Change of Heart: Book Review

Okay so I'm back from my much needed vacation and I have a lot of catching up to do, blog wise! However, it's extremely hard because I've been working 9 hour shifts everyday; I'm trying my best, but I do apologize. 


While I was on vacation I read and finished one book: Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. 




Synopsis from the Jodi Picoult Website:

"Shay Bourne - New Hampshire’s first death row prisoner in 69 years – has only one last request: to donate his heart post-execution to the sister of his victim, who is looking for a transplant. Bourne says it’s the only way he can redeem himself…but with lethal injection as his form of execution, this is medically impossible. Enter Father Michael Wright, a young local priest. Called in as Shay’s spiritual advisor, he knows redemption has nothing to do with organ donation – and plans to convince Bourne. But then Bourne begins to perform miracles at the prison that are witnessed by officers, fellow inmates, and even Father Michael – and the media begins to call him a messiah. Could an unkempt, bipolar, convicted murderer be a savior? It seems highly unlikely, to the priest. Until he realizes that the things Shay says may not come from the Bible…but are, verbatim, from a gospel that the early Christian church rejected two thousand years ago…and that is still considered heresy.

Change Of Heart looks at the nature of organized religion and belief, and takes the reader behind the closely drawn curtains of America’s death penalty. Featuring the return of Ian Fletcher from Keeping Faith, it also asks whether religion and politics truly are separate in this country, or inextricably tangled. Does religion make us more tolerant, or less? Do we believe what we do because it’s right? Or because it’s too frightening to admit that we may not have the answers?"

My Review:

Now to be quite honest, I only bought this book because it was a little less than $7.00 [originally $26.00] and it was by one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. I read the inside of the book but wasn't quite sure if I was going to enjoy it, but let me tell you something, by the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. I almost cried too! It brings you so close to each and every character, from the priest, to a fellow inmate of Shay, to the victim's mother. I love when an author gives a person multiple viewpoints in a book. It lets the reader look at a situation from all sides, and maybe even choose the side at which they stand. For me it was an easy choice in the beginning, but when I got into the book more I was quickly confused and found heart pulling towards both sides of the situation. This book not only talks about religion and the law, but the morals of a person in difficult situations. So I have to ask, what would you do if

A. your husband and child are killed by a stranger, let in by you

B. you were pregnant with your second child

C. Your child ends up having a heart condition and needs a transplant

D. the man who killed your family wants to offer up his heart on death row

Would you take his heart? What if there was so much more to question?

Ask yourself, which side would you take? That of a murderer or that of the bereaved family? It may seem silly to even ask yourself, but you'll see...