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A review by kgstuckinabook
Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult
4.0
I just started to read Jodi Picoult books again. I was tired of reading them because I felt that they were all the same when you read one after the next - there was always a case. But after reading Harvesting the Heart, I appreciate her books so much more than I used to. They have meaning and heartfelt complications, such is life. This one in particular threw so many emotions my way; there were many points in the story that made me angry, others that made me tear up and push through to the next page.
Paige, the main character in this story, was left by her mother when she was only 5; therefore, she has this emptiness, and this feeling that as fate will have it, she will always leave too. After running away the night of her high school graduation, she eventually finds Nicholas, an aspiring doctor that is everything she could have wished for and more, in a diner. They fall, or I should say he falls for her while she keeps him on a pedestal. They're married, and years down the road, when they're not ready, she becomes pregnant. She feels as if all of her dreams of becoming an artist, and going back to school are gone. While it was understandable to be shocked when something unexpected comes along, she takes it to heart. She becomes depressed, and one day she just picks up and leaves - following in her mother's footsteps, literally. She finds her mother, and stays with her for three months! This was the part that angered me, because I could never imagine leaving my child and just getting on with life as if nothing had ever happened. Even though I'm not a mother yet, I was so very angry with Paige, as was Nicholas. She can either stay with her mother or go back to life as she knew it... or she could change, for the better... change for her husband, change for her son, but most importantly change for herself. I thoroughly enjoyed the end, even if it leaves you wondering what ever happened... it allows you to fill in your own blanks, and just hope with all of your heart that there was a happy ending.
"You don't plan life, you just do it" (104).
"I was starting to see that the past might color the future, but it didn't determine it" (262).
Paige, the main character in this story, was left by her mother when she was only 5; therefore, she has this emptiness, and this feeling that as fate will have it, she will always leave too. After running away the night of her high school graduation, she eventually finds Nicholas, an aspiring doctor that is everything she could have wished for and more, in a diner. They fall, or I should say he falls for her while she keeps him on a pedestal. They're married, and years down the road, when they're not ready, she becomes pregnant. She feels as if all of her dreams of becoming an artist, and going back to school are gone. While it was understandable to be shocked when something unexpected comes along, she takes it to heart. She becomes depressed, and one day she just picks up and leaves - following in her mother's footsteps, literally. She finds her mother, and stays with her for three months! This was the part that angered me, because I could never imagine leaving my child and just getting on with life as if nothing had ever happened. Even though I'm not a mother yet, I was so very angry with Paige, as was Nicholas. She can either stay with her mother or go back to life as she knew it... or she could change, for the better... change for her husband, change for her son, but most importantly change for herself. I thoroughly enjoyed the end, even if it leaves you wondering what ever happened... it allows you to fill in your own blanks, and just hope with all of your heart that there was a happy ending.
"You don't plan life, you just do it" (104).
"I was starting to see that the past might color the future, but it didn't determine it" (262).