Book Summary and Reviews of Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

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Miranda

The gripping human story
Superior literary fiction in a gripping human story.Once you start, you will struggle to put it down.This page-turner will keep you wondering. An absorbing read. Full of suspense and tension. A compelling and exciting read. A terrific page-turner about s compelling subject.

Shelby

Amazing
This is one of the best books I have read in a while, I read it over and over.

Janie-Hickok-Siess

A Story to Which I Relate Because of My Unique Perspective
As soon as I learned that acclaimed author Jodi Picoult had penned a novel focused on the issue of end-of-life decision-making, I knew that I would be reading it as soon as it was published. I am a member of a very exclusive fraternity: I am among the handful of attorneys in this country who have successfully litigated such a case. From 1995 to 2001, I represented Florence Wendland and her daughter, Rebekah Vinson, in their quest to prevent Robert Wendland’s wife from directing that his feeding tube be removed, thereby ending his life. In August 2001, the California Supreme Court agreed with my clients, ruling in Conservatorship of Wendland that Robert’s wife had not sustained her burden of proof that Robert, who sustained an anoxic brain injury in 1993 at the age of 42, would have wanted to die by dehydration and starvation. Sadly, by the time the Court issued its precedential decision, Robert had died the previous month, ostensibly from pneumonia.

PIcoult says, "The book began for me with a premise about the right to die and what happens when you have equal competing interests trying to make a decision about the health care of a loved one who is in a vegetative state. I woke up one morning thinking about wolves and realized that wolf packs function as families. Everyone has a role, and if you act within the parameters of your role, the whole pack succeeds, and when that falls apart, so does the pack."

Picoult fans will not be disappointed with her treatment of the novel’s themes: Who should have the right to speak for and make medical treatment decisions for an incapacitated loved one? And what factors should be taken into account both in selecting the decision-maker and evaluating whether or not he/she is able to make decisions in good faith? In typical Picoult fashion, there are no heroes or villains in Lone Wolf, but there is a splintered family whose members are all damaged in their own way and keeping secrets from each other.

Picoult tells the story of Luke Warren using an inventive and extremely effective technique. By making Luke a man passionately devoted to wolves, Picoult is able to not only educate her readers about those fascinating creatures, but continually draw parallels between wolf and human behaviors. Once again, Picoult’s narration flawlessly alternates with each of her characters providing his/her own unique perspective on the action while relating their own and the family history, revealing important developments, secrets, and motivations at expertly timed intervals that keep readers not only guessing, but compelled to continue reading to learn more.

Particularly intriguing is the story of Luke, a man who abandoned his family for two full years in order to live in the wild without food or shelter in order to understand how wolves behave. Singularly consumed by his quest for knowledge about his chosen subject, Luke risked his own life, as well as the stability and well-being of his family over his wife’s vehement objections. Before leaving, he signed a brief, handwritten medical directive appointing his then-fifteen-year-old son his surrogate decision-maker in the event that the worst might come to pass. He also instructed Edward to let him go should he be devastatingly injured. But that was more than eight years earlier and for the past six years, Edward has had no relationship with Luke, factors that the court-appointed guardian and judge must take into account when formulating their recommendation and decision, respectively. That Edward has remained angry with his father in the ensuing years is beyond dispute, but is his anger fueling his desire to discontinue Luke’s life-sustaining medical treatment or are his motives actually altruistic, informed by his desire to carry out his father’s previously expressed wishes?

Cara is hiding a secret related to the auto accident, but equally convinced that her father would want them to allow him more time to recover. She scours the internet, noting every story about miracle cases in which people suddenly awoke from comas and resumed meaningful lives. Luke told her more than once that every life is deserving of a chance, and she will do anything to stop Edward from robbing Luke of his opportunity to return to them. But how far is Cara willing to go? And is she truly mature enough, at just three months shy of her eighteenth birthday, to appreciate and shoulder the burden of making such a momentous decision about her father’s treatment and future?

Cases like Conservatorship of Wendland stand for one all-important proposition: No family should ever find its members pitted against each other in a life-and-death battle for control of another’s destiny. No one, including the parties, lawyers, guardian, judges and justices, and the patient’s treatment team, emerges from such a fight unscathed. It is imperative that family members discuss their views on the question of when the delivery of medical treatment serves only to prolong a life that should otherwise be allowed to reach a dignified end, what quality of life is acceptable, and who should make decisions, based upon sound medical advice, when they are no longer capable of voicing their preferences. Those desires should be expressed unambiguously in writing, and communicated to loved ones, treating physicians, and spiritual advisers. Picoult wisely asks her readers, "Do you have a strong position on how end-of-life decisions should be handled? My position is, have a conversation long before you ever find yourself in that situation, because you will be doing the greatest service to your loved ones by not making them make these decisions for you."

In Lone Wolf, Picoult once again accomplishes exactly what her fans have come to expect: she sensitively and entertainingly looks at the issue from many angles, allowing her readers to learn about the topic and examine it for themselves without ever becoming preachy or judgmental. Picoult includes surprising plot twists that keep readers guessing right up to the very end, and does not shy away from her story, allowing it to reach a well-rationed conclusion, even though it may not be one with which all readers agree. Most importantly, Lone Wolf offers readers insight into the topic of end-of-life decision-making and the opportunity to begin that critical dialogue with loved ones. (It would make an excellent book club selection.) For that reason alone, were the book not particularly well-written, I would recommend it. But that is not the case. With believable and empathetic characters, crisply realistic dialogue, deft pacing, and command of the technical aspects of the topics evidencing thorough research, Lone Wolf marks another milestone in contemporary literature from one of America’s most popular authors. I highly recommend Lone Wolf.

Becky H

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
I loved the parts of this book that dealt with the wolves! I learned a lot about the pack: its members, their roles, their calls (howls), how they eat, etc.
The “humans” were just not as interesting, perhaps because Picoult has written this book before. (In MERCY, she tells of a mercy killing with many of the same themes found in Lone Wolf.) The slowly revealed lies and omissions of Luke and Georgie, and, most importantly, Edward and Cara make this book resonate with family drama over the bed of the badly injured Luke.
Joe, Dannie Boyle, Helen Bedd and Zirconia are interesting characters that I hope make further appearances in Picoult’s books.
Picoult writes fiction drawn from headlines with sympathetic characters that tug at emotions AND she does it well. You will find yourself trying to decide “what would I do” in a similar situation. She is careful to make all options appealing and defensible.
The final chapter of this book offers an additional dollop of “what is really happening here” that animal lovers will find intriguing.

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