Book Review: 'The Pact' by Jodi Picoult

I am feeling super antsy today, so this is either going to be a super long post, or a very short one. My only explanation is that I've been watching the Food Network all day, and all of the food looks really good to me right now. Considering I have no way of making Sunny's sunny muffins or Giada's granita, I had to settle for frozen chicken nuggets and a Fiber One bar. May explain my antsy-ness.

Okay, yet again, this book was sent to me by my mother with a blue Post-it Note slapped on the front that read, "Hope this keeps you busy for an hour or two. Love, MOM." She clearly overestimates my speed reading abilities; this one took me a solid three days to get through. That's one good thing I can say about Jodi Picoult; she writes a good, easily digest-able book that keeps your attention.

As it explains in the Reader's Guide at the end of the book, 'The Pact' is kind of an anti-'Romeo & Juliet' story; two families that are too close, too friendly, and too familiar with each other. Instead of the Montagues and Capulets, we meet the Hartes and the Golds. The families share a large plot of land in the rolling hills of New Hampshire. Gus (Augusta) Harte gave birth to Chris just five months before Melanie Gold gave birth to her daughter, Emily. Chris and Emily grow up as best friends, but as soon as adolescence hits, things shift. They find themselves involved in what everyone thinks is the most romantic of all relationships. Both sets of parents even toasted with champagne when James Harte accidentally stumbled upon the 14-year old couple making out on New Year's Eve. Everyone assumes college and a wedding is next, completing the love story.

Not so fast...as readers, we are introduced to Chris and Emily at the age of 17. Something in their love story goes horribly wrong, and within the first fifty pages of the novel, Emily is dead and Chris has been arrested. Did he kill his alleged true love? What was the motive? If he didn't kill her, does that mean quiet, thoughtful, artsy Emily was suicidal? Did the two really have a 'pact' to kill each other? What does this mean for the two families that have been each others' rocks - and BFFs - for the last eighteen years?

What follows was both hard to read and unsettling. Even though I knew Emily was dead, even by the time I hit the last page, I was still kind of hoping maybe she wasn't. (reader denial?) Picoult does such a nice job developing the characters, particularly Chris, that you can't help but root for everyone. It's hard to figure out who the protagonist is and who is the antagonist.  Always the mark of a good plot.

My only gripe is her unnecessary use of DA S. Barrett and defense attorney Jordan McAfee, womanizer extraordinaire. Although I haven't read many Picoult novels, she did the same thing in 'My Sister's Keeper;' she brings in these almost characture-like legal figures and then gives them a small backstory and storyline.  I'm not sure what she has against lawyers (maybe her husband is one? Perhaps he tried to schedule the birth of their first child and she's still irritated about it?), but she puffs them up to sound like annoying, one-dimensional figures that talk too much. It takes away from the heart of the novel.

And the heart of the novel is Chris and Emily's relationship. This novel may be too much for younger readers - there are many sexual situations.  But then again, who am I to suggest this? We do live in the era of Bristol Palin, Jamie Lynn Spears, and MTV's "Sixteen and Pregnant." I'm a big fan of knowledge = power, so maybe it's best for teen readers to get a hearty idea of the consequences of sexual activity at an early age. I dont' remember my own adolescence to be nearly this sexual...I just remember a lot of band practices. Kudos to my parents for appropriately distracting me.

I am also glad I didn't grow up reading books like this. (I stuck with 'The Baby-Sitters Club' and 'Sweet Valley Twins' until I made the big leap to Stephen King and Dean Koontz.) I think I would have become a hopeless romantic, leading me to unrealistic beliefs about love and marriage. While Picoult tries to keep both feet grounded, there is a little bit of an airy casualness to Chris and Emily's relationship. Just like with the 'Twilight' series, I can't help but wonder what happens when impressionable teen girls read these books.  I never expected my husband to be like Edward Cullen (sigh...) or have intensity of feelings that Chris had for Emily. I just hoped he didn't tie me to the bed and break my legs, ala 'Misery' or die from the super flu, ala 'The Stand.' Obviously, I'm being factious, but life doesn't read like a Lifetime movie.

Sorry. I think I just am not very romantic, and love stories are just not my thing. I did really enjoy 'The Pact,' even if I groaned and rolled my eyes at a few parts. I just worry about the generation growing up now. It's not all Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers, kids.

::stepping off soapbox::

I'm not sure how I got off on such a random tangent. The Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) is making homemade mashed potatoes right now and I'm clearly distracted. Overall, 'The Pact' is a solid read, just a little on the sweet side. Great reading for hot summer days.

Grade:  B