5/29 - A Book I Read

Previous posts:
Planning on Catching Up
Visiting My Old Teacher
Playing with Glue


(DISCLAIMER'S NOTE: This blog was actually written months ago as dated, as opposed to being written recently of past events)
So my brother's girlfriend had asked me a few weeks ago about what my thoughts were on Jodi Picoult. All I could tell her was that I didn't like the two books I read from her. But it had been so long since I'd read them, that I forgot why... mainly at least. I was basically incredibly frustrated with everyone in the books, but that's all I could remember.

She told me she wanted to read two of her books, The Pact, and her newest one, House Rules. Now, The Pact happens to be one of the two books I have read, but I hadn't heard anything about House Rules. Nubia informed me that it's about a kid who has Asperger's and gets accused of murder. This immediately strikes my interest, not because of the murder - the two Picoult books I've read involved "murder" - but rather because of the Asperger's. One of my closest online friends confided in me a couple years ago that they had Asperger's. And while I was incredibly curious and looked up what I could on the topic, I was still confused on what it was.

So I signed myself up on the queue for these two books at the library, and waited. I got The Pact two weeks before House Rules, but Nubia is still not done with The Pact, so I kept House Rules to read first. I thought I'd write down my thoughts before I went and forgot those thoughts again.

The only thing about it that I liked, was how informative it was about Asperger's. She even writes part of the book in the eyes of the one with Asperger's, and I am able to identify common traits that my online friend has. It's helped me understand some of the problems they often went/go through. And then when the trial section of the book came along, witnesses explained Asperger's in detail. It was incredibly helpful.

That, though, was all I liked. And I don't blame it on the author. I place the blame on myself. Again, I am frustrated with nearly- no- every main character in the book. I wanted to say nearly, because I often tried to see the main kid the way he should be seen, and yet, at times I was still yelling at him to get a clue, even though I knew he couldn't, and even while a page later I'm yelling at someone else for not understanding him. So yeah, angry at everyone here. And why? Because I'm the kind of person who needs to be able to root for someone in a story. I need to be able to like someone in the story. If there's no one to like, I get even more frustrated. And that's a problem I have with these books.

They're good. For some people more than others I imagine, else she might not still be writing all these books and I wouldn't have been in a queue for her newest book and one she wrote over a decade ago. Now, mind you, I've just finished House rules not fifteen minutes ago, and I sat and forced myself to explain why I didn't like the book. And I've realized it - my main problem with them is that they're too real. They force me in to a situation that could happen in real life, and she shows me the true characters portrayed, in all their rawness. There's no cookie cutter happy ending, no knight in shining armor, no person who always says the right things, no perfect make-ups or break-ups, no faked sense of happiness. It's a real book. And I don't like it. It's too real for my tastes. When I read a book, it's another way for me to escape the real world, the harsh truths and realities. So why would I escape the real world to read such a book? I'm sorry if saying all this demeans myself to anyone. I'm even sad to admit this truth about myself, but it is true, and I told myself after the moments of reflection after the book that I would write my thoughts down somewhere where I could go back and read it again. So I wouldn't forget why.

It does frustrate me though. The fact that I can pick up romance novels and young adult fiction novels and love them to death, but I'll turn to an adult fiction book and hate it because it's set in too harsh a reality. It's like.... I always try to be an open person. I try and look at both sides of a story. I hate judging a book by it's cover... but that's exactly what I'm doing. Literally. I see a book by Jodi Picoult, and automatically assume I won't like it. I'll see an adult fiction book that's not sub-categorized in to romance or horror or fantasy or the like, and I'll automatically assume I won't like it. It saddens me. But I can't help it.

That being said, this same judgment does not hold true for non-fiction. I'd just like to throw that out there. If this Jodi Piccoult book was actually in the non-fiction section, and listed facts a little less "fiction-like," I might actually enjoy this book. It is a fascinating story. And non-fiction is the real world, so the harsh raw characters and the real truths within such a book is accepted - because it's real. But damn it, this book isn't real. And I can't pretend it is.