why i've given up on jodi picoult

I've read a lot of books of late. It happens when you're away from home/unemployed/bored.

On recommendation of an inspirational English teacher that I had four years ago (shit, has it been that long since my idyllic stage as an eighteen year old?!), I started reading books by Jodi Picoult.

She's a great author. Her books are engaging, the subject matter is always topical and current. For those who haven't picked up once of her books, they almost always involve the legal and psychology professions to a certain degree.

The problem with her books though, is that unlike Law and Order where they've managed to come up with new ideas, defenses and reasonings for the protagonist's actions, Picoult has one. Disassociation. I read Plain Truth, a novel about an Amish girl who alledgedly murdered her newborn baby. The defensce that got her off the hook? Disassociation.

Last month I read Disappearing Acts, where a man kidnapped his daughter twenty-eight years earlier, but only just got caught. He claims his daughter was being abused. His daughter remembers nothing. What's the excuse? Disassociation.

This week I read her latest book, Nineteen Minutes. I started reading it the day the news of the Virginia Tech shooting broke. Plot and reality blurred. Twas weird for a second not knowing what was the book and what actually happened. Long story short, what made the antagonist decide to shoot all of his classmates in such a cool, calm and collected fashion? What made the protagonist loose all memory of shooting her beloved boyfriend in the stomach until a falling nappy bag triggered her memory?

You got it. Disassociation.

Poor Jodi, I love her characters and I love her plots. Until the old disassociation excuse pops up. I've giving up reading her books because they always end the same way.