Don’t read this untill you have read the book. I have enjoyed other Piccoult’s more; but equally for me lot better than Mercy which found wishy, washy. So if you like Piccoult you should get something out of it. If you have read what did you think about the book / the twist?
Did you see the twist coming?
There was no hint untill sickle cell gene mentioned; then I realised, that was indicating that baby Davis had some African Americain genetics. I wondered whether his Mother Brit had conceived the baby with someone other than her husband. Therefore I was not necessarily expecting that Brit’s Mother was African American.
Was the twist needed?
I think it was an interesting twist, showing you can not truly judge someone by the colour of their skin. But the story had so much going on anyway that it perhaps impact got a little lost.
How could the twist have been more powerful
I think narrative strand from Brit would have been interesting. It would have brought an insight into, how she had felt, growing up without her Mother and her views of her Mother.
I think it was cruel lawyer Kennady allowing Brit’s Mother to be revealed in public and the reveal did not impact the case; so it was not really necessary to do that. The revelation evidently sent Brit into turmoil but this was covered in just a couple of sentences in the epilogue; how it led to her suicide. The twist felt like an after thought rather than something planned from the beginning. Again a narrative from Brit would have allowed climax to build before the reveal and the impact to be explored, on the other hand this would have taken focus away from Ruth’s story; but is it a bad thing to have two big focuses in a book? The lives of Ruth and Brit could have been compared and contrasted.
Wonderwall 