Sing You Home: Book summary and reviews of Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

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S. L. B.

Song of the Masters
I got this because it talked about homosexuality but the book is more than just that...there is so much to love about the book. It is a story about a woman trying with all her might to have a baby....falling in love, being torn in her feelings. Other people and yes, I got so angry with certain parts of it but isn't it a good sign of the book when it makes you feel something? I highly recommend this book and when I was at a garage sale the other day and the woman was selling a Jodi Picoult book, you bet I bought it.

Marianne V

Another excellent Picoult
Sing You Home is Jodi Picoult’s 18th novel. As always, Picoult deals with big issues. This time it is homosexuality and the attitude of society, government and, in particular, organised religion, to those who are openly homosexual. But other issues also make an appearance: as Picoult herself says, this book is about a lot of things. This novel details the single-mindedness, the almost obsessive lengths to which some people will go to overcome infertility. It asks about the fate of frozen embryos: are they people or property? Who has rights over them when a marriage breaks up? It touches on the importance of music in our lives. It examines in detail the arguments of certain religious leaders against homosexuality: the faulty logic, the quotation of scriptures out of their historical context, the convenient interpretation of biblical quotes, the power of charismatic preachers. Most of all, this novel asks the question: what is a family? As she usually does, Picoult tells the story in voices: in this case, Zoe, who has spent ten years trying to have a baby; Max, her husband, who has finally had enough, divorces her and finds God; and Vanessa, a guidance counselor who becomes Zoe’s friend and eventually, her lover. As with all of Picoult’s novels, this one is thought-provoking and highly enjoyable: an excellent read!

Catherine

Good idea - but poorly executed - a lot of LGBTQ stereotypes
I never feel the need to write reviews and I've read nearly almost all of Jodi Picoults work, some are incredibly moving and great, others not so.
However this one, whilst I could see the moral conflict here and enjoyed the story, I think the author should have spent more time with someone from the LGBT community.
A lot of the relationships and descriptions of the women were very stereotypical. The homophobic comments from the Christian side were not triggering as that is expected, but the language used to describe a gay relationship by the author, was triggering.
For example, a loving partner would never, ever refer to their wife as a dyke. There was also an interaction between the two women which was very transphobic, then the added insult of sexual harassment just emphasises the prejudice that gay people face on the daily. (I felt this was unnecessary - unrelated to the story - and was a chapter that didn't need to be added).
Like I said, if these were made by the evangelical Christians I could have read them and moved on, but the author wants you to feel the pain and life of the two women, and I spent the whole book feeling like "this is a lesbian couple written by a straight woman who has never met or talked to a lesbian."

I was excited to read this as it's the first representation of a gay relationship, however I thought Jodi let herself down, and all it needed was some more in-depth research, other than a few Google searches about what lesbians like and don't like.

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