Change of Heart is the third book of Picoult I read. None of them is easy to read for they involve a lot of digesting. This one involves the death penalty, either by lethal injection or hanging. Then there is the issue of sexual abuse of minors. It is further complicated by a heart transplant and a double murder. I have been living a very sheltered life, out of all of these, I have met a lady at an evangelistic meeting who related to me about her open heart surgery in a triple bypass.
In Change of Heart, we read about the lives of quite a number of people: June(the wife of the murdered officer), Claire (June's second daughter, the heart patient), Shay (the murderer), Maggie (the murderer's lawyer), Michael (the priest), and Grace (Shay's sister). Everyone of these characters are individuals, each very different from the others. June was like the perpetual victim, she lost her first husband through a car accident and her second by a murder. Her elder daughter was killed and the second one almost died of a defective heart.
Before this book, I have not thought one way or the other about the punishment of death by execution. Now I cannot say I object to it yet. But I will no longer say yes to it readily. As a book, I like the fact that Shay did managed to donate his heart to Claire and the latter received a second lease of life. It is a sort of happy ending. But in actual fact, Shay sacrificed his future by taking the imprisonment for his sister's act of arson. He accidentally killed Elizabeth in the attempt of protecting her from sexual abuse. But in staying silent, he accepted a death penalty for manslaughter. As if all these are not complex enough, religion and spiritual truths are heaped onto the mountain of issues. If you are looking for relaxation or entertainment, this is the book you should run away from!
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