When your son can't look you in the eye...does that mean he's guilty?
Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right.
But when Jacob's small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight. For Jacob's mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob.
And over this small family, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?
Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right.
But when Jacob's small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight. For Jacob's mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob.
And over this small family, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?
(from goodreads.com)
I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars
Two weeks ago I would have told you that there was no way in hell I'd ever rate a Jodi Picoult book less than 4 stars...then I read House Rules. It's not only that I'm disappointed; I feel betrayed. The reason is this: I bought this book wanting to read something that will broaden my perspective and twist my heart until it hurts, which is something that Jodi Picoult has always done in her stories. I expected to laugh and cry and want to share this book with all of my friends. What I got, instead, was something that seemed like Jodi Picoult wrote half of then handed to a fanfic writer with zero publishing experience to finish up for her. It felt sloppy and after the first several chapters it was predictable.
Personally, I don't know anyone who has been clinically diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (AS). I bought this book because I was interested in the storyline and I wanted to learn more about AS. Although I have no direct experience with AS, I feel as though Jodi Picoult did a good job introducing it to the readers. For majority of the book I felt sympathy for Jacob and his family as they struggled with his predicament. However, there's a point in the book where you realize that there are no hidden layers to the story and what you see is what you get (so to speak). They repeat the same phrases over and over, pretending that it's sufficient evidence to send Jacob to prison for murder, when it's painfully obvious to the reader that Jacob's communication problems are causing this predicament and his family (who supposedly has had to deal with this for decades) just doesn't know how to ask him the right questions to get the truth. This is one of the things I found hard to stomach: if his mother and brother have had to translate Jacob's nonsensical verbage to the world for his entire life then why didn't they realize that he was trying to say something other than what they were interpreting? It was obvious to the reader that he had something to say and Jodi Picoult's usual method of delivering storyline twists was sadly watered down and fell very flat when Jacob's truth did finally come out.
Jodi Picoult's way of capturing an audience's attention is, thankfully, still amazing. Even though I grumbled and griped underneath my breath, I still genuinely wanted to keep reading. The way she creates sympathetic characters with very human traits and down-right likeable-ness is one of the things I love about her. Unfortunately, in this book, that's about all I loved. I must say one last thing about the ending....it sucked. All that build up and then it just ends. No real resolution, no telling what happens next, if they all live happily ever after or if they all die in a tsunami. It just ends.
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