Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult – A review
I may not be a Jodi Picoult fan, but I find myself reading her books on my Nook whenever I’m bored and need written words to carry me away from realities of life. Each of her books deal with a specific social issue, and her words are quite a page turner, even if the only reason I plow through her books is to find out what lousy ending she gives to it.
The heart of this story is a custody battle for Faith White, a little girl who starts to see and talk to God after her parents divorced after her mom found out about the dad’s adultery. It talks about belief (in God and otherwise), betrayal, and a mother’s love for her child.
The mom, Mariah falls into depression after the divorce. The child Faith copes with the lack of attention with an invisible friend/guard who sounds a lot like God. Faith begins to spout verses from the bible and perform miracles. A well-known atheist televangelist, Ian Fletcher, roaming the country to debunk religious miracles and raise TV viewership, hears about Faith and travels to conquer his next ‘subject’. A heated encounter with Mariah’s mom leads her to a heart attack, and is declared dead at the hospital. Faith performs her first miracle by bringing her grandmother back from the dead with a kiss of life.
Such miracle-working feat attracted great interest from the general public, and also triggers a mass of religious believers and naysayers alike to camp out at Mariah’s home. Such public adulation of a religious miracle worker leads Ian Fletcher to embark on a plan to debunk little Faith’s ‘powers’ as nothing but a hoax, an attention grabbing stunt by the mom.Faith begins to perform miracle after miracle, while suffering signs of stigmata, and Ian’s faith is slowly tested, not to mention his attraction to Mariah.
Readers will slowly find out the hidden secrets of Ian Fletcher and his atheistic agenda, Mariah and her struggles with depression (and maybe mental illness), and the views of Colin White, the divorced husband wanting back the custody of Faith White.
The story ‘religiously’ (hah!) ends with a custody trial, as it is with all Jodi Picoult novels.
I found this book to be quite enjoyable to read, but it makes no attempts to explain the miracles that happen; they just happen, and people were quick to accept the miracles and not seek out scientific explanations for them. I don’t know, are people that quick to accept the unknown as miracles from God? Sounds too easy to me. The Mariah character also did not warm up to me, she seems a bit too detached and weak while dealing with her feelings. I don’t find myself rooting for her when the chips are down, so to speak. The ending is also left open, typical of her novels.
In all, a standard Jodi Picoult novel. Just ignore the holes in the plot and enjoy this book on a lazy, rainy afternoon.
Tags: jodi picoult, keeping faith
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