Second Glance: Jodi Picoult

Now I do not usually read what I would call general fiction. Just ain't my thing, but my uncle gave me a book by Jodi Picoult to read and House Rules: A Novel was a great book.  You understand what is going on but have no idea if the characters will figure it out because one of them has Asperger's syndrome and can't communicate in the way others do.  I thought the depth of the characters interactions was what impressed me the most and so when a co-worker of my let me borrow a few more books from this author I jumped on it.







The one I just finished reading is Second Glance: A Novel and if anything this one was even better.  So good it made me tear up a few times.  It begins with the story of Ross Wakeman who is a ghost hunter, who lost his wife years ago in a car accident and has been rather suicidal ever since while looking for proof of the after life.  Now there are several characters she follows that circle around a dispute over a property and a open murder case from seventy years ago.  Since I myself have contemplated and tried to commit suicide I could really relate to the characters (although in my case it is more an escape from pain rather than dying to meet up with someone on the otherside).  What astonishes me is how the author can write these stories and truly understand the pain in people, all sorts of sorrow, doubts, regrets in a way that is far more empathic than most people are capable of.  This book is a fasinating and complex view of people and their interactions that intertwine in unusual ways.  Definately recomend this one.