Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult since I read all of her books within the same time period. I started and didn't stop til I have read every single one of them. I was hooked from the first book of hers. She has this incredible way of seeing people and their lives. It gives them a life that I can put their shoes on and walk in them. I can feel their pain and their life. I can see their conflicts and decide for myself what I would do. As a friend of mine says, "Jodi Picoult breaks your heart." Therefore it is no secret I am a HUGE fan of Jodi Picoult.

Sing You Home was no different than the other books. It was simply fantastic. I felt so many different emotions that at some points I put the book down and swore I wouldn't read anymore then like watching a train wreck I picked it back up and was, once again, sucked back in.

The characters surprised me consistently and I was wowed and sadden. I loved Zoe who was the main character. She is married to Max who is a previous alcoholic. They have tried for years to have children, but even with help she has another miscarriage. Max decides he can't do it anymore and gets a divorce. Zoe finds she is destroyed. She throws herself into her work as a music therapist and finds a friend at work. A woman therapist who turns into a new love and eventually they marry. As Zoe is finding a new life, Max is too, with a very religious church of his brother and his wife. A once married couple becomes complete opposites and when Zoe reveals she would like to use their leftover embryos for her new wife to conceive, the battle begins. The church against lesbians who want to have a family with kids.

The emotional roller coaster that Picoult takes the reader on in this book was so fantastic. I found myself on both sides at different times. Throughout the whole book though I had one consistent feeling, I did not like the weakness of Max's character. I was disappointed that he kept riding the wave of other's.

I loved the music therapy information throughout the book. I believe that things like this work and I really enjoyed all the detail and seeing it develop. The book includes a CD to listen to while reading. A concept I also find fun and entertaining. Something different.

I do not want to spoil any of the details of this book. Read and decide on your own.

Caite of A Lovely Shore Breeze wrote a review of this book, but her findings were different than mine.

Find this book on GoodReads or Barnes&Noble

Synopsis from GoodReads:
Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and after multiple miscarriages and infertility issues, it looks like her dream is about to come true – she is seven months pregnant. But a terrible turn of events leads to a nightmare – one that takes away the baby she has already fallen for; and breaks apart her marriage to Max. In the aftermath, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist – using music clinically to soothe burn victims in a hospital; to help Alzheimer’s patients connect with the present; to provide solace for hospice patients. When Vanessa – a guidance counselor -- asks her to work with a suicidal teen, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then, to Zoe’s surprise, blossoms into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of having a family, again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that were never used by herself and Max.

Meanwhile, Max has found peace at the bottom of a bottle – until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor – Clive Lincoln – has vowed to fight the “homosexual agenda” that has threatened traditional family values in America. But this mission becomes personal for Max, when Zoe and her same-sex partner say they want permission to raise his unborn child.

SING YOU HOME explores what it means to be gay in today’s world, and how reproductive science has outstripped the legal system. Are embryos people or property? What challenges do same-sex couples face when it comes to marriage and adoption? What happens when religion and sexual orientation – two issues that are supposed to be justice-blind – enter the courtroom? And most importantly, what constitutes a “traditional family” in today’s day and age?