Change of Heart

Change of Heart...
The title is a play on words - there are many figurative and even one literal change of heart throughout the book. Jodi Picoult, in my opinion, has done it again. I had alluded to my book signing and the basic premise of the book - but I finished last night - with loads of unanswered questions but a lot of food for discussion.

If you prefer to avoid any religious reference skip below**

I bought a book for a friend and we read it together. There is a great deal of religious information covered and questioned - religion can be so ambiguous and hard to understand - hence "faith" right? The central question surrounds an imprisoned man on death row who wants to die in a certain way - not be lethal injection - so that his organs can harvested for donation for a certain child.

The book has a similar tone as many Picoult books - has many moral dilemmas and of course, a trial. Many of Ms. Picoult's books explore cultures or belief systems - Change of Heart challenges society's ideas about criminals and the death penalty and even begs the question - could this character be the Messiah? As a Christian, I have wondered - in the shape our world is in - if the Messiah were to come, would we believe it? Or would we feel the same way many of the people in Jesus' time did - who is this charlatan? Consider all of my questions hypothetical because I think religion is too charged for a blog BUT it is central to the book - which is why I mention it. I also have to wonder "out loud" if the story was slated to come out now because of the Lenten season? It is about perfect since in the book there are miracles, a figurative crucifiction, and subsequent (and equally figurative) resurrection. Clearly, it feels like heresy to suggest a death row inmate is a representative of Jesus but I thought given the season and perhaps too many viewings of The Passion, I am curious. I may be reading too far into this of course. *wink*

**In Change of Heart we are visited by several characters from other books. At the book signing, an audience member asked Ms. Picoult why she brought some people back in her other writings - like Jordan McAfee, now Ian Fletcher from Keeping Faith...she said Patrick Ducharme from Perfect Match came back in Nineteen Minutes back because she had a mad crush on him - how charming! Jordan came back, also in Nineteen Minutes, because he was the only lawyer she knew practicing law in New Hampshire...

Anyways, in short - another good read.