Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart
Picoult's Latest Novel Raises Religious and Moral Questions
A Book Review of "Change of Heart " by Jodi Picoult. The author takes on Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, Gnosticism, and redemption through a character on death row.
In Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart, the author questions early Christian and Jewish beliefs through a character sentenced to death, Shay Bourne.
Miracles on Death Row
Bourne is a convicted double murderer of a cop and his stepdaughter, but while waiting on death row, he begins performing miracles reminiscient of King's Green Mile. Father Michael, a Catholic priest, attempts to help save Bourne's soul before his death and debunk the media's claims that Bourne might be the next messiah. The more time Father Michael spends with Bourne, however, the more he questions his own faith.
Heart Transplantation and Redemption
Meanwhile, June Nealon, the wife and mother of Bourne's two victims, must face the possible loss of her other daughter, Claire, who desperately needs a heart transplant.
But the perfect heart is suddenly offered: Shay Bourne's.
The Dilemmas Picoult's Characters Must Face
Bourne has offered to donate his heart to Claire once his sentence is carried out. He believes this will give him the restitution and redemption he seeks. The problem June Nealon and readers must face is this: Would you allow your child to host "the heart of the person you hate most in the world" if it would "save" them both? "Would you want your dreams to come true, if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?"
Additionally, Maggie Bloom, Bourne's lawyer and atheist, must fight for Bourne to die on his own terms. If Bourne is given a lethal injection, it will destroy any possibility of organ donation. In defending Bourne, Maggie is forced to search her own past and seek advice from her father, a rabbi.
Questions of Faith Through the Gnostic Gospels
Picoult raises several religious and moral questions within the novel through the death sentence of Shay Bourne and his references to the Gnostic gospels, noncanonical gospels edited from the Bible. At one point, Ian Fletcher, a former atheist and scholar, tells Father Michael that in history "somewhere along the line, organized religion stopped being about faith, and started being about who had the power to keep that faith."
Throughout the novel, Bourne provides hope that even in the darkest of places, even in the darkest of moments, God can intervene, without prejudice, if you let Him in. Picoult reminds us that God is not about religion; God is about the soul. Bourne remains a remarkably complex character down to the last page. While Picoult's originality is lacking in this latest novel, her insight into the Gnostic gospels will certainly provide readers with much to think about.
Three out of five stars
Picoult, Jodi. Change of Heart. New York: Atria, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7434-9674-2
Buy it now at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Change-Heart-Novel-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0743496744/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831601&sr=8-1
