an adopted child, is an adopted child, or is interested in adoption.

This novel makes for good reading and provides ideas to ponder in depth if you care to do so.

The premise of the books is a good one - a young child is orphaned when her parents are killed in an automobile crash and both sides of her family (granparents and aunts/uncles) want to raise her. What could have been a wonderfully tense and moving story was in fact, so muddled that I forced myself to keep reading. It was hard to get a sense of any of the characters (they all blurred so badly I stopped trying to keep them straight) or a feel for the emotional upheaval they were going through. Two-thirds of the book was consumed with wallowing and floundering (and a few overly dull courtroom scenes), and the last third hinged on major coincidence and manipulation. There were many thought-provoking issues the book could have addressed, but to the extent it covered them at all, it brushed past. Sadly.

As an adoptive mother, I've always felt a special connection to Jacquelyn Mitchard's work, reading everything I can about her adventures as both a writer and an adoptive parent. I was particularly eager to read this one when I heard it was based in part on Mitchard's personal experience facing the possible loss of one of her adopted children - even though this child, an infant girl, was already living hin her home and even though Mitchard was permanently and indelibly bonded with this girl. This struck close to the bone, echoing some of my own concerns and fears as an adoptive mother. While I wasn't crazy about Mitchard's previous novel (The Most Wanted), A Theory of Relativity shows that she is back in top form. When a couple dies in a car accident, Gordon (brother to the deceased wife) comes forth to adopt the surviving child, a one year old girl. Unfortunately, other family members feel differently and a custody battle ensues. While Gordon and his parents want to be the child's parents, the parents of the deceased husband want custody as well. I was intrigued not only by the suspenseful plot but by the questions this book raised: What are the limits we, as a society, place on "blood" ties and those formed by adoption? Why are adopted children not always considered equal to those who are genetically related to their parents? How and why can families be torn apart by these distinctions?I found this to be a very believable story and couldn't help feeling that Mitchard's personal experiences brought a special ring of truth to this book. I'm looking forward to more powerful, emotionally honest novels from this wonderful writer in the future!

When the unthinkable occurs, hearts are put on the line. Georgia and Ray die in a tragic car accident, leaving behind their one-year-old daughter Keefer. Georgia's adopted brother Gordon McKenna wants to adopt Keefer, believing it would fulfill his sister's dying wishes. Unfortunately, his wealthy in-laws also wish to adopt Keefer.

Legal wrangling raise the issues of what constitutes a "blood relative" when Gordon's adoption request is initially dismissed because he is an adopted relative rather than a blood relative. When Keefer goes to life with her father's family, the typical differences in culture, religion and parenting style will echo the nightmares of any parent who lost custody of their child. Tragically, the best interest of the child becomes secondary to the letter of the law, and the needs of the survivors.

Readers expecting a dramatic fight complete with courtroom drama will be disappointed. But readers expecting a carefully crafted, character-driven drama that reveals the foibles, challenges and fears related to changing family dynamics will find their expectations richly rewarded. Life-like details reveal the devastation left by grief and desperation, as young Keefer becomes the symbol of survival for two families. Selfish need replaces the best interests of the child in a poignantly tragic way even as love struggles for supremacy. The themes of judgments made based upon the letter of the law rather than its spirit will strike the heart of any parent caught in a custody battle as well as those that concern adoption issues. A remarkably heart rendering novel, A THEORY OF RELATIVITY comes highly recommended.

This was a heartfelt story, and I loved every word. My husband's father adopted him and therefore, I felt a deep connection to this story before I opened the book. I thought that the characters were realistically flawed, and that just enhanced my enjoyement of the book.
There were times that I felt a little overwhelmed by the details in the story, but I was happy to get to know the characters.
I especially enjoyed the ending of this book. I really loved the way the author gave us a chance to hear from Keefer, which was not the case (due to her age) throughout the novel.
Great book from a great author!

This was a book with so much potential, it's too bad it didn't get some editorial help to make it a great book. The strong points were that the characters felt so real to me, and I really felt attached to them. But other than that, reading it was painful. First, the author unfortunately tries to give us points of view of too many characters, making the reader not know any one character in depth, and reading too many details. Also, I didn't like the way the reader was kept in torturing suspense as to the fate of Keefer's custody. I finally figured it out within a completely new context at the very end - the author knew we would all want to know, so why write about it 'by the way'? The book just took too many different directions, taking me off the original path of caring and feeling for the characters.