Kat with a K

Picoult-a-Thon: Part Three (153-228)

Yeah, notice how I changed that to "part three" instead of "day three"? The schedule is basically out the window at this point: Rachel is done and I'm behind, which is kind of funny seeing as she's the one with homework and kids and everything. I have no good excuse; I ended up opting for spending time with friends today rather than staying home as planned. I will likely finish the book tomorrow, though. I will post short updates as I finish each part, and then hopefully something longer at the end, although I may wait a day or so to digest the novel before my final post.

So! This section. As Rachel said, it was incredibly painful to read what Jacob and Emma and Theo were going through. I think Oliver and Rich are turning out to be my favorite characters, because they're nicely complex, sympathetic but certainly not perfect, and reasonably believable. (I had sort of forgotten who Oliver was by the time we got to him in this section, though. I think he was introduced too early and then not given anything to do for too long. Also, I would sort of like to date him. ANYWAY.) Emma is kind of driving me nuts, although I can't quite put my finger on the reason. I'm liking Theo more and more, so I really hope he doesn't turn out to be lying.

My feelings are mixed on Jacob himself. I think I like the character but don't like the way his sections are written. He uses extended metaphors to explain how literal he is. It's ridiculous. I guess Picoult just can't help herself, and fine, that's how she writes. But that means she should not have tried to write from Jacob's point of view. It's too bad, because the Jacob who appears in the descriptions by others is an interesting, strong character, and the inconsistent nature of his sections takes away from that.

Prediction time! Oh, I don't know. THEY'RE NOT PLAYING FAIR. Not that I really expected them to, since this is Picoult. Both boys have stated that they didn't do it by now, I think, but who knows whether they're lying. (After all the to-do about how Jacob can't lie, I'm expecting him to have at least one major lie at some point.) I still don't think it's actually either of them, though. Time to think outside the box. I'm going to go with Jess's father, the Very Important State Senator. That seems random enough to be Picoultian.