Handle with Care

I've always loved books written by Jodi Picoult,
Simply because they were all so riveting & thought-provoking.
What would you do if you were in the same situation?
& 'Handle with Care' was another great book from her,
the meaning in the book was beyond what those words used meant,
you have to read between the lines.


I had a hard time reading 'Handle with Care'.
Half-way through the book, i actually had difficulty breathing & my heart ached for the characters.
Even though some people may find Amelia an annoying brat or charlotte as cruel.
I loved all the characters,
all of them had a story & if you actually listened & put yourself in their shoes,
you would empathise with all of them.


The book was written in second person,
with all the characters addressing their issues to willow,
the center character where all the drama revovled around.
Willow was born with Type III osteogenesis imperfecta (OI),
even though she survived after birth,
she would suffer hundreds of bone breaks in her lifetime.
Willow's mother, Charlotte, filed for a wrong birth lawsuit against her obstetrician.
Where if she won the law case & gain monetory payouts,
she & her family would never have to worry about the huge amount of bills as a result of willow's breaks.


If you read it this way, Charlotte made a clever decision to file for the lawsuit.
However, there were only 2 problems:
1) The obstetrician Charlotte was suing was her best friend.
2) To win the case, Charlotte have to admit that she wished Willow had never been born.


Even though the lawsuit was filed in 2007,
it took 2 years before the actual trial took placed,
& in between that 2 years,
both Charlotte & Piper's (Obstetrician cum best friend) family was nearly torn to pieces by the lawsuit.


The ending was not something anybody would expect as well.
It seemed to be a happy ending,
but things were far from perfect.
Indeed, be careful what you wished for.


Charlotte:
There was a point in the book that i really liked, 'There is a difference between being a dutiful mother and being a good mother. A dutiful mother is someone who follows every step her child makes, a good mother is someone whose child wants to follow her.'
Charlotte concentrated all her efforts on Willow, so much that she can give up all others-- her husband, Sean, her BFFAA, Piper, her other daughter, Amelia.
In between parts of the book, i did find her a bit selfish. However, how can anybody find her cruel when what she did was actually her way of loving her daughter? And something that any of us could have done.
What Charlotte did was to pick up the burden & label of ' bad guy' from others, in order for Willow to have a better life. How can anybody argue that she was not being a good mother in her own way?


Sean:
Sean was a doting father & loving husband, but he did not agree with Charlotte on the wrong birth lawsuit. He loved Willow & could not see any reasons why they should lie that they wished Willow had never been born. Because of the many differences, he filed for a divorce and even went to the defendant side.
First of all, i know that this was Sean's way of loving Willow. & even though he tried to talk senses & tried to resolve their differences with Charlotte, Charlotte could not hear anything except her determination to protect Willow. Perhaps, divorce was the only way Sean saw.
I do emphatise with Sean, he was a man carrying the entire household finance burden. However,
he was not the guy always around Willow & having adrenaline pumping 24 hrs a day to be prepared to run when Willow had a break. Sean was one of the decisive factor that nearly torn the family apart as well & i was glad when they romantically resolved their differences in the court.


Amelia:
Amelia was a girl i felt strongly about. Perhaps it was because i'm in the adolescent stage as well. She craved for her parents attention as all went to Willow due to her special needs. She hated & blamed herself for not being able to protect Willow as a sister. Due to all this hatred and cravings, she suffered from bulimia and started cutting herself.
I could totally understand her feelings, she was a girl undergoing great changes to her body & yet she had to carry her family burden around her as well with her classmates labelling her in cohorts with her mother. She lost her BFFAA as well, whom was Piper's daughter. The only way she felt she was in total control of her life was when she vomit and cut herself, simple because those were her own decisions.
In truth, Amelia was a kind and beautiful girl. How many siblings would go to such great extent of blaming themselves for another's illness? I strongly believed that Amelia would not resort to cutting herself if only Charlotte and Sean had paid a little more attention to her.
The ending was a bit abrupt & Amelia's viewpts were nt addressed. I would have loved to know how Amelia felt. I could feel the love Amelia had for Willow from their one-one conversations in the book.


Willow:
Willow was a beautiful kid. Her wisdom and choice of words would amaze anybody, afterall, she was just 6 years old. Throughout the book, you would fall in love with Willow & blame Charlotte for her choice. Willow could not understand Charlotte for saying she love her & yet wishing that she was never born.
I loved Willow as well, she was the soul of the story. Due to her disability, there are so many things that she yearns for but she couldn't do. I envy Willow's will and how strong she was, whenever she suffer a break & even though it was super painful, she swallowed back her tears. That's not something any of us can do. However, even though she tried as hard as she could to be a normal kid, the undeniable truth is she had a disability & required special care. With that, you would agree with Charlotte's decision, reality is practical.


I'm having difficulties bringing myself away from the book,
out of all the jodi picoult books i've read,
I like ' my sister's keeper', 'nineteen minutes' & 'handle with care' the most.
Love her and her books!
=]


xoxo
zy