Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. The way she approaches sensitive topics such as stem-cell research, the right to die, teen suicide, etc., fascinates me.
The sensitive issue in this book is date rape. Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone recently fell in love for the first time. When Jason broke up with her, all she wanted was to get him back. She goes to a party at her friend Zephyr’s house with that goal in mind. But she gets much more than she bargained for.
Daniel Stone adores his daughter. He is a stay-at-home dad and the artist/author of graphic novels (in fact, there are several scenes from his graphic novels throughout the book; I’m not really into that sort of thing, but it’s rather unique and interesting). He will do anything to protect his daughter.
Laura Stone teaches Dante’s Inferno at a local college. Now she is going through her own personal hell. She is experiencing an extreme amount of guilt not only about her daughter’s rape, but also about a recent affair she had with one of her students. Maybe if she hadn’t been so distracted with that, she would have kept a closer eye on her daughter. . .
Trixie reports the rape, but her case doesn’t look good. The night of the rape, she was drinking, lap-dancing, and playing strip poker. Not only that, but there are some inconsistencies in her story. Her parents don’t doubt her for a second, but she’s a pariah at school.
This is more than Trixie can handle, and she runs away to Alaska, where her father grew up. Trixie’s parents go to Alaska to find her, forcing Daniel to confront past demons. His childhood was not pleasant. Outcast for being the only white boy in an Eskimo village, accused at one point of murdering his best friend, Daniel swore he’d never go back. But he realizes now that he would hole up in the Alaskan bush forever if that’s what it took to keep his daughter safe.
So, all sorts of issues here–good parenting and when to let you of your child, revenge, date rape and the pain of adolescence in general, and having the courage to confront your past demons. How far would you go to protect your child? This is one of the main questions the book asks.
Since Laura is the classics professor, the book mentions Dante’s levels of hell quite a bit. At one level, one’s entire lower half is frozen in ice. This is a good level for hell, I think, because besides the actual unpleasantness of being frozen in the ice, you are helpless to do anything. I personally can’t think of anything worse than being in a bad situation and not being able to do anything about it. Dante has nine levels of hell. Laura thinks there should be a tenth level, which would be reserved for people who lie to themselves. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t be there if that were the case, since everyone does that on occasion, though some people are better at it than others. Laura’s profession has to be one of the more depressing ones–focusing entirely on one conception of hell.
