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Where. It would behoove Picoult to attend a graduate graduation ceremony and see the elaborate caps, gowns, and hoods that are worn. For example:As others have pointed out, there is no train service to State College and hasn't been for decades.Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth and all legal documents and functions are according to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, never the state.Lancaster County would have a district attorney, not a county attorney.Amish teenagers ride bikes, yet Katie never rides a bike.At Penn State's graduation ceremonies, undergrads and graduate students have different ceremonies. Lancaster is not "hundreds" of miles from State College.She struggles a lot with Jacob's education. A PhD graduate would never wear the same "cap and gown only with a sash" as an undergrad student.
First, it is driven home that Amish kids stop at 8th grade. Neat trick, since later he says on the witness stand that he's working on his Master's degree (at Penn State, an associate professor has tenure; most begin their careers as an assistant professor and not while a master's student). Then we have Jacob spending his entire undergrad life living in a dorm but then he appears to have moved out of the dorm while an undergrad. In fact, I don't think I can read another of her books because I can't trust her.
Her attention to details made the book lose all of its credibility. I heard Picoult spent time with an Amish family to "research" this book. Then we have him taking 5 years to graduate (which isn't uncommon) and he got into grad school to be a teaching assistant. It was picked because Plain Truth takes place in Lancaster and State College (where we live) and because the Amish are very much a part of life around here. You are still hard pressed to find any at a convenience store. And these are easy things to check.
Katie seems to not recognize her brother because of his clothes and his clean-shaven face. Or to any teenage kids. This is my 5th Jodi Picoult book, and the second one picked for my book group. So where did Jacob's high school education come from. Did he get a GED.
She also mentions that after 6 years of schooling, he is an associate professor at the University.
Or to legal adults for that matter.
When he was Plain, she never would have seen him with a beard since he wasn't married.One thing Picoult got right -- and I think this was by accident -- there is a ski mountain near campus.
Because this woman has no clue about life in Pennsylvania, and it seemed like most of her knowledge of the Amish came from the same websites I checked out when I had questions.
Add all of these errors (and likely more) to cardboard characters and a contrived plot made me want to throw the book across the room.
Turkey Hill (a convenience store) would not sell beer to teenage Amish kids.
Until very recently, you could only buy beer in PA at a bottle shop, distributor, or bar.
He lives in an apartment, but then he lives in a house, both sublet by the same guy.
I only finished it because of book group, but once I was done, I pulled one of my favorite old novels off the shelf to get the slime of this book out of my system.
This book was not what I expected. I thought Katie was boring and infuriating because someone who could have weaved so many lies about what happened to her in the "English" world was a complete contradiction to her Amish lifestyle. I think her range is short-sighted. I thought the book lacked luster and was a bit of a drag. Don't even bother reading Mercy because that one is even more YAWN INSPIRING. The story could have been told in a few pages rather than dragging it to over 300 pages long. Unfortunately I was swayed by the positive reviews. Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed in the author, Jodi Picoult, because this is the third book I've read by her and they all involved some kind of family drama that led to a court room drama.
The subplot between Ellie and her paramour was boring and stupid. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters because they all lacked substance. Unfortunately I bought this book along with The Pact.hopefully my review of that book will be more positve.P.S. I returned it back to the store.
I have read all of Jodi Picoult's books and I have to say this was my favorite. I am not one to read all night through a book but I literally could not put this down. A lot of her books involve the justice system and I have to say I am a little bored with all the lawyers but this book was so refreshing. Such a different way of life and such an amazing story of love.
My book club read this book as last month's selection. We had little knowledge of Plain Amish, so we learned about their beliefs as we pursued the mystery. We had various choices as our favorite (or least liked) characters, but we all enjoyed the book.
Still, the upsides outweighed these downsides. But, in this case, all the "surprise" revelations and twists about the case are discovered and told to you prior to the trial.
But in this one, if you think too much about some of the action and the ending after you're through, despite the explanations, it doesn't quite add up with how the characters have been portrayed. While the character development, plot and Picoult's usual writing flair - along with her ability to find a unique, interesting "slice of humanity" twist (in this case the world of an Amish girl accused of a crime)- made this an enjoyable, above- average read, there were a couple of things that made this one not quite up to her previous My Sister's Keeper: A Novel and Nineteen Minutes works, for me.- The dots don't quite connect as well as some of her other works.As always with her books, there's a few little surprise twists and an ending based upon characters keeping secrets until the end.
Much of the book is spent in working through a trial that grows a bit repetitive and tedious.I love trial driven books. I'd give an example, but can't do so without a spoiler.
So, will just say the ending is particularly bothersome in this way.- Then there are the parts where the dots are connected too well. So, the court scenes mostly become a re-hash of things you've previously learned.
And, it was an overall engaging, interesting read that mostly kept me turning the pages.Bottom Line: Though it's not her absolute best, ff you generally enjoy Picoult, you're probably going to enjoy this one too.
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