****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Goodreads Description- One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds.There are so many things I wish I could say about this book. I was at a loss of words when I finished it, and I still am speechless. But I want to write this review while the emotions it evoked are still at their strongest.Picoult's characters are splendid - by the middle of the book I was immersed in Zoe's yearning for children and Max's difficulty with alcohol abuse, and I felt like they were real, breathing people. Vanessa's no-nonsense attitude I admired, and side characters like Dara and Lucy I came to love as well.The writing was superb as always. The way she engages readers with detail and finesse is extraordinary. It is quite obvious she spent a great deal of time researching not only fertility treatments but IVF in particular. I am also amazed at the legal details she presents concerning GLBT rights as well as Evangelical Christian beliefs. She sites legal cases on both sides of the fence and I am sure Picoult has received positive and negative feedback from both sides of the aisle. Which leads me to the element that really made me appreciate this novel- Picoult's take on gay marriage, and homosexual inequality in contemporary society. I cannot adequately state how inspiring this book was to me in that regard. At first she seems to just present the facts and beliefs from both the Christian right and the GLBT community. It then becomes clear where the author stands when it comes to civil rights for ALL people. I applaud her courage for writing such a controversial book that strongly supports gay rights. What an inspiring read for any person who is having difficulty with coming to terms with their own sexuality.I normally do not leave quotes from books, but as a liberal Catholic, these words really stood out for me. It is so powerful and eloquent but so simple to understand that I had to include it in my review. "I remember my mother telling me that, when she was a little girl in Catholic school, the nuns used to hit her left hand every time she wrote with it. Nowadays, if a teacher did that, she'd probably be arrested for child abuse. The optimist in me wants to believe sexuality will eventually become like handwriting: there's no right way or wrong way to do it. We're all just wired differently.It's also worth nothing that, when you meet someone, you never bother to ask if he's right- or left- handed.After all: Does it really matter to anyone other than the person holding the pen?"My own hopes for the future are that it never matters who is holding the pen. 5 stars!!
