Plain Truth: A Novel

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Summary: Once again Picoult keeps me hopping
Review: Though the setting is in a pastoral peaceful world (deep Amish Country), the story is still riveting as ever. Jodi keeps you guessing all along even while she is developing the characters' potential for life. And once again, her ending leaves you guessing. Some people think ... oops! Almost spoiled the ending for you. Just pick it up and read it for yourself. The title alone speaks for the book. And remember, Jodi has a tendency to keep you on your toes and smack you on the side of your head with her surprise ending.

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Summary: A can't put down book
Review: This book took me into the home of an Amish family and I couldn't put it down from start to end. It was unpredictable and brought tears and laughter.

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Summary: very entertaining, but....
Review: This book is a real page turner and very entertaining. However, the dialog is corny, the situation contrived, and the view of the Amish not quite believable. Even though the sophisticated side of me says, "this is nothing but a glorified romance novel", my romantic side is eating it up!

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Summary: A Disappointing Book
Review: For a high-powered big-city lawyer, Ellie was too stupid to ask the obvious questions during her investigation. The situation where she had to live with the Fisher family was contrived. And why is it that to make a story more "interesting," the lawyer must become personally involved with friends or family, including sleeping with witnesses? After all, Perry Mason did a fantastic job as a lawyer, and he defended total strangers and never behaved improperly with any of them. This book is more of a Harlequin romance than a mystery.

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Summary: Plain Dreary Amish Book
Review: Having settled myself on a long flight with this book, I had hoped for an engrossing look into the Amish culture. Wrong! This book proved long, very long. It also was depressing and dull. I have read Beverly Lewis several books with Amish settings and all have been delightful. But this book by Jodi Picolet was uncompromisingly critical of the Amish culture and although billed as a mystery, there was no mystery to be had. One can only wonder if the author was at all familiar with the Amish people. I was left with the uncomfortable feeling that she didn't like nor understand the Amish. The book went on and on, but did not ever catch the ambiance of its locale. Having lived in Lancaster County for some years, I can assure you the book doesn't ring true. I was disappointed I wasted my money and time. Dorothy King

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Summary: A definite MUST READ!
Review: After having read "The Pact" and "Keeping Faith", I could not wait to beging "Plain Truth" and, let me tell you, it was completed in no more than 2 days! Set in an Amish community, Picoult captures Amish life with much accuracy and detail and the court-room drama kept my fingers itching to continue to turn the pages of this incredible novel. This page turning book succeeds in keeping the reader engrossed, as the life and secrets of Katie unravel. When the reader thinks all secrets are revealed, think again!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A great book
Review: After Keeping Faith, I wanted more of Jodi Picoult. Plain Truth ranked right up there. Plain Truth is about Katie Fisher, an Amish girl, charged with the murder of her baby. Katie claims the baby was not hers, that she wasn't pregnant, but all evidence points otherwise. Meanwhile, Ellie Hathaway, a big-city attorney fed up with her job and her man, comes to Paradise, Penn., for some R&R and is asked, because she just happens to be part of the family, to represent Katie. Ellie's personal battles are coupled with those in Katie's family who do not understand nor welcome the legal system. The reader is introduced, via Ellie who lives with the Fishers, to the Amish way of life. Ms. Picoult's representation and descriptions of the Amish is, as has been in other reviews, wonderful. This book has it all, suspense, romance, courtroom drama (which Ms. Picoult portrays wonderfully in several of her books) perhaps even murder. The reader moves from believing Katie to hating Katie to feeling sorry for her. And the friendship that develops between Katie and Ellie shows a bond that transcends two totally different worlds. To sum up, the pages seem to turn themselves.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: After reading Keeping Faith, I wanted to read more of Ms. Picoult's books. This one was even better. It's about a high-powered attorney who is sick of her life and her man and escapes to Amish country to stay with a relative. Once there, her attorney skills are called on to represent an Amish girl, distantly related to her, accused of murdering her newborn baby. Her client, and her client's family, are not welcoming of her services and do not understand that, although they live in the "Plain" world, this is the "real" world's court system. The two develop a friendship that is about more than religion, ages and belief systems. There are a lot of stories within this story and they all come together to make a great novel.

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Summary: Implausible story with much potential
Review: This was my first novel by this author and I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed and frustrated. The story was intriguing and I was compelled to finish it, but many parts (besides what has already been mentioned in previous reviews) were very difficult to swallow. I am a prosecutor, so perhaps my eye was too critical, but the legal aspects of the novel were no where close to being accurate. The most glaring mistakes included Ellie calling her opening statement an "opening argument" which any lawyer knows is inaccurate - one is specifically prohibited from arguing during an opening statement. Another huge gaffe was having the prosecutor talk about the defendant's testimony in his opening statement! Any prosecutor who does that would get an instant mistrial - everyone knows that a criminal defendant is not obligated to testify in his/her own defense and any prosecutor who talks, in an opening statement, about the defendant's testimony is either incompetent or unethical. At the very least, this should have drawn a vehement objection from the supposed "hot shot" defense attorney. There were several mistakes like this, but another inconsistency had to do with (without spoiling the "surprise" ending) the milk - why did Ellie not think that this related to herself in any way? The aspects related to Amish life and culture were interesting, and no doubt accurate, but the rest was too predictable and unbelievable.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I'm afraid that I found this book not nearly as good as it could have been. The characters are insufficently filled in, and the storyline just doesn't work for me. There are numerous inconsistencies throughout the book (one example; they make a point of saying there *are* no closets in the bedrooms, then the size 7 shoes magically appear in "Katie's closet"). I never really understood why the Lizzie character was in the story, except as a sort of contrast to Ellie, and I found their snipping at each other totally unrealistic. And if I read one more time that Katie's hands were "small and calloused" I was going to scream;) I live about an hour away from Lancaster and have visited the area several times. The author's portrayal of their lifestyle today may be fairly accurate, but I found her numerous pop-culture references gratuitous.