Jodi Picoult : The Pact

4 days it took me to finish Jodi Picoult's The Pact

And 4 things ive come to realise while at it

[ FUCK THE SPOILER ]

1) Emily is an annoying troubled teen who thinks she's doing the right thing by planning her own death.

2) Chris was dumb enough to help Emily with it cuz he couldnt stand watching her in so much pain.

3) I hate that Chris sometimes can be demanding and Emily just follows with it.

4) Eventhough there were a few things i did not agree with the story yet i still quite like it.

This is my first time reading Jodi Picoult's novel and at first i thought it'll be another typical teen love story. Turns out i was wrong and im happy that i was.

It is a love story between a teenage boy and girl but this time round theyve known each other their entire life. From Emily's birth until her death did Chris stood next to her. Their parents were very happy with the relationship their children have and they were the ideal couple in school.

Then one night

BAM

Emily was found dead with a bullet through her head

Chris was lying next to her stained in Emily's blood

the conclusion

Chris was a suspect of Emily's death

and to everyone he had the word "MURDERER" printed on his forehead

The story was an alternating of the present - dead Emily, Chris in jail, family in dilema - and the past - when everyone was happy :). From there you can see how their relationship blossomed and how Emily started to worry about her life, not achieving her parents high expectations, feeling depressed from the sexual abuse and of course the baby she was carrying.

So it was sort of a yin and yang kind of thing just that they werent all balance that one had to die. lolx. Chris thinking their relationship would last forever whereas Emily feared that it would crumple in the end. So Emily - thinking she acted smartly - rather have a happy memory of the relationship as a corpse than a bad memory of it being destroyed due to her problems alive. And so dies Ms Gold in her lovers arms.

As ive heard from many fans, Jodi Picoult likes to write about life with a tragedy going on in it. (No tragedy where's the story lah then)The tragedy that happened shook the two families lives. The friendship between Melanie and Gus withered, Melanie and Michael's marriage distorted and James pretend that the events never did occur.

But from there on a pact between Michael and Gus grew and Jordan McAfee- Chris's attorney began to realise that he hasnt been spending time with his son and sees the importance of the truth. But from here we see the bond between a mother and child growing stronger as the story dug deeper.

Storyline was pretty good just that one part at the trial was predictable. Frankly speaking i thought that Chris wouldve commited suicide to rejoin with Emily once he was found innocent. Nah didnt happen. It wouldve been stupid to put that one in. But i was so not satisfied by the epilogue. I dont see the point of putting that in plus what is the significance of the blank letter he took out from the tin.

Best part of the story would have to be when Chris decided to take the stand eventhough he knew that it could cause him a one way ticket to prison.

Each time i discover the problems faced by Emily as i went along the story i tend to flip to the front cover and would just stare at the picture of the two adolescents. At first (before reading) they look so happy by one anothers presence (at the spine of the book). Later on i realise the girl's eyes (front book cover) were just staring straight at me with some hidden mystery behind them. Then i would look at the guy and admire he's long eyelashes and at the same time look at how affectionate he is towards the girl as he kisses her cheek. Then Kakak comes in and pointed out that he looked like Ashton Kutcher. In some way it spoiled my perspective towards the guy, not Chris.