Any thoughts on Jodi Piccoult?

I can't decide if Jodi Piccoult belongs here or not... I've only read two of her books, and I want to try one more before I swear her off forever but I need advice... I was more or less indifferent about The Pact, didn't love it but didn't hate it either. I liked My Sister's Keeper up until the incredibly convenient and unrealistic ending and then I was comepletely turned off. I have a copy of 19 Minutes sitting on my shelf and I am interested in Songs of the Humpback Whale. To read or not to read?

I can only think "tearjerker porn" when I hear of Jodi Picoult plots. Stories that are meant to make you reach for the kleenex and indulge in feeling sad and sympathetic towards the hard lives of the characters, even as they engage in legal battles (apparently that's the skeleton of the plot, usually?). It's a lot like the old Sentimentalist stuff, but more legalistic.

I like Sentamentalist novels, but not so much modern versions of them.

I agree, I don't mind sentimentalist novels but I don't think there are many modern writers who can balance it. Usually it just feels sappy, like watching 24 hours of Lifetime television... yikes!

Honestly the two that I read weren't terrible on the sentimental front, they had their moments but I thought that they were true to the characters and that didn't bother me. What I had trouble with were the "twists." From what I understand JP always throws them in the 11th hour and sometimes they work, sometimes not so much. I didn't love it in The Pact but it wasn't completely out of left field. My Sister's Keeper on the other hand... lets just say I liked the movie better.

Has anyone read anything by Jodi Picoult where the "problem" child doesn't die or get sent away?

I stopped reading her books after that awful one about the mother who murdered her daughter's boyfriend.

Her first few were good but there was always a twist at the end which rescued everyone and I got so that this annoyed me.

Yep, emoporn. Very popular but not for me... I like emotional manipulation to be more subtle.

I do not get the attraction. I don't like being manipulated so . . . .obviously. But she laughs all the way to the bank, doesn't she.

The weird thing for me is that I really love the obvious emotional manipulation of the Sensationalists and other early modern novelists, but you give me a tear-jerker of a movie on the Hallmark or Lifetime movie channels, or a Jodi Piccoult book, and I am bored and resentful.

Goodness, recently I went to The American Adventure at Epcot in Disney World, which is also emoporn of the patriotic variety, and sat there with tears running down my face even as I laughed at the blatant manipulation. (And then laughed at myself for falling for it even as I knew what was happening. I must be getting old, next thing you know, I'm going to start crying at weddings and my nephews' and nieces' birthday parties.)

No.