SING YOU HOME: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
SING YOU HOME

BY JODI PICOULT

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Every life has a soundtrack. All you have to do is listen.

Music has set the tone for most of Zoe Baxter's life. There's the melody that reminds her of the summer she spent rubbing baby oil on her stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. A dance beat that makes her think of using a fake ID to slip into a nightclub. A dirge that marked the years she spent trying to get pregnant. For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.

In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don't want that to happen.

Sing You Home is about identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. It's about people wanting to do the right thing for the greater good, even as they work to fulfill their own personal desires and dreams. And it's about what happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

JODI PICOULT is the author of seventeen novels, including Handle With Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper, now a major motion picture. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at www.jodipicoult.com.

MY REVIEW:
Jodi Picoult once again takes her many fans on a journey into a family drama based around social issues as well as relationships. Yes, this genre is her specialty and does anyone do it better?  SING YOU HOME centers on Zoe with Max and Vanessa as the other two main players. Several other supporting cast members star in the roles of Zoe’s mother, her ardent attorney, a troubled student named Lucy, and Max’s brother Reid and sister-in-law, Liddy. The themes of homosexuality and religion are major players that the whole story really revolves around.

Zoe and Max start out happily married with her career as a music therapist and Max’s as a surfer/landscaper with the surfing sometimes taking away from his work. Zoe’s life seemed to play out in harmony except that she wanted to be a mother so much and wasn’t able to make that happen. After several miscarriages as well as a heartbreaking stillbirth, no amount of in vitro seems to work and it is the breaking point for this couple. Max no longer wants to try or to even have children, and he goes back to drinking and eventually, he and Zoe split.

Zoe plunges into her music and work and becomes friends with Vanessa, a high school guidance counselor. Soon Zoe realizes how much they not only need and mean to each other, but also how much they love and care for each other as well. Vanessa is gay and the way Picoult handles their relationship is beautifully done. Reading about the legal hoops the two have to jump through just have what any US citizen has naturally is quite maddening to me. On the other hand, Max, having moved in with Reid and Liddy, who are very strong church supporters (also trying unsuccessfully to have children), finds God and joins their Evangelical church.  There he starts to win his battle against alcohol. The preacher becomes his mentor and Max does a total 360!

In SING YOU HOME, readers are asked to think about social issues we deal with daily. What makes a family? Who decides who should marry and have children? Who is entitled to certain rights, and who isn‘t? Is one kind of love better than the rest?  The social issues are played out in the remainder of SING YOU HOME as Vanessa and Zoe want a family and Max doesn’t want them to have one. With Zoe and Max’s embryos still viable, a legal battle ensues and Picoult takes the story to another level.

The book includes a CD soundtrack written by Picoult. It is a clever and creative idea but one that didn’t really work for me. I found it hard to stop and listen to a certain track. Finally, I listened to it all driving along one day and then was able to go back after I finished the book and listen to tracks to see the significance in relation to the story. It just shows another side to the creative mind of this author. However, no matter how you feel about the music, SING YOU HOME itself will challenge what your beliefs are, and with Picoult’s artful way of a twist and a turn, the story will go places you never thought it would. A fabulous book club book as it is one that invites much discussion and discourse. Don’t miss SING YOU HOME by Jodi Picoult!

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO DAVID AND THE AMAZING FOLKS
AT SIMON & SCHUSTER, I HAVE 2 COPIES OF
SING YOU HOME TO GIVE AWAY

 

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE AND SIMPLY TELL ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND WHY YOU WOULD LIKE A CHANCE TO WIN SING YOU HOME

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK THAT I CAN FOLLOW 

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING WHEN VISITING JODI PICOULT'S  WEBSITE HERE.

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING IN THE "AUTHOR REVEALED" SECTION AND QUESTIONS WITH JODI PICOULT AT THE SIMON & SCHUSTER WEBSITE HERE

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, MARCH 29!

 GOOD LUCK!