Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written, fully engrossing
Review: This book was one of those that was handed to me by a friend, who said, "You've got to read it." After reading the back of the book (see description from Amazon listing.) I must admit I was a little hestitant because the subject matter seemed quite depressing.
Once I started this book, I found it very hard to put down. The characters were real, the plot was engrossing and the pacing was excellent. I felt as though I had entered their world completely and got very wrapped up with most of the main characters emotionally. There aren't many writers that can pull off what Ms. Picoult has here. I have recommended it to many friends.An excellent book for book clubs! Plenty to discuss and room for more than one opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: I didn't want to like this BUT....
Review: I was given this book from a co worker, and I was turned off the minute I saw the cover and saw two teenagers kissing and the subtitle, A Love Stroy. I SO not wanted to like this book. But it is so much more than a love story. It is a scary look at two families that take each other in as extended families and the effect it has on their childerns relationship. I found myself reading this book and finding it hard to put it down. Adolescent suicide is a scary thought, but what was scarier is to not know when one person's life ends and the other's begins. The author uses some tricky twists so you never really know why or who Emily is dead.
Don't think that if you are a guy , you can't read this book (wasn't it made into a Lifetime Movie?), because it so much more than just "A Love Story."
Rating:
Summary: Not your typical "chick novel"
Review: Assuming that this was another "chick novel", I would not have ordinarily picked this book to read. But since a friend had recommended it to me, I dived into it with low expectations. As I read, I became increasingly engrossed with the realistically-drawn characters and well-crafted plot. The novel is great for book discussion groups as it raises lots of questions: Can the legal system ever adjudicate the real truth, or is truth so relative that it can never be legally defined? Can one give onself over to another too completely? Is suicide ever a reasonable answer to life's challenges? This book is indeed a "chick novel" in the sense that it is primarily about interpersonal relationships. But it is more than just a light, entertaining read. Those who appreciated the movie "Ordinary People" will find in this novel a similarly sophisticated treatment of the despair that can attend adolescence and the impact it can have on families and communities.
Rating:
Summary: The Pact (reviewed by Lauren)
Review: The Pact by Jodi Picoult is a very hard book to put down. It hooks you from the first pharagragh. The way Jodi Picoult tells the story keeps you hooked from begning to end. I enjoy how she goes back and forth between past and present. I found myself in all my classes at school reaching into my book bag, taking the book out and reading. It is kind of depressing, but i still highky recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: very, very good!
Review: this was a great book! i could not put it down. from the very first paragraph Jodi Picoult keeps you reading until the end. it contains a lot of mature content but it's written in such a way that it helps the stoyline and development of the book. i recommended it to all of my friends and i recommend it to all of you reading this review!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A page-turner
Review: The story reads a bit like a Lifetime movie (in fact, I think this book was made into one), but I like Lifetime movies. The story is immediately gripping...a teenager dies of a gunshot wound, and her boyfriend, who was at the scene, is tried for the murder, despite his claims that her death was the result of a suicide pact. This book follows his trial, with flasbacks revealing the relationship between the two teens. I read this book in two days, which considering I am a graduate student, says a lot about how completely engrossing this book is. Even though the story is pretty contrived and I had a good guess about how it would end, I could not stop reading. It is the most compelling book I have read this year since "Seabiscuit." It has a little bit of everything...death, a murder trial, romance, sex...formulaic, but its a formula that works well in this context. And Picoult pulls it off better than other writers of her genre, such as Jane Smiley. Overall, this is a great, entertaining, albeit fluffy read. Highly recommended for travel or beach reading. But be forewarned...once you start, you won't be able to stop until the book is done.
Rating:
Summary: Sixth Time Reading
Review: When I was first handed this delicate paperback novel by a friend, I pondered why the bindings were stretched, why several pages seemed as if they had been turned more than once. More than ten of the pages had highlighting and the cover looked like it had taken quite a beating. After reading the first page I understood why this book had sustained such damage. It was not because it had been mistreated; it was because that it was so treasured that it had been read time, after time, after time. The first page starts off shockingly abrupt with the words, "and then there was a shot." The novel then begins to delve into a story between two families; quickly evolving into a love story between two Romeo and Juliettish teenagers, destined for a future of trajedy and loss. Readers will be transfixed as they are posessed by the intense need of this book to fulfill the cliche of a true "page turner." I highly recommend it for anybody who enjoys a good love story,yet also seeks a novel with an unpredictable plot. The Pact is part tear jerking love story, and part Courtroom drama, intertwining the two categories and bringing them together to create a truly beautiful tale of love and loss that certainly justify my reasons for picking it up a seventh time.
Rating:
Summary: An incredibly emotional and compelling story
Review: This book was recommended by a former co-worker of mine, but the concept alone is what motivated me to actually read it. I'm usually leery when someone tries to introduce me to an author I'd never read before, but I'm so glad I made an exception. Not only did the story move me, but her ability to humanize a character is what makes this an amazing book. I don't think I've read a more emotional story. Reading about a character's grief and actually feeling it yourself are two totally different things, and with The Pact, I felt every emotion these characters had. It is a story unlike any I've ever read and I put this book on my list of favorites.
Rating:
Summary: A 5 star book!
Review: THE PACT by Jodi Picoult This is my first book by Jodi Picoult, and I'd like to preface this review by saying I had no expectations whatsoever, but by the time I was done with the book, I was a fan for life. This was one hell of a book. It started with a bang: young Emily Gold is dead, and by her side was her boyfriend and close childhood friend, Chris Harte. As life-long friends, Chris should've been there to save Emily, but obviously he was not able to, and now their parents are asking, "what really happened"? THE PACT is not only the story of two families torn apart by the death of one of their children, but it is also the story of a young girl who for reasons that are revealed in the book, has no reason left to live. As the story unfolds, the reader knows that Emily died of a gunshot wound to her dead. The police are not sure whether this is a suicide or a murder. Regardless of what the charges are, the parents of both teens are distraught and are now trying to figure out why this happened, and if there was anything they could have done to prevent it. The story then goes into flashbacks, with scenes from their childhood depicted with Emily and Chris being the best of friends since the day they were born. The two were months apart, and the two families started their friendships before the two were even born. No two families could have been closer than the Golds and the Hartes, and so it is shocking to see how their friendship is torn apart by the death of Emily. Friends accuse friends and friendship turns to hatred, as the two families learn about what happened that night Emily died. As the plot follows their pasts into the present, Chris is charged with the murder of Emily, and it is from here that the story line really takes off. A book that can be taken from today's headlines, the murder trial is sensationalized and causes the little town of Bainbridge, New Hampshire to become the center of the universe as tabloids and newspapers detail the murder trial. And with that said, I highly recommend THE PACT. I can't say anymore about this book, which I found riveting and literally could not put the book down. It will most likely be on my top 30 list of books read in 2003.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down! A real page turner.
Review: I read this book over three days. From the first page, I was into it and found it hard to put down. There are issues that come up in the book that seem unimportant or insignificant at the time, however they come back later and the reader can see how profoundly they affected the characters. For the most part the book was believable, as it looked at the various ways that people handle grief. It's interesting to see how detailed the process becomes for some of the characters. Overall, a great book and an easy, quick read! It even leaves you with a little to think about when the last page has been read.
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