A review by kori_krc
The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

4.0

SPOILERS AHEAD: To start off, Jodi Picoult is the first author who I EVER fell in love with in terms of story telling. I own all of her books and therefore, I can accurately say that I am biased towards her work. The Book of Two ways started rough. The first couple of chapters were very history and science heavy (which if that interests you, great!) and I struggled to sift through it. Granted, the anecdotes were very insightful for the overall metaphor of the story that surrounds itself around the meaning of life and death and how to go through it. For most of the book, I really didn't like the main character. Maybe that's just how I view situations she was put in, but I found her really unlikeable. I also felt as though the love triangle presented was a little forced? It was a little hard to believe that Dawn and Wyatt had essentially held a flame for each other for 15 years of no communication and one getting married and having a child. It also felt like an odd choice to have Meret be Wyatt's child. It's almost as if we were being lead to want Dawn to end up with Wyatt over her husband Brian even though Brian was her ultimate choice 15 years prior. It was odd to me that her husband having been put in a situation where cheating could have happened, even though it didn't and he immediately told her about it, caused this massive of a rift in their marriage thus leading her to Egypt to find Wyatt and see how their love story would pan out. I also feel like it wasn't necessarily fair to Wyatt who had moved on and had a fiance. All of this just furthers my "anti-Dawn" agenda. It also ended with an open ending. Which, if you know me (which you don't but....for the review, let's say you do), you know that I don't like open endings. I want a pretty ending with a pretty bow. It was left off with Dawn talking to her daughter, Meret, about who she will be choosing, but we never get that answer, leaving the reader to decide. However, it definitely feels like she had already made her choice in Wyatt. The whole last chapter solidified that. I'm not sure why there was even a questions that she might choose Brian.

All of this to say, I really did enjoy the book. Parts were tough to get through and I don't necessarily agree with all of the decisions the main character made, but that's what made it interesting and a good think piece.