Book Review

“Between the Lines”

by Jodi Piccoult

    Ok, I admit it. I love Jodi Piccoult. Her realistic fiction always makes me cry and laugh out loud. But more importantly, the issues she tackles in her stories usually cause me to pause and think about life in a  different way, opening my mind to questions and ideas that I hadn’t considered. I often find myself awake at night long after I have closed her books, feeling my brain on fire with possibilities and questioning my own beliefs.

    When I learned that she was writing a fiction novel with her daughter, I had to have this book as soon as possible. My own daughter spends more time than I ever did at her age writing until she can write no more. She will likely be published before I am, and I could not be more proud of that. It was so much fun to read this book together, knowing that Jodi and her teenage daughter sat side by side writing it together. Long after we closed the book, we sat and dreamt up our own stories we could create together.

     “Between the Lines” is a fiction story of a girl named Delilah who is somewhat of a loner. She has few friends and would rather spend all her time reading. Right away, I like this girl. She reminds me of myself and my own daughter. She begins to read an unconventional fairy tale. The characters within the story are real people and the main character, Oliver, longs for freedom and love. He begins talking to Delilah between the lines of the story and she falls in love with him. It is Delilah’s job to help him obtain that freedom as she becomes a part of the story itself.

     Although this book is written for a YA audience and does not deal with the same heavy subjects that Piccoult’s other fiction stories explore, it was an intense and fun experience and easy to read in one sitting.