Handle with Care: A Novel

I probably would not have picked up this book on my own, but since it was the "required reading" for our local book club this month, I bought the paperback and started in. Around 10 pages into the book, I had to put it down. It was depressing. Very depressing. I later picked up the book again, forcing myself to give it another shot. Nope. I went from sad and depressed to angry and frustrated. Not the emotions I enjoy from a book. Since I could not force myself to pick the book up again, I bought the audio version of the book. Sometimes listening to a book while doing the laundry or driving to the bank allows me to get the story without getting too deeply "involved". I must say that the narrators for the Audible version of this book were outstanding, with different narrators for the different characters in the book.Jodi Picoult is an extremely talented writer, and this book was a #1 New York Times Bestseller, but somehow it missed the mark for me. This is a story about a family's struggle after their newborn baby girl is born with a genetic birth defect known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). This is a condition where the child's bones are brittle, so brittle that they break with the slightest impact from a fall, bumping into a table, or even a hug. Mounting medical bills and the need for special equipment cause financial problems and Charlotte, the mother, ends up filing a "wrongful birth" lawsuit against her obstetrician (who happens to be her best friend) for not discovering this condition and giving Charlotte and her husband Sean the option to abort the fetus. Religious aspects (Charlotte and Sean are catholic) and moral decisions tear this family apart. The ending was predictable.I'm sure there are many who do not agree with my rating of this book. But I need to be honest with my humble opinion.

This book was recommended to me because our son had special needs. Raising a child with exceptional needs can be so costly and often if if the whole family who ends up suffering losses. If your child has cancer they can receive 100% care at St. Judes and never receive a bill however, if your child has exceptional learning delays (unable to walk or talk), seizures, and a feeding tube - the parents are expected to cover the costs for appointments and adaptive equipment - insurance only covers certain things for example - insurance only covers 1 therapy a month. What tennis star only practices once a month and improves? Having a child with exceptional needs causes additional stress in anyone's relationship. Sadly, our son lost his battle just one week shy of turning 3 due to complications of epilepsy.

This was a very hard book for me to read. Very different views on wrongful birth, abortion, adoption. The characters were real enough. What would you do for your child with serious disabilities? Would you sue your best friend for not telling you more about the reality of the life your child would have? The ending bothered me. Why take the money and not cash it! If you were not going to use it, set up a foundation to help other families in this situation. The very ending was so sad. Everything is breakable!

Jodi continues to warm our hearts, move us and teach us about things. This book, brilliantly written, is about the choices we have in life. It's about love of family and about the ease with which friends come and go. It's about learning who we are and accepting ourselves."Handle With Care" is about the birth of a girl with OI (Osteogenesis Imperfecta) and how she lights up the lives of her family yet breaks bones just by rolling over in bed. She breaks bones falling. The list is endless. The point is, the family was not informed at the ultrasound that they were giving birth to a daughter with OI. This book brings you in and shows you how a person with OI lives. It shows you the love and care with which her family treats her and, she in turn, treats them.So, the question is: if you were given a choice, would you end a pregnancy if you knew your baby was going to have OI and be in pain for the rest of her life?Pick up a copy of "Handle With Care" and enter the world of OI.

I love Jody Picoult. Her book, "Small, Great Things" should be a classic. So I couldn't wait to read Handle with Care. But, it was SO long. And over and over and over again the same people said the same thing for 400 pages. Enough already. Her writing style is still exellent and it kept me reading but when I finished this book I was very, very unhappy to say the least. Jodi? How could you do this ending after making us suffer during the trial? PS Readers I actually wrote to the author and she wrote back and explained her ending. Wow, what a kind thing for her to do.

Heartbreaking story about a family blessed with a new baby and also struggling to care for that baby who suffered with OI (brittle bone disease). Every day the mother was on alert, waiting for the next bone to break. The worry, the anxiety of emergency rooms, the heartache watching a child in pain, the strain to pay medical bills and provide all the equipment and supplemental assistance needed for this child. Picoult provides the descriptions of the numerous situations the family dealt with; each chapter is narrated by one of the major characters (mother father, sister, and others) as they talk to the child to present “their side” of the situation. The tension is riveting, the lessons are many. Start reading.

The life of Willow is peppered with periods of brokenness. She's a fragile girl with a big heart and many people who love her. The collision of the love her mother has with a desire to protect and provide for her yields a story of love, fear, brokenhearted times, triumphant times, and sacrifice that no one should have to make.In this book, I was taken to a place of wonder, of ethical and moral considerations that were not easy. The author did a phenomenal job of weaving in the various perspectives, allowing each character to have a voice and a position.This is certainly a good read and a great story that won't be easily forgotten.

Jodi Picoult writes very successful 'best-sellers' but reading 'Handle With Care', I couldn't help but think I'd read it all before. The plot - family with sick daughter gets into big ethical courtroom drama - is straight out of 'My Sister's Keeper' and the multi-voiced multi-point of view narrative is straight out of lots of her books.In this case the family have a daughter with a severe bone deformity called Osteogenesis Imperfecta and the legal case revolves around whether the doctor who did her mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan should have known that something was wrong and could have advised the parents early enough for them to choose to abort the foetus. The twist is that the aforementioned doctor is the mother's best friend. The book raises issues around friendship, family, self-harm and pro-life versus pro-choice topics. It does succeed in doing this without being too preachy or without taking 'sides' but the premise just seemed really silly to me. In order to gain financial security for her daughter's future, the mother - Charlotte - wants to sue her best friend for so-called 'wrongful birth'.The story is delivered by at least five characters - mother, father, sister, doctor and lawyer - but there's no distinction between those voices. They all write in the same tone, I found myself repeatedly forgetting who was narrating because there was just no difference between them. And with 5 voices, you get an overly long book with a lot of repetition.Those who love this kind of book will love this. Those who are not so keen may find it all a bit boring. And the ending turns out to be completely unnecessary.

At times I found this book hard to read because when you have a child with a disability, it doesn't mean you love them any less but it can help to make people understand how difficult life can get.My daughter has Autism and MLD and it is difficult to get some people to understand how they see the world and why they end up screaming a lot.This is very well written as it shows that everybody In the family have struggled and you can loose friends because of disability. I know how Charlotte felt and wanted to know that her daughter would be safe and secure when she wasn't around in the future because that'd what you do when you have a child with a disability.

Another great read from one of my favourite authors. I always feel I learn a lot when reading anything by this author. I was nit interested in the recipes and that is why I dropped one star.

I'm not normally a fan of Picoult, but i quite enjoyed this one. Lots of issues raised and dealt with quite well for the most part. I like how none of the characters are perfect, they all have their flaws.The ending was a terrible let-down and unnecessary, although i felt it was obvious what was going to happen from the opening chapters. It could have been done in a different way that 'fitted' better with the story of that was the ending Picoult wanted.

I think every avid reader realises pretty quickly that Jodi Picoult's stories always follow a very similar path. Ethically and morally challenging topics that leave the reader not always clearly knowing who to root for, which make them think about what they wouldd do in certain situations or how they would judge them. Whilst the plot is therefore a little predictable, it's nonetheless always highly interesting, very well researched and realistically presented.This novel plays the legal case out in court for most of it. The back and forth of the 'wrongful birth' issue, the compelling arguments and feelings from either side whilst this family is suffering dramatically all along, keeps the readers on their toes.The only niggle I have about this novel is about the lawyer and her background story which I felt was somewhat unnecessary to incorporate. Otherwise a great worthwhile read.