Perfect Match (Jessica Mercier)

Title: Perfect Match
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Washington Square Press Publication
Pages: 351
I decided to read this book because my mom read the book and said it was very good. I read what it was about and thought I would really enjoy reading it.
The book is about a woman named Nina Frost, an assistant district attorney in Maine. Everyday she has to deal with the problems in the legal system and the horrible cases with sexual predators. She starts to notice her five year old son, Nathaniel, is acting strange in school and stops speaking. From going to a psychiatrist, Nina and her husband find out Nathaniel was sexually abused. Nina’s husband is accused of being the man who sexually abused Nathaniel, and even with DNA evidence, he denies the accusations. Nina then kills her husband because her priest tells her to. She is found found guilty of manslaughter. She then finds out her husband was innocent and she had killed the wrong man.
The audience for this book is a mature audience because of the overall plot of the story and the things discussed.
Jodi Picoult’s writing style is very unique. She switches from different characters and points of view.
“Nathaniel likes that. It makes him feel like maybe he is living between the covers of a book himself.” (Picoult 349)
“Caleb has always liked chopping wood. He likes the Herculean moment of hefting the ax, of swinging it down like a man measuring his strength at a carnival game. He likes the sound of a log being broken apart, a searing crack, and then a hallow plink of two halves falling in opposite sides. he likes the rhythm, which erases thought and memory.” (Picoult 207)
When I read this passage it just really made me think and imagine this feeling. The way it was describes makes you feel what Caleb is feeling. I just really liked this passage.
“‘How about Ironman?‘ Caleb suggests.
Nathaniel shakes his head. ‘He could rust.‘
‘Aquaman?‘
‘Needs water.’
‘Nathaniel,’ Nina says gently, ‘nobody’s perfect.’
‘But they’re supposed to be,’....” (Picoult 155)
This passage just stuck with me for some reason. Nathaniel’s idea that they were “supposed” to be perfect caught my eye.
“The only way to be forgiven is to find someone who is willing to forgive. So I start for the door, turning back at the threshold. ‘Come on,’ I say to Caleb. ‘He needs us.”’ ( Picoult 351)
This was the last sentence in the book. It stuck with me because they were willing to start over again and forgive.
The theme of this book is the power of love and family.
“The only way to be forgiven is to find someone who is willing to forgive. So I start for the door, turning back at the threshold. ‘Come on,’ I say to Caleb. ‘He needs us.”’ ( Picoult 351)
“Once, not long ago, standing in my own home, i asked Patrick this same question. Now I give his own answer back to him. ‘I did what I had to,’ I say, and I let myself believe it.” ( Picoult 122)
Both of these passages show the love, courage, and power of love between Nina and her son. The love she had for her child drove her to murdering her own husband. She did what she had to guarantee the safety of her child, even though it was the wrong man. After everything, she asks for forgiveness and for a new start because she knows love can get them through anything.
I would give this book an A-. It is nothing like I have ever read before and is an amazing story that really opens your eyes to things you don’t usually think about. It is definitely worth reading.