Handle with Care: A Novel
4 journalers for this copy...
Received this as a Christmas present.
From Chapters:
Things break all the time.
Day breaks, waves break, voices break.
Promises break.
Hearts break.
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, if they''d been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it''s all worth it because Willow is, well, funny as it seems, perfect. She''s smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.
Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte should have known earlier of Willow''s illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life?
Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Handle with Care brings us into the heart of a family bound by an incredible burden, a desperate will to keep their ties from breaking, and, ultimately, a powerful capacity for love. Written with the grace and wisdom she''s become famous for, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult offers us an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.
From Chapters:
Things break all the time.
Day breaks, waves break, voices break.
Promises break.
Hearts break.
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, if they''d been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it''s all worth it because Willow is, well, funny as it seems, perfect. She''s smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.
Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte should have known earlier of Willow''s illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life?
Emotionally riveting and profoundly moving, Handle with Care brings us into the heart of a family bound by an incredible burden, a desperate will to keep their ties from breaking, and, ultimately, a powerful capacity for love. Written with the grace and wisdom she''s become famous for, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult offers us an unforgettable novel about the fragility of life and the lengths we will go to protect it.
The O'Keefe's try to be a normal family with their children Amelia and Willow. Amelia is the older of the children and when her mom Charolette met her step-dad Sean, the two got married and eventually had Willow. Willow is an incredibly smart and whity five year old who has OI, a disease that causes her bones to break with as little as a sneeze. Everyone has to be very careful around her to make sure that she doesn't break another bone.
The family decides to take a carefully-planned trip to Disneyworld since they don't manage to go on vacation much. Willow ends up in the hospital with a break, Amelia in a foster home because they suspect abuse, and the O'Keefe adults in jail. When everything is finally sorted out, Sean wants to sue everyone possible for the embarrassment and inconvenience. His lawyer doesn't think much will come of that, but when he learns that Willow wasn't diagnosed in womb until past the 18th week, he thinks there might be a case there. Unfortunately this means that they will be suing Charlotte's best friend, who was also her ob-gyn.
The family is put under a lot of strain during the lawsuit. Sean doesn't know if he agrees with the lawsuit, Amelia feels invisible, and Willow thinks that her parents wished she wasn't born.
The similarities between this book and My Sister's Keeper are striking. A family with 2 children, one very sick. A lawsuit is involved and there's a similar twist at the end. Despite the fact that I felt like I had read this book before, I still couldn't put it down. If you were not a big fan of My Sister's Keeper, you probably won't enjoy this one either.
The family decides to take a carefully-planned trip to Disneyworld since they don't manage to go on vacation much. Willow ends up in the hospital with a break, Amelia in a foster home because they suspect abuse, and the O'Keefe adults in jail. When everything is finally sorted out, Sean wants to sue everyone possible for the embarrassment and inconvenience. His lawyer doesn't think much will come of that, but when he learns that Willow wasn't diagnosed in womb until past the 18th week, he thinks there might be a case there. Unfortunately this means that they will be suing Charlotte's best friend, who was also her ob-gyn.
The family is put under a lot of strain during the lawsuit. Sean doesn't know if he agrees with the lawsuit, Amelia feels invisible, and Willow thinks that her parents wished she wasn't born.
The similarities between this book and My Sister's Keeper are striking. A family with 2 children, one very sick. A lawsuit is involved and there's a similar twist at the end. Despite the fact that I felt like I had read this book before, I still couldn't put it down. If you were not a big fan of My Sister's Keeper, you probably won't enjoy this one either.
This book is with me now :)
above entry by me and no way to delete it
Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe with their two children, Amelia and Willow, plan a very longed-for vacation to Disneyworld. They have not been on vacation in ages because Willow has OI, a disease of brittle bones. Willow has broken numerous bones in her 5 years and spent countless hours in ERs and in casts.
Willow slips on a napkin and ends up in the ER. Abuse is suspected and Amelia goes to foster care and Charlotte and Sean go to the police station. Once home Sean is so upset he consults a lawyer to find out there is nothing he can do but there is a potential lawsuit of wrongful birth.
When Charlotte was pregnant and had an initial ultrasound the brain showed up as being very clear, a possible harbinger of the disease. Instead a secondary ultrasound found the problem when it was too late to do anything. Charlotte's best friend and OB should have found the problem or at the very least monitored the situation. Charlotte and Sean are very strapped for cash to handle Willow's medical expenses.
Charlotte decides to proceed with the lawsuit. She feels that she is doing this for the best of her child. In the meantime, poor neglected Amelia starts throwing up (bulimia) and cutting.
I absolutely hated Charlotte and felt there was no redeeming qualities about the character. What mother tells her child she loves her and then turns around and says to the court she wishes she aborted her and does this just for the money. Sean is the worst kind of wimp. He doesn't agree with Charlotte and starts divorce proceedings and then turns around and comes back to her. I have not had such a negative feeling about two characters in a long time.
The story is an interesting take on What if? and is very similiar to My Sister's Keeper.
Willow slips on a napkin and ends up in the ER. Abuse is suspected and Amelia goes to foster care and Charlotte and Sean go to the police station. Once home Sean is so upset he consults a lawyer to find out there is nothing he can do but there is a potential lawsuit of wrongful birth.
When Charlotte was pregnant and had an initial ultrasound the brain showed up as being very clear, a possible harbinger of the disease. Instead a secondary ultrasound found the problem when it was too late to do anything. Charlotte's best friend and OB should have found the problem or at the very least monitored the situation. Charlotte and Sean are very strapped for cash to handle Willow's medical expenses.
Charlotte decides to proceed with the lawsuit. She feels that she is doing this for the best of her child. In the meantime, poor neglected Amelia starts throwing up (bulimia) and cutting.
I absolutely hated Charlotte and felt there was no redeeming qualities about the character. What mother tells her child she loves her and then turns around and says to the court she wishes she aborted her and does this just for the money. Sean is the worst kind of wimp. He doesn't agree with Charlotte and starts divorce proceedings and then turns around and comes back to her. I have not had such a negative feeling about two characters in a long time.
The story is an interesting take on What if? and is very similiar to My Sister's Keeper.
Thank you so much for this - I love Jodi Picoult's books.
