Handle with Care

A Novel

De: Jodi Picoult

Narrado por: Cassandra Morris, Charlotte Perry, Alma Cuervo, Celeste Ciulla, Jessica Almasy, Jim Colby

When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated - she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative story from the number-one New York Times best-selling author, "Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance" (Stephen King).

Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Instead their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and, maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, funny as it seems, perfect. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and, for a five-year-old, an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.

Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more: What constitutes a valuable life?

Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Handle with Care is an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.

©2016 Jodi Picoult (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Great start, but weak ending

A weak ending and far too much detail about baking ruined what had been a riveting story about a gutsy mother. Who would in real life give up after they had won? Not believable.

Such a sad story!!

This could only have had a lose lose outcome. Very sad story … it’s interesting to learn and st the same time understand how the personalities unfolded in trying to maintain sanity and handle their lives in a difficult situation and still love each other

Great story line

I really enjoyed the story line and the quick pace of the book. I was thrown off by the unrealistic legal proceedings.

Loved it till the end

Loved it like every Picoult book I’ve read (which is most of them). Terrific book, touching and emotional, great performance... ending ruined it for me!! But I’ll keep on reading Picoult’s book till I’ve read them all!! She’s an amazing story teller!! 💕

Not bad

This was my first one by Jodi Picoult. If it was not for the ending, I would have rated it a solid 4. The ending lost one full star for me.

It makes you think

A mother so caught up in doing what she thinks is right for one child that decimates another.
A husband trying to keep the liquidity of the family from slipping through his fingers that he gets so angry he rapes his wife and can’t see it.
A daughter learning she is at the center of everyone’s dysfunction and just wants to be.
Another daughter who just wants to be and is consistently broken because she isn’t handled with care.
A friend who is the collateral damage of the family.
A lawyer who finds out the worst day of her mother’s life is her own life.
This was a difficult read and captured all the twisted dysfunction with artistry.
The recipes as metaphors for understanding you can’t always get what you want and hopefully you’ll create what feeds you are like mentoring moments one can look past.

Good but..,

Too many long digressions giving detailed recipes. The end wasn’t believable. The book needed some cuts. I still found it interesting: such a difficult moral dilemma!

I didn’t care for reading the recipes

I enjoyed the overall story and it makes you think of what you might do in the same circumstances. But reading the recipes really annoyed me. I do realize that it usually tied into a point in the story but it was a distraction to me otherwise it was a good story and was performed well.

**THIS BOOK NEEDS A TRIGGER WARNING**

I really enjoyed this story, but a serious word of caution: If you have struggled with self harm or eating disorders, this might not be the book for you.

I used to cut, but I haven't done it in 15 years. I don't struggle much with urges, but the parts of this book that describe it in detail, brought up the strongest feelings I have had to self harm again in the past ten years of my life. It shocked me how strongly it created an urge in me. I didn't act on it because it has been so long since I have acted on those, but if you have gone through this struggle, this may not be the best choice.

There are also detailed descriptions of bulimia which I myself have not dealt with, but I could imagine it would be triggering for others.

Other than that I did enjoy this title. I love Jodi and her way of story telling, along with the research she puts into all of her novels. The narration was done pretty well. However, if you like stories that leave you with only good feelings, this isn't it.

It's okay.

As with most Jodi Picoult novels, this book presents several sides of a controversial topic. She does a good job developing character and keeping the story moving. I'm not sure I really like the ending, but it works. The performance is disappointing to me, though. There were many times the narrative seemed poorly edited and the voice seemed very computer-like. A couple of the narrators were bland in their performance. But I liked the story line, and the performance wasn't horrid...just seemed off.