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Whistle Stopper - Plain Truth
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $8.00
Your Save: $ 7.00 ( 47% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781416547815
ISBN: 1416547819
Label: Washington Square Press
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: 2007-08-07
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Studio: Washington Square Press
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Plain Truth
Comment: LOVE Jodi's books. This one is a great story about an amish family. Characters are enticing and story line is gripping....as always, you have to read to the last page to find the ending....read this!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A very interesting insight into the Amish world
Comment: As reflected by most reviewers and readers, I suppose that when you are a prolific and successful writer, the numerous books published do not always meet expectations. Personally, this is my fourth book by Jodie Picoult I am pleased to report that I have liked it as much as I did the first one I read by her, `My Sister's Keeper'. (The other two, `The Tenth Circle' and `Perfect Match' were not up to standard in my opinion).
Pennsylvania, present day. The tiny body of a newborn baby boy is found in an Amish barn. Evidence of a recent delivery is discovered and it all points to Katie Fisher, the 18 year-old daughter of an Amish farmer, but she denies both a pregnancy and any knowledge of the baby. It is soon clear that the baby died of unnatural causes. Katie is accused of murder. This rocks the notoriously peaceful and non-violent boat of the local Amish community.
Ellie, a distant relative and a successful defence attorney, agrees to represent Katie in court but to do so, she has to live at the farm, with Katie and her family, until the legal case is set into motion. Being an `Englisher' all the way through, Ellie finds herself in a very atypical environment and starts discovering the Amish way of life, while trying to extrapolate the truth and an explanation from Katie, who denies every charge, and while confronting a few personal issues herself.
Eventually, a suspenseful courtroom drama ensues.
Well researched, fluent narrative, an interesting setting -the Amish culture, of which I knew very little about, clashing with the Western world- and an engaging plot, definitely intriguing. The only reservations I have with this book are, in this order, its length as the essence would not have been spoiled or lost had it been shortened by at least 80 or so pages -it does get repetitive at times- and secondly, its epilogue, a bit predictable I thought. But only a bit. A part from that, a well crafted, entertaining and emotional story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Judgment without mercy will produce evil
Comment: An excellent story in an Amish setting. It's annoying when writers insert details about the Amish that don't ring true for those of us who know the Amish and how they live. This novel was devoid of those errors. It truly depicts the way the Amish think, live, and interact. Jodi Picoult did an excellent job researching and describing to readers the Amish and their way of life.
At first, I thought she had made one mistake: that of the Amish attitude toward life and death. (To them the killing of animals has no negative connection with the value of human life. Instead, it is a job to be done to help nurture human life.) I had been under the impression that all Amish valued human life very highly. As the daughter of a man who used to be Amish, I frequently heard that we were not to eat the blood and were to throw it out, because "the life is in the blood." After reading this novel and discussing it with others, I found that some Amish girls who get pregnant out of wedlock, secretly get abortions--something that would otherwise be unheard of among the Amish--because of the shame of being punished, ostracized, excommunicated and shunned for their sin.
Ms Picoult, then, has done us all a service to show us that evil (to the Amish abortion is murder) can exist or even be brought forth in a group that is so focused on legislating morality. It is a reminder to all of us that judgment--or even too harsh a penalty--without mercy is likely to produce evil.
Well done Jodi Picoult!
Waneta Dawn is the author of "Behind the Hedge, a novel" a story of a Mennonite family living in an Amish/Mennonite community. Visit www.wanetadawn.com to read chapter one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Plain Truth
Comment: This is the first book I read of Jodi's. I loved it it was a page turner from the start. I liked the reserch she did with the amish religion and community. she really makes you think and her books are real life reading. I can't wait to read another.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting and Enjoyable Despite Some Literary Faux Pas
Comment: The story had some really original components, including an accurate but simple depiction of Amish life. Piccoult didn't spend more time than she had to with novelty details, or romanticizing the Amish. She gave us a balanced glimpse of both the pros and cons of the Plain Lifestyle, and how different Amish individuals interpret and respond to their unified beliefs and what's expected of them. This was really the most important point for me, since I was reading the novel as part of my research for a nonfiction article on the Amish. I believed, correctly, that I would find subtle characteristics in a novel that might be absent from text books, or even short stories by the Amish themselves. Things only an "Englisher" would notice. (And, as it turns out, Piccoult did spend a week on an Amish farm, which I had guessed from the writing, so that's a definite boon).
The storyline kept me guessing as well. Despite being reasonably good at guessing endings, I floundered a few times during the book in terms of what I thought had happened and what would become of the main characters.
The title "The Plain Truth" sounds like a superficial play on words about courtroom truth, but is actually a complex, fitting title, because much of the book is, in fact, about what the Amish hold to be true, vs. what the general U.S. population thinks "truth" is. Those distinct differences create a lot of tension, confusion and mystery, inside the courtroom, and out.
The ending I only enjoyed because it took me by surprise. I don't think it was the right one, if I take it literally, as most readers have. I chose to interpret this revelation with Amish ethics in mind, assuming that it was not the drastic situation it's made out to be, but more of an acceptance and aid to what was already transpiring. (I'd like to be more clear on that, but don't want to toss out any spoilers here!)
While a lot of this novel is subtle and original, there are some cliches that could have been played down a little, and not announced so blatantly, as if by a narrator who thinks the audience is a tad slow. Ellie's relationship fears, for instance. That courtroom scene where they are really talking to each other personally, and not about the case, or the scene where Coop explains how some people leave before they can be left. These were short snipets compared to the whole book, but the manuscript could have been all the better if those issues had been presented through actions and dialogue that wasn't so glaring.
The final of my few complaints is a big one. I may be a lot more sensitive to this than other readers are. It's kind of a pet peeve of mine. But... how many times in the same book can the entire cast of characters narrow their eyes and snort? It literally seemed that every few pages, "he narrowed his eyes," or "Katie narrowed her eyes," or "The judge narrowed her eyes slightly," or "she narrowed her eyes." It was so prevalent that I pictured all these bad actors in a film version of Plain Truth, all working very hard to narrow their eyes. There are so many different ways a face can look when its owner is wondering whether or not something sounds odd or suspicious. And such a variety of ways to describe that facial expression. The same goes for "snorting." Most every time in the book that anyone laughs, they "snort." The shy Amish girl snorts. The savvy tough-as-nail lawyer snorts, the prosecutor snorts, the good Amish wife snorts, the hopeless romantic psychologist snorts. All this snorting isn't terribly appealing and seems inconsistent with most of their personalities. Sure, once in a while, we all laugh a little too loudly and end up sounding like a hungry hog, but would this not distract you terribly if, in a two-hour movie, someone snorted every five minutes? I wish they could just simply "laugh." If the words used excessively were simpler, more common words, I wouldn't have noticed their high frequency as much, if at all. Sometimes a writer has written and rewritten and read and reread her own material so often, that the pages all blend together. That's why there are editors. These really minor fixes are things that an editor should have caught. Doing so would have made a good book great.
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Editorial Reviews:
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From the bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper comes the riveting story of a murder that shatters the picturesque calm of Amish country -- and tests the heart and soul of the lawyer defending the woman at the center of the storm. The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide -- and for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own. Delving deep inside the world of those who live "plain," Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms. And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within -- to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past reenters her life.
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