Book Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

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Jodi Picoult is hands down my favorite author, so I couldn't wait to read her latest, Sing You Home. It took me a while to find enough time to read it, but it only took me a week once I started, which is good for this ADD girl!

I didn't know what to expect when I started reading. I knew that the premise of the book was two people, a divorced couple, fighting for rights of frozen embryos. However, a friend of mine who had had problems conceiving and carrying a baby to term had told me that when she started reading it, she couldn't get through the first couple of chapters, so she put it down. I found out later that she was under the impression that the entire book was about infertility and losing children, which was why she couldn't read it.

So, a little summary: Max and Zoe have tried for years to complete their family by adding a child. IVF cycle after IVF cycle, they got their hopes up and ended up disappointed. Finally, the IVF works and Zoe is pregnant. At 28 weeks, during her baby shower, everything goes terribly wrong, and Zoe loses her baby. Advised by her doctor not to try again, Zoe has her mind set that she will have a child. Unfortunately, Max doesn't agree, and he walks away from their marriage. While Max finds Jesus with the help of his uber-religious brother and sister in law, Zoe finds another woman and falls in love. Zoe is still in love with the idea of having children, and with her wife, Vanessa, still able to bear children, Zoe decides to use the once-forgotten frozen embryos to complete her family. However, because the custody of the embryos wasn't decided in divorce court, Max must agree to give up his rights to the unborn children. Sing You Home tells the story of the bitter custody battle over these unborn children, debates what's "right" vs. "wrong," and which side ultimately wins in the end.

Not going to lie, I thought the story line was well-developed and there were a few Picoult-esque twists & turns throughout, but I found the ending very anti-climatic. I wasn't really disappointed, but it didn't have me throwing the book across the room like the ending of My Sister's Keeper did. 

I would recommend Sing You Home, though. I give it a B++.