|
|
FREE SHIPPING on Orders over $25!
AudibleInk - Change of Heart: A Novel
|
|
List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $17.79
Your Save: $ 9.16 ( 34% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Atria
|
FREE SHIPPING on Orders over $25!
Average Customer Rating:   
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743496742
ISBN: 0743496744
Label: Atria
Manufacturer: Atria
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2008-03-04
Publisher: Atria
Studio: Atria
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a spellbinding tale of a mother's tragic loss and one man's last chance at gaining salvation. Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth? One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen. For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child. Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish? Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Comment: This is by far my favorite book. The story is very captivating and keeps you guessing till the very end. I would recommend it to men and women alike absolutely amazing!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Salvation or Revenge, that is the Question
Comment: June lost her husband in an auto accident that left her with a broken leg. The police officer, Kurt Nealon, who tells her of her husband's death, later becomes husband number two and stepfather to June's daughter. Life should be good for June now as she's expecting another daughter. But she's hired a handyman carpenter, thirty-three-year old Isaiah M. Bourne, who instead of being grateful for the work, kills Kurt, then molests and kills June's daughter.
Eleven years later, Bourne is on death row and wants to make amends by donating his heart to June's new daughter Elizabeth, who is suffering with pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy. He believes if he gives his heart to the dying sister of the girl he murdered that he'll find salvation, which is the last thing June wants, but she doesn't want Elizabeth to die either.
And even though Bourne wants to die, he needs an attorney, because he wants death by hanging, not the needle, as that would damage the heart. His attorney, a woman with her own problems, has more than a client who wants salvation on her hands as weird and strange things have been going on on death row. One day the prison taps started flowing with wine. Borne brings a dead bird back to life. He cures a fellow prisoner of aids. Is there a message in his name which when pronounced comes out as I Am Born? And he is a thirty-three-year old carpenter about to be put to death, what is the significance of that?
There are man who come to believe Bourne might just be the Messiah, including Father Michael, his spiritual advisor, who, before he became a priest, just happened to be one of the jurors who voted to condemn Bourne.
As you can see there is a lot going on in this book and I've just scratched the surface. Suffice it to say, as improbable and impossible as some of this sounds, when Jodi Picoult delivers it, you believe. I know I did. I couldn't put this one down and even now, I'm asking myself, what would I do were I June, let the killer have his salvation or let him save my daughter.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not Believable
Comment: As a Jodi Picoult fan, I found this novel interesting and easy to read. Picoult writes about a variety of difficult and controversial subjects and this book is no exception. Shay Bourne, a convicted murderer with a scheduled execution, wants to donate his heart to the dying 11 year old sister of one of his victims. The novel is narrated in turn by a fellow death row prisoner, a priest who counsels Shay, Shay's attorney, and the mother of Shay's victim. They all view Shay in a different light and as they each tell their story, the novel progresses to the execution date. Will the family accept Shay's heart? Will Shay's attorney win a landmark ruling to allow a change in method of execution? What about the "miracles" that have started to occur on Death Row? Will the priest reveal his secret of how he knew of Shay years earlier? And what did Shay mean by his mysterious comment to his victim's mother?
If you can suspend belief as to how a language/learning disabled man can communicate as articulately and profoundly as Shay often does, it is a worthwhile book. Some of the plot lines (Maggie's romance, June's reaction to Shay's revelation) were tied up too simply and neatly to be believable. I enjoyed the narratives of the priest and the fellow prisoner who seemed the most realistic of all characters. As usual, Picoult's topic will make you think.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Too predictable & too unoriginal.
Comment: I couldn't wait for this book to come out & had such high hopes for it. The topic seemed intriguing to me, but ultimately the author seemed to rely too much on her established formula, and did not bother to use any originality in the writing of this text.
I absolutely loved Sister's Keeper, but haven't been too thrilled with Jodi Picoult's other books I've read since then (Nineteen Minutes was just OK but had a rather poor ending, and Keeping Faith was predictable and had poorly developed characters for whom I could not develop any significant feelings). I am sad to say that this was, by far, Ms. Picoult's worst work; so predictable that, by less than a third of the way through it, I started flipping through the remainder of the pages just to confirm my suspicions (and was even more disappointed to discover I was correct in every one). In addition, like others have mentioned, Shay Bourne's character has too many similarities to the main character from The Green Mile (note: I have only seen the movie). I decided not to waste my time even finishing this book, due to its high degree of predictability and low degree of creativity and originality (both in terms of plot and character development).
Overall, Change of Heart is a most disappointing effort by Ms. Picoult, and I recommend saving your dollars for a better read. At this time, I am reading The Pact, which I purchased at the same time as Change of Heart...I do hope it lives up to the precedence set by Sister's Keeper. The outcome of this read will determine if I will purchase any other Picoult books in the future, or if the success of Sister's Keeper was simply a fluke for this author. Perhaps it is time for me to return to my all-time favorite author, Robin Cook, and give Jodi Picoult a chance to regain her zest for writing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing.
Comment: This is another good Jodi Picoult book. I have read most of her novels and enjoy each one for her ability to give us interesting characters and hot-button issues that get us, her readers, to think about things in a new light. This book is no exception.
Shay is a man on death row who is waiting to be executed for the killing of a police officer and his daughter. June, the mother of the child who was killed and now a widow, has another daughter who has serious heart problems. Shay offers to give up his heart once he is executed, however he will need to die by another means and not by lethal injection which is where the lawyer, Maggie, enters into the picture.
One of the interesting concepts in this story is that Shay does not appear to be just another inmate. He seems to be able to perform miracles as in making another inmate's HIV disappear, bringing a bird back to life, etc. Is he truly the Messiah or is this all a scam to try and prolong his life?
This book explores religious themes, relationships between mothers and daughters, the death penalty and what it truly means to have a heart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
