LONE WOLF: JODI PICOULT DOES IT AGAIN! A REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED

LONE WOLF

BY JODI PICOULT 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Edward Warren, 23, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose in a NH hospital, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara.

Cara, 17, still holds a grudge against her brother, since his departure led to her parents’ divorce. In the aftermath, she’s lived with her father – an animal conservationist who became famous after living with a wild wolf pack in the Canadian wild. It is impossible for her to reconcile the still, broken man in the hospital bed with her vibrant, dynamic father.

With Luke’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?

LONE WOLF looks at the intersection between medical science and moral choices. If we can keep people who have no hope for recovery alive artificially, should they also be allowed to die artificially? Does the potential to save someone else’s life with a donated organ balance the act of hastening another’s death? And finally, when a father’s life hangs in the balance, which sibling should get to decide his fate?

PRAISE FOR LONE WOLF:

Picoult’s well-developed characters, compelling story and authentic prose create a novel that many will undoubtedly call her best yet — which it just may be.”— Newark Star Ledger

 

“Picoult returns with two provocative questions: can a human join a wolf pack, and who has the right to make end-of-life decisions? ... Picoult as usual probes intriguing matters of the heart while introducing her fans to subjects they might not otherwise explore. You can always count on Picoult for a terrific page-turner about a compelling subject.”— Publishers Weekly

“Jodi Picoult is a master of building a compelling story around a controversial issue… Fans won't be disappointed.”—Vancouver Sun

“ Picoult runs with the wolves in her compelling latest, a blend of interspecies friendship and searing family crisis… The story also incorporates fascinating research about wolf packs as model domestic units. Does the family that howls together stay together? This page-turner will keep you wondering.”— PEOPLE magazine 3.5/4 stars 

“Picoult’s impressive research into wolf biology, hierarchy and pack mentality ultimately forms a plausible and highly informative story. …. Picoult portrays the human world and its petty paperwork as significantly less dignified (then wolves). This is a heartbreaking story told in engaging prose.”— IMAGE Magazine

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

JODI PICOULT is the author of eighteen novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers House Rules, Handle With Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister’s Keeper. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at www.jodipicoult.com and also read more on her "bio" at her website HERE.  

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW: 

Most of Jodi Picoult’s novels center around an important social issue and her latest best seller, LONE WOLF, is no exception. Having written about everything from teenage suicide to gay rights, I think HOUSE RULES about Asperger’s Syndrome was my favorite so far. Now in LONE WOLF, Picoult tackles the issue of whether or not to keep a loved one alive on life support. She delves into who has the right to make this final decision and weaves her story around Luke Warren, a man who has been accepted by a pack of wolves through his extensive studies and work. Luke, whose chapters are told through the well researched information on wolves, has been in an accident and has a traumatic brain injury and is only alive due to his life support.

LONE WOLF is told through Jodi Picoult’s trademark characters that are easy to relate to while still being flawed.  Changing chapters according to each character’s point of view moves the story along while it brings the reader into each of their emotionally charged lives. Cara is Luke’s 17-year-old daughter who has lived with him ever since her mother, Georgie, remarried and started a new family with Joe Ng. Joe is a lawyer who actually winds up as the defense attorney for Cara’s older brother Edward. Edward was in Thailand teaching when he is called home following his father Luke’s accident.

The compelling story is told so well through these characters and I do think the “breaks” when Luke’s chapters tell about the wolf pack are vital to the story. It isn’t until near the end when I gasped out loud that I saw just how important the wolf pack chapters were. As Cara and Luke disagree about what will be done about their father, the story unfolds with so many layers that the reader becomes seriously invested in each of these people. We learn about what really caused Edward to leave home suddenly years ago, which according to Cara was the start of her parents marriage problems ending in divorce. We also learn what Cara’s real part in the accident was that has Luke now in ICU on life support. How the story ends and where it takes the readers is pure Picoult. You won’t be disappointed and will be eager to find others to discuss the twists and turns in the novel. A great book for a book club discussion, Picoult shows how different people’s beliefs are when it comes to the right to die, as well as how tragically they react in such a situation. 

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO DAVID AND THE FINE

PEOPLE AT SIMON AND SCHUSTER

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