Handle with Care

by Jodi Picoult

Book Overview

When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated--she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, "Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance" (Stephen King).Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743296427
• ISBN13: 9780743296427
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Spectatcular book even with a few down sides!

"Handle with Care" was in general a good book but in some areas it seemed to be lacking the thought that Picoult gives to many of her other books. The main character Willow O'Keefe is a bright, sweet, and likeable five year old who suffers from a rare condition called Ontogenesis Imperfecta that causes her bones to be extremely brittle. The story follows the O'Keefe family as they struggle to deal with having a special needs child and the quickly growing medical bills. When it seems as if the family can no longer keep up with the costs on Sean O'Keefe's small policeman salary, Willow's mother Charlotte finds a risky solution. Charlotte decides she should sue for wrongful birth; the main problem with this is that by filing the law suit she is saying she wished she could have terminated the pregnancy and never had Willow. To make matters worse, her obstetrician was her best friend Piper. The story follows along these lines becoming a suspenseful legal and medical thriller with an undertone of conflicting family values. What justifies the statement that a child should never have been born? The story switches points of view between the family members, lawyer, and Piper to give the reader a full view of the story. For the most part these character switches add to the plot but near the end when it seems Charlotte is constantly digging her self a deeper and deeper hole, I ended up wishing it would spend more time in the point of Amelia their thirteen year old daughter as she explains what it is like dealing with the aftermath of her mother's actions. Overall I enjoyed the book even though the ending was an unpleasant surprise and almost seemed like a cop-out. I would recommend "Handle with Care" and though some parts are a little bit outlandish the book as a whole was an excellent look into the life of a family who was handed more than they could manage and their attempts to make life better for their daughter.

Back on Track

I have read all of Jodi Picoult's novels, and this is the first one that I have really loved since "My Sister's Keeper" and "Plain Truth." Books published in between this one and those ("Nineteen Minutes" "The Tenth Circle"), felt incomplete and rushed. In "Handle With Care" Picoult does just that: she handles the individual characters thoroughly, letting the reader see all about them, not just a snapshot. The novel centers on the parents of Willow, a child born with OI (osteogenesis imperfecta) as well as on the children in the family, both Willow and Amelia. There are chapters about the OB-GYN and the lawyers. Everyone has a story. All of the stories converge. The only small part of the book that didn't ring true to me was Amelia's voice. She sounds young, she sounds old. The other narrators worked well. (Oh, I was not that enamoured of the recipes either). I learned a lot, which is one reason I read. I laughed and cried and felt a tug of war in who was right. The conflicts are huge and the stakes are high. This is a quick yet thoughtful read. Enjoy it through your tears.

Jodi Picoult has come up with another family drama that will leave her readers reeling

"People were always saying they'd love any baby that came along, but that wasn't necessarily true. Sometimes, it really did come down to the particular child in question. There had to be a reason why blond-haired, blue-eyed babies got plucked out of adoption agencies like ripe peaches but children of color and children with disabilities might linger in foster homes for years. What people said they would do and what people actually did were two very different things." Charlotte O'Keefe desperately wanted a child with her husband, Sean. She already had a daughter, Amelia, but she believed a child with Sean would complete their family. So when she learned she was pregnant, after so many months of trying so hard, Charlotte was ecstatic. Her best friend Piper would be the obstetrician, and young Amelia would have a sister to play with. How much happier could their family be? Riding high on her good fortune, Charlotte passed the weeks in excited anticipation. That is, until she and Piper decided to do a spur-of-the-moment ultrasound one day. Charlotte could tell from her friend's expression that something was wrong. Very wrong. The test showed that the O'Keefes' baby had a rare disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, or what is known as brittle bone syndrome. In brief, if the baby lived through childbirth, she would face a lifetime of broken bones. Just the birthing might cause several painful fractures. Activity would be limited, sports almost taboo, and even turning abruptly might be the cause of another break. Still, this baby girl was theirs. They named her Willow and devoted themselves to keeping her as comfortable as possible, treating her as normal as possible, and helping her stay as safe as possible. Charlotte quit her career as a talented pastry chef, and Sean put in for extra duty at the police station. Willow's sister learned to watch out for her and put her own desires second. But the stress of raising a child with so much of a handicap, not to mention the financial strain, finally proved too much. When an attorney planted the seed of hope in Charlotte's mind, she discovered that she could not let it go. Once she had seen the possibility of obtaining the means to support Willow by bringing a lawsuit for malpractice, Charlotte envisioned her daughter having options that otherwise would be prohibitive in cost. But winning would come at a high price. The doctor she had to sue was her best friend Piper. Plus, the legal cause was called wrongful birth. Just the label made people think that Charlotte wished her child had never been born. Could that possibly be true? Sean starts to doubt his wife's truthfulness, begins seeing her as a money-grabbing opportunist, and wonders who this woman he loved is. If the O'Keefes thought the stress of raising a child with osteogenesis imperfecta was tough, they hadn't seen anything like the stress of suing for wrongful birth of that child. How can you say, on the one hand, that the child should not have

another hit for Jodi!

Every March I look forward to reading the "new" Jodi book because her new books always seem to come out the same time as our school's spring break so I have time for a great read and as so many times in the past - Jodi Picoult did it again. I read the book word for word in almost one sitting ( thank goodness for take-out but my family understands). What I loved about this book is that I felt like I was in this novel - the characters are so well developed that you feel that you truly know them and the issues presented in this book are not black and white and so as with the characters and issues in the book - I too would alternate in loving them and agreeing or hating them and disagreeing. I was expecting the typical Jodi ending but didn't see this one coming and yet in some ways felt it was the only ending that would be correct - because in some ways wasn't the whole point of this story that there really isn't a clear cut right or wrong approach to so many ethical issues?. Without going into plot details - I would encourage anyone looking for a great read to buy this book, sit back and enjoy.

Handled with care and knew she was loved...

but all the care in the world cannot save the people we love necessarily. I had this book delivered to my kindle the day it was released and read it straight through. I'll tell you right up front I am a Jodi Picoult fan. Easy, entertaining reads- great for bathtubs and airports and right before bed. Some of her books have been less entertaining than others but I always find I enjoy the way she paints such a realistic portrait of her characters. I really do feel for them. This story, as you'll read in other reviews and the synopsis, is about a family dealing with their youngest daughter's affliction with osteogenesis imperfecta which causes brittle and easily broken bones. Willow, so named by her mother who wanted to give her a legacy of something that would bend and not break despite her husband's protestation that willows weep- here Picoult gives such a combination of foreshadowing because Willow turns out to be an amazing, strong little character with such a love and longing for all the amazing things in the world. The story goes far beyond a girl or her family coping with a debilitating disease. Not unlike in "My Sister's Keeper", Picoult shines light on the relationship of two siblings... one 'normal' and the other 'broken' and the center of attention, 'handled with care'. The braid that exists between sisters of jealousy and love and connection. She also hits home with poignant moments that so many of us can relate to, for example when Amelia(the elder daughter) says, " "Yes," I said, the lie coming easily, reminding me that, even as much as I hated her right now, I was my mother's daughter." Like many of Picoult's books, this one is written from multiple points of view and the chapters are titled with the name of whose story is being told and the date which provides a nice sense of continuity and timing. This book, without giving away the specific plot details, is all about the lies we find ourselves telling, the people we find ourselves changing into in order to protect those we love, what and who we are willing to sacrafice and the pain and necessity of it all... but also to protect our belief... that we have done all we can do, that we have been the best we can for those that we love and in the end, really cannot help or save. And that is more about saving ourselves than anyone else. An easy read, very touching and gripping. Reading Picoult's writing is a little like listening to someone play the piano with the modulations in tone, slower, faster, rising, falling and finally coming together in the end. "Handle with Care" ends with a wonderful and terrible irony, a lesson for everyone who reads this tale I think. Definately worth the read but be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions if you allow yourself to go there. I did, and it was well worth the ride.