I think time would have been better spent highlighting the OB's marriage issues rather than just shoving her into Sean. Similarly, I was irritated by the brief husband/friend makeouts and sexual tension. I thought the adoption plot was jimmied in a little bit, and I didn't feel that I needed any backstory on the lawyer. wife in which the mother actually has to face what she is really saying - that she wishes her daughter were never born. The emotional bits seemed to be more related to the friend vs friend parts, the husband vs. I expected this to be a much more heartrending book, but I never felt particularly involved in the wrongful death part. Rather than really addressing the issue, it was just brushed aside. If nothing else, I felt that the solution of 'send her away to a facility' was a copout on the part of her parents. Amelia had her own demons to fight that reflected a lot of the family struggles, and I guess I wish there had been more of an examination of her bulemia and cutting. Probably because she was the character I could most relate to, and I liked the fact that Picoult gave her more of a personality than some of the other family members in her other books. I actually found the teenage daughter, Amelia, more interesting. Either I just wasn't in the mood, or it read too much like My Sister's Keeper, or I spent the whole time anticipating the expected resolution. I expected to be more intrigued by this one - OI ('brittle bone disease') and a wrongful birth suit.

Picoult's books are incredibly formulaic, and their strength really lies in whether or not you care about the topic they address. What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.Įverything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, funny as it seems, perfect. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of 'luckier' parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated-she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. An alternate cover edition can be found here

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult