Jodi Picoult's Keeping Faith and The Pact

Written by Michelle Poole
Published December 20, 2004

Having tons of time to read on the train but little idea about what I would enjoy, I gave Jodi Picoult a try based on a recommendation by Stephen King. No, we're not buddies, I found his endorsement of this author online. I read Keeping Faith a few weeks ago and have just finished The Pact. This is not great literature that is going to win awards, and yet, there's really something gripping about this novelist and her work.


Keeping Faith begins when Mariah White finds her husband Colin cheating on her in their own home for the second time in their marriage. Her seven year old daughter, Faith, witnesses the entire event and is understandably upset. Colin and Mariah separate, Mariah becomes depressed and withdrawn, and then Faith supposedly starts seeing God and showing signs of stigmata. After Faith performs several alleged miracles, people start camping outside of the White's house in hopes of seeing Faith, being healed, etc. At this point, Ian Fletcher, hard core Atheist and host of a TV show known for blowing the cover off of so called "miracles," starts tracking the family. He wants to expose the fact that Mariah is somehow using her child to gain attention, but then unwittingly falls in love with Mariah. Colin, who had been in Las Vegas getting married to his new lover, finds out about the circus surrounding his daughter and sues for custody.

Sounds corny, melodramatic, and completely over the top, right? At the outset, this storyline IS ridiculously cheesy (I got really nervous on page two when I learned the daughter's name is "Faith" and recognized the blatant use of the pun in the title), and yet somehow, Picoult brings these characters and their story to life in a way that not many authors are capable of, and pulls off a great page turner. The only explanation I have for someone who can take a schmaltzy story and turn it into an amazingly engrossing read is that the individual is a very gifted writer.

After finishing Keeping Faith (go read the book to find out if Faith is really a stigmatic or not, if Mariah gets romantically involved with the "anti-televangelist" and whether she wins custody of her daughter), I immediately went out and purchased another Picoult novel. I had to know if Keeping Faith, was a fluke or if all of her books were going to be a great read.

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Keeping Faith: A Novel Keeping Faith: A Novel
Jodi Picoult
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The Pact: A Love Story The Pact: A Love Story
Jodi Picoult
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Jodi Picoult's Keeping Faith and The Pact
Published: December 20, 2004
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Section: Books
Filed Under: Books: Entertainment, Books: Literature and Fiction, Books: Original Fiction, Books: Spirituality
Writer: Michelle Poole
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Comments

#1 — August 20, 2005 @ 11:40AM — Charis

I love Picoult's books! I have gone through 6 of them and waiting to continue more!! I really like My sister's keeper.

#2 — August 30, 2005 @ 20:59PM — carolyn jones

I am amazed that a person of Picoult's credentials/popularity could publish a novel so insulting to reasonably educateed readers. For example, in the courtroom scene..the Dartmouth professor who'probably knew who Dali was all along.." Really, is he so obscure a painter that would be surprising? This novel is trite, saturated with lousy metaphors, stereotypical characters and even names, LInwood Karpagian. Please. This is not literature because it is not literate.

#3 — October 5, 2005 @ 20:48PM — Maria

I adored The Pact!! I couldn't put it down!

#4 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:17AM — Anna K [URL]

I loved My Sister's Keeper. How you got the perspective form all the characters was so interesting. The plot kept you interested from the first page to the last. The ending was very sad and I dont think anyone expected it.

#5 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:17AM — Breanna [URL]

I enjoyed reading My Sister's keeper I just couldn't put it down. The only thing that I wish didn't happen was that Anna couldn't live on with her sisteer in order for the faamily to bee happy it seemed that one of the sisters had to die. Other than that I really enjoyed this authors way of creaatign a story.

#6 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:19AM — Breanna [URL]

I enjoyed reading My Sister's keeper I just couldn't put it down. The only thing that I wish didn't happen was that Anna couldn't live on with her sister in order for the family to be happy it seemed that one of the sisters had to die. Other than that I really enjoyed this authors way of creating a story.

#7 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:26AM — Melissa

I loved My Sister's Keeper I couldn't put it down. I nevervthought it would end the way it did. I think that everyone should read it at one point in their life time. I cant wait to read more of Picoult's books.

#8 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:29AM — shaina [URL]

i liked the book my sisters keeper but i hated the ending, maybe im weird but its not what i wanted to happen so it really changed my opinion of the book.

#9 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:29AM — Bri

I loveed reading My Sister's Keeper. I was one of those books tat you just can't put down. I loved how each chapter was told by a different characters point of veiw, because then you find out how each person was feeling. It was a very emotional book, most people disagreed with the ending, but I thought that was the only way the book could end, was if Anna or Kate died. I do admit i cried my eyes out, it is amazing how emotionally connected you can become to a book

#10 — November 2, 2005 @ 10:36AM — Alicia

I enjoyed My Sisters Keeper, but it deffinitally was not was i expected to happen. I do agree with a comment metioned before, that one of the sisters had to die in order for the family to be happy.But in the beggining of the book it seemed that it was because of kate that anna was alive and through out the book, kate was alive because of anna but yet they just couldnt be happy together in the same family. All in all i think the book was 'touching' in its own way and could catch a variety of peoples interest.

#11 — November 2, 2005 @ 18:17PM — Lena

I didn't like My Sister's Keeper...I thought it was far too morbid, and the ending deliberately hit below the belt. After reading this blog I might try another of Picoult's books, though.

#12 — November 3, 2005 @ 05:27AM — Nancy [URL]

Picoult takes these hot-button issues (Salem Falls=witch hunt for a supposed pedofile, Mercy=Euthanasia for much loved, dying wife at her request)and demonstrates all sorts of pyrotechnics that put forth several sides of the public arguement on the issues while steering a middle-road herself.

She has an uncanny ability to display some element to further the plot, and after you think you know where she's taking you, twist it again--she does this over and over in her books, taking the reader in an unexpected direction each time. That element alone makes her a pleasure to read.

#13 — May 10, 2006 @ 14:29PM — Sarah Michelle De Pere HS

Ive finished My Sister's Keeper (be aware there are spoilers!) and I absolutly loved it! I could definetly feel for most of the characters and the way Jodi wrote really made them come alive. From reading other message boards, I feel there are a few things I should say. First of all the prologue could have been Kate speaking instead of Anna, which I just assumed was Anna because she was stronger than Kate (since Kate was sick). This really opened my mind to their entire relationship. Kate and Anna are basically each other's only friends, as Kate tells Anna when she's in the shower and they are being torn apart by Kate's unavoidable illness and Anna's wish to be her own person.

Many people on the forums seemed to sympathize with Sara, which I NEVER would have agreed with until I actually finished the book. Since we never know what Sara is thinking in the present until later in the book, she seems to have quite an agenda: to save Kate at any cost. It isn't until the end, when she and the family allow Anna to die (instead of keeping her alive to become a tree of organs for Kate) that I understand her completely. It isn't that Sara used Anna without the same love she gave Kate, but that Anna had something that Sara needed. Any parent who loved their kid would have probably done the same thing.

#14 — July 13, 2006 @ 13:36PM — Jahné

I loved reading My Sisters Keeper...that book was the best thing I have ever read. It was very suspenseful and when I got to the end, I cried. That book took me on an emotional rollercoaster and I absolutely adored it. Anyone who has not read it should go and invest in it becasue it was great!

#15 — March 25, 2008 @ 05:59AM — Ellie Humphryes

In which chapter does picoult talk about Faith knowing "we'll see" always means "no".. etc.. this is my favourite part except i cannot find it.

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