4 stars
Jodi Picoult
When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated--she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. Every expectant parent will tell you that they don't want a perfect baby, just a healthy one. Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe would have asked for a healthy baby, too, if they'd been given the choice. Instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, the pitying stares of "luckier" parents, and maybe worst of all, the what-ifs. What if their child had been born healthy? But it's all worth it because Willow is, funny as it seems, perfect. She's smart as a whip, on her way to being as pretty as her mother, kind, brave, and for a five-year-old an unexpectedly deep source of wisdom. Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and her husband to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow's illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more. What constitutes a valuable life?
This is book I wouldn't have thought about reading, but I got the recommendation from one my friends. Boy was she right! I fell in love with this book, it was emotionally riveting and had me questioning life itself. There story is told from six different points of view Charlotte (Willow's Mom), Sean (Willow's Dad), Amelia (Willow's Sister), Piper (Charlotte's best friend/Obstetrician), Marian Gates (Charlotte's Attorney), and lastly Willow herself for a brief chapter. You meet Willow through everyone's eyes seeing how she represents something different to everyone. Charlotte wants to protect her, Sean wants to provide for her, Amelia just wants to be noticed by her parents, Piper thought she did what was best for her patients, while Marian deals with being on the other side of not being wanted and searching for her birth mother. From the beginning it was hard for the O'keefe's with Willow's disability, but when they visit an attorney's office and discover maybe they can provide a better life for Willow they jump at the chance. But things are not always what they seem and in pursuit of getting what they need they tear apart their lives. Charlotte loses not only her best friend, but her husband and her other daughter. Sean sees this as all wrong he loves Willow and doesn't support the law suit. Amelia doesn't know how to deal with all of it, and heads down a twisted path that only hams her more. Piper's entire life is torn apart she questions everything that has ever made her a doctor she asks all the what-ifs, Marian ends up finding out you don't always want to know the answer. The theme of this book was breaking; broken bones, broken friendships, broken families, broken marriages (even a broken heart...mine). Let me tell you this though, you will never see the ending coming. Through it all you bear witness that to get what you want in life you just might end of destroying everything that makes you, well you.
