I enjoyed yet another of Jodi Piccoult's novels, Change of Heart. Piccoult is known for taking situations that are strikingly similar to cases in the news, altering the details, and creating a spectacular novel. For example, Nineteen Minutes was written based on research the author did of various school shootings, including Columbine's. However, the novel was written from the hypothetical perspective that the shooters had suffered from PTSD after a life of being bullied. Change of Heart is no different, with its provocative plot and convincing characters.
The main character of the novel is accused and convicted of killing a young child and her father, a police officer, after committing sexual assault. It isn't until much later that the convict, who is sentenced to death, starts performing miracles, bringing people and animals back from the dead, and prophesying, that the entire town of Concord starts to think twice. The novel follows the convict's spiritual advisor, a Catholic priest struggling to stay faithful, his lawyer, an overweight, disenchanted ACLU opponent of the death penalty, and his various inmates throughout this one man's tango with life and death. There's one catch, upon his execution, convicted murder, Shay Bourne, wants to donate his heart to the sister of the little girl he killed 11 years ago. Does a convicted felon deserve the right to religious freedom when sentenced to death? And is it truly religion if beliefs and practices are truly individualized rather than institutionalized? Would the mother who lost her child to this man, want his very heart beating in the chest of her remaining child?
I really enjoyed Piccoult's latest venture into the all-to-familiar with the safety of fiction in between me and the characters. For my friends who refuse to read Piccoult, this one is no less heart breaking than the others. But, all the more necessary to confront, in my opinion.
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