| Change of Heart (Unabridged) |  | Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  171 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B0015KC9OY
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| Customer Reviews: Read 166 more reviews...
 Too predictable & too unoriginal. August 14, 2008
I couldn't wait for this book to come out & had such high hopes for it. The topic seemed intriguing to me, but ultimately the author seemed to rely too much on her established formula, and did not bother to use any originality in the writing of this text.
I absolutely loved Sister's Keeper, but haven't been too thrilled with Jodi Picoult's other books I've read since then (Nineteen Minutes was just OK but had a rather poor ending, and Keeping Faith was predictable and had poorly developed characters for whom I could not develop any significant feelings). I am sad to say that this was, by far, Ms. Picoult's worst work; so predictable that, by less than a third of the way through it, I started flipping through the remainder of the pages just to confirm my suspicions (and was even more disappointed to discover I was correct in every one). In addition, like others have mentioned, Shay Bourne's character has too many similarities to the main character from The Green Mile (note: I have only seen the movie). I decided not to waste my time even finishing this book, due to its high degree of predictability and low degree of creativity and originality (both in terms of plot and character development).
Overall, Change of Heart is a most disappointing effort by Ms. Picoult, and I recommend saving your dollars for a better read. At this time, I am reading The Pact, which I purchased at the same time as Change of Heart...I do hope it lives up to the precedence set by Sister's Keeper. The outcome of this read will determine if I will purchase any other Picoult books in the future, or if the success of Sister's Keeper was simply a fluke for this author. Perhaps it is time for me to return to my all-time favorite author, Robin Cook, and give Jodi Picoult a chance to regain her zest for writing.
 Intriguing. August 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is another good Jodi Picoult book. I have read most of her novels and enjoy each one for her ability to give us interesting characters and hot-button issues that get us, her readers, to think about things in a new light. This book is no exception.
Shay is a man on death row who is waiting to be executed for the killing of a police officer and his daughter. June, the mother of the child who was killed and now a widow, has another daughter who has serious heart problems. Shay offers to give up his heart once he is executed, however he will need to die by another means and not by lethal injection which is where the lawyer, Maggie, enters into the picture.
One of the interesting concepts in this story is that Shay does not appear to be just another inmate. He seems to be able to perform miracles as in making another inmate's HIV disappear, bringing a bird back to life, etc. Is he truly the Messiah or is this all a scam to try and prolong his life?
This book explores religious themes, relationships between mothers and daughters, the death penalty and what it truly means to have a heart.
 A page turner. August 5, 2008
I enjoyed this book. It brings up the issue of the death penalty with a twist or two. I loved the character of Maggie. She seemed to develop most in the story. I loved the way it all played out. I didn't give it 5 stars because of the VERY obvious elements taken (stolen?) from Stephen Kings Green Mile. I mean common. A convicted child murderer performing miricles and making the ultimate sacrifice, the bird, the practice runs. I also felt the story was a bit predictable. No real surprises at the end but I liked the way it was ended. Over all it was a good story and I enjoyed it.
 Green Mile revisited? August 3, 2008
this takeoff on King's much better version was disappointing and aggravating with unbelievable characters and very predictable plot twists. Her one dimensional understanding of an atty or priest's work day was very annoying. Skip this until the cheaper paperback version or borrow from library.
more of a homage than a copy August 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I read this book I did not get the sense that Picoult was copying Stephen King, but rather taking the issues raised in The Green Mile and giving them a more contemporary twist. At one point she even refers to the book when someone in the prison calls Shay "Green Mile". Just because a story has similiar issues and ideas does not make it a copy. In movies, Clueless is an update of Emma. Practically half of everthing on TV has initials that mean some sort of forensics team. Picoult took some of the issues from what was definitely a supernatural story about redemption (The Green Mile) and explored what would happen if some of them could be explained naturally,( ie the AIDS patient having a few good weeks of remission before he died) Yes, some of her characters and plots can be predictable, but someone somewhere is bound to figure out each twist. For me, the fact that she barely introduced us to the policeman husband foreshadowed that he was not all he was cracked up to be. But her novels always leave you thinking in the end.
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