The Pact, by Jodi Picoult

Kudra

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I just finished reading this book, and know that a few other members have recently picked it up as well.

Want to talk about it?

For me, it was an intense read. It affected me on many levels, since I'm one of those people who actually believed that this kind of "since birth" love is perfect. And there the author goes, and very convincingly, shows us the flaws in it.

As a writer, I loved the structure and pacing of the book. I really also liked that she created the character of Emily almost solely on the basis of other people remembering her.

What did you think of the book?
 

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I've gone nuts over Jodie Picoult! First I read Nineteen Minutes then The Pact, then Perfect Match then My Sisters Keeper and now I'm reading Harvesting the Heart (all Picoult) so it's almost hard to remember The Pact now.
I think it was brilliant but I wish when Chris had opened that note from Emily at the end, (the one they sent to each other as little kids)that the note had said something.
I wish someone has caught Emily's mother burning all that evidence.
You'll find a lot of similarities between Nineteen Minutes and The Pact.
Also were we supposed to believe that Emily was that messed up because of that one incident of sexual abuse in the bathroom when she was nine. Maybe that could be that traumatic I don't know. I guess he did rape her digitally and she was only 9 or something...
 

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This was the first novel of hers I read and I read it over two days. I agree that it was interesting to see her develop a character who is dead for most of the book. I thought the dynamic between the mothers was well done.

Gingerwoman, I wanted her to get caught burning the evidence. It didn't necessarily have to be revealed to the other family, but I wanted someone else to know.
 

gingerwoman

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The Pact

Yes I think Emily's Dad should have caught her. That was a missed oppourtunity for a powerful scene and more dilema's for the Dad wondering if he should let anyone know his wife destroyed evidence.
Actually wasn't it unrealistic that the police didn't come around to the house as soon as Chris was arrested and collect all that evidence.
 

Kudra

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Also were we supposed to believe that Emily was that messed up because of that one incident of sexual abuse in the bathroom when she was nine. Maybe that could be that traumatic I don't know. I guess he did rape her digitally and she was only 9 or something...

Yeah, I didn't get that. There were several references to "her secret," but as close as she was to Chris, was this something really that big that she couldn't tell him? I kept waiting for something else to be revealed.

I wanted the mother to be caught as well. It would have added a nice layer to the already dramatic relationship between the couples.

What I really liked about the book is how it made a "perfect" love story, so imperfect.
 

gingerwoman

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Well I guess the other secret was that she felt stifled by Chris and saw him as a brother and couldn't bear to crush him by letting him know that. To her he was like a twin that she couldn't bare to be seperated from but having sex with him grossed her out and she'd rather die than humiliating him by letting him know the truth plus she couldn't bear the loss of him that would occur if she broke up with him.