Twilight...

Hello, it is me again. I am seeing that if I don't just do all of these blogs at the same time, I procrastinate and we are well into our third book past the one I need to write about. In any case, here we go...

I really enjoyed this book. My sister handed me this book and said that I shouldn't read the back cover until after because it would give away the story. Well, I was glad that I didn't read it. I found the discovery to be delightful and interesting. I related to "Bella" from the first. I moved from the place I lived my whole life and went to an "alien planet" when I started high school. A person really feels out of place and awkward especially at that age. Because of that, you can really be drawn to those that are more on the outskirts of already existing cliques. I think that is one of the reasons why she felt so drawn to Edward but so hurt when he was all freaky in their science class and then didn't show back up for a week. Edward and his "family" were not part of the main stream popular people and Bella wasn't even fitting in with them...devastating!

I really liked the vampire background. The idea that there were "good" vampires and some that wanted to be good but were having a hard time was really fun. Of course there are the religious themes that can be read in...(correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Stephanie Meyer go to BYU?) but I wasn't lost in them. I was a good take on a "bad" person or people really trying to make a go of it to be "good!

I like Edward's character. I think he is valiant and honorable especially in regards to Bella...let alone for the last hundred years. He wants to do the right thing, but really what is to say the right thing is to do? Bella really likes him, and he likes her. Unfortunately, there is about 100 or so years that divide them and so what does one do in that situation? I will be interested to find out what Bella chooses and what Edward allows... Only the next volumes will tell! I suppose I will have to sneak Katie's copy to find out, but really, isn't that what she expects me to do?

Have a great day!

Michelle

Second Glance

Hello, ladies... late, but posting.

I have to say that I was disappointed in this book. And although I thought the writing was spectacular, I got lost in the all the details and all the people. I had trouble really getting into the book and it wasn't until about the last quarter of the book was I really drawn into the story. I was sad about this because I so got into her other book that we read in book club...My Sister's Keeper.

I struggle with the eugenics studies. Not that I think that there is some superior race and that all others need to be esentially done away with, by any means, but on the idea of not being able to have children and needing to go with fertilility treatments or invetro fertilization. Would I want to know if there were any physical defects in the embryo before it is emplanted? What would I do? I have never been faced with that situation, but I found those questions to be the ones that resonated most with me. Crazy, I know.

I realize that Jodi Picoult has more books out than I thought. I will be interested to read more of her stuff. Perhaps this one was just a fluke for me or I wasn't in the right mind frame to read it...that is highly possible. In any case...thanks for the choice!

Michelle

Second Glance - Gina's late take

Okay, I thought this would be a quick read like any other book I've read. It ended up being the longest I've ever taken to read a book. Maybe it was the slow first half, maybe it was the fact that I was thinking too hard on each sub-chapter of the book which slowed my reading. I have to admit, though, that this author is very good at giving you just enough information to keep you questioning your own conclusions as you go. I didn't like her "poetic" metaphors especially in the first chapter. "Slow as a Ballerina" when referring to the railroad track arms coming down, made me laugh. A bit corny but as the book went on it happened less.

I liked Karen's review of the book. She really summarized it well on how all the characters lives intertwined. I think this is the first book I've read that was this complex with connecting all the characters. It is very evident that Jodi did her homework on eugenics, genetics, toxemia, XP and CSI details. I loved how credible the whole story was, but Danielle made a good point that the ending came together a little TOO perfectly.

I wasn't extremely bugged by Az's death because the guy was indeed 102. The murder mystery was solved and all was set right... he didn't need to hang around any longer. I felt he recognized he and Meredeth lived in two different worlds and wouldn't necessarily keep in touch like she intended to. I personally think it would have been a strained relationship.

Every book I read I like to walk away with a quote from it that will continue to inspire me. Here is the excerpt that really got me to the core:

"Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back."
~Ross Wakeman

Second Glance

Ladies,

I've read the reviews already posted and have to admit, I was more "hooked" on this book than some reviewers were. I started it on Saturday, March 3, knowing that finishing by the 5th would be difficult, but I found that I could hardly put it down. I finished by the 7th, even though I should have been working on school stuff. Sorry I didn't find the time to post until today :(

Anyway, if "love across time" is the professed theme of the book, I found myself really intrigued by what I think is the real theme of the book: who gets to make the choice about living and dying and on what basis should the choice be made? (This, you may remember, was also part of our earlier Jodi Picoult selection, My Sister's Keeper. I wonder if this is something that is in more of Picoult's books.) As the technology that allows us to "play god" increases, when do (or should) we have the right to use it?

Ross tries to kill himself to join Aimee who died by accident. Lia tries to kill herself, while her husband is busy preventing the "unfit" from ever living at all. She succeeds in dying to be with her infant who doesn't die, but lives. Ethan has a "defect" that is going to end his life and he wants nothing more than to live a "normal" life. Shelby chose not to have an abortion and as a result, gave Ethan the chance for life, even if it will only be a short life with great challenges. Meredith was saved from death by Ross. Meredith almost aborted Lucy but chose not to and it was in trying to save Lucy that Ross dies. (Katie, I'm like you . . . I about threw the book across the room when I thought Ross was going to be dead--permanently.) And then there's Gray Wolf who weaves in and out of all of their lives as one identity "dies" and another takes its place.

Speaking of Gray Wolf . . . his suicide is the part of the book that I hate! I suppose it wrapped things up nicely for him to join Lily (his love), Lia (his daughter) and Lily (his granddaughter)in the afterlife, but he had a great-granddaughter (Meredith) and a great-great-grandaughter (Lucy) who had a right to know him, even if briefly. Destroying the eugenics records (such arrogance!) and the pain they represented was very symbolic, but Gray Wolf didn't need to drown himself to do it. (At one point, I thought he was going to burn the records and I was afraid he might accidently set off the dynamite. But, I could have handled his accidental death much better than having him choose to throw away his life!)

I did enjoy the message that came from the interconnectedness of the lives of the characters. What each of us does has an impact on others, even if we don't see it at the time. This book was a great choice! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

--Karen

One more thing, I wish she hadn't pandered to the publishing industry by including the "f" word and the sexual references. It didn't enhance the book or make it more "real." Someday . . .

Second Glance - Karen Buxton

Second Glance was a good read, but not so much for me to be a page
turner. Although, I did find myself going about my daily duties trying
to puzzle out the mystery, so evidently, it did hold my interest. I
agree with Katie that J.P. gave us just enough info to be able to
figure certain things out, but still had some surprises. The thought
that Merideth was the other person involved in the wreck didn't occur
to me until she was on the verge of revealing it. It took me a while
also, to figure out that Az Thompson and Grey Wolf were one and the
same. I appreciated the research of the history that was presented. I
wasn't aware of how widespread the belief in eugenics was. Had things
turned out differently, my family line would have been done away with.
I believe that our generation has be raised to be more openminded and
accepting. I guess that the Hippy movement wasn't such a bad thing.
Thanks for a thought provoking and interesting selection. I'm looking
forward to the next one.

Second Glance

I will say that I liked this book better than the last Jodi Piccoult book we read. I mentioned to Amanda that Jodi's (yup, we're on a first name basis) books seem to always wrap up nicely at the end - everything fits - sometimes I like that, sometimes I don't. This time, I liked it. SPOILER ALERT - When Ross died at the end, I about threw the book across the newsroom in NYC.

The book was written in such a way that, I think, the author lets you "figure out" some information, but not so much that you'll stop reading. For example, I knew that Lia was a ghost from the first time Ross met her. However, what I didn't figure out is that she was Cecilia Pike. But hey, maybe I'm just not too bright.

The eugenics aspect really upset me. Mr. Pike and Lia's father drove me up the wall. There is NOTHING in this world that angers me more than close-minded, prejudiced people. I had never heard anything about eugenics (except, of course, Darwin's survival-of-the-fittest theory). So, I did some research. In the 1930's, such respected people as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford, and Theodore Roosevelt embraced this theory. Hitler was the downfall of eugenics in the late 30's. However, it is a theory still pursued today. I googled eugenics and found too many websites, but one (www.eugenics.net) with papers written as recently as 2005.

Looking forward to hearing others' opinions - plus hearing posts on Twilight.