About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Jodi Picoult is known for combining controversial issues, courtroom scenes and family drama. In House Rules, a boy with Asperger's syndrome is accused of murder. Picoult shifts viewpoints and examines the prejudices surrounding the boy's social disability. While the subject is interesting and the writing is easy to read, the plot is ultimately a little thin and disappoints in the end.

This is not Picoult's best, but may satisfy new Picoult readers and her loyal fans.

Pros

• This is an easy to read page turner.
• Picoult personalizes what it would mean to have Asperger's Syndrome.

Cons

• The murder mystery is ridiculously easy for the reader to figure out.
• The ending is a let down: no twist for those who figured out the mystery;no closure on other threads
• More "telling" than "showing" in the novel.
• Unrealistically self-aware chapters from the character with Asperger's.

Description

• 'House Rules' by Jodi Picoult will be released March 2, 2010.
• Publisher: Atria
• 544 pages

Guide Review - 'House Rules' by Jodi Picoult - Book Review

Are you new to Jodi Picoult? If you are, here's what I recommend doing: check out this list of all Jodi Picoult's books. Figure out what subject interests you the most -- childhood cancer, teen suicide, school shootings, Asperger's Syndrome. Read that book. I recommend approaching Picoult this way because even though she takes on a new topic in each of her novels, the style and characters remain largely the same.

Each chapter shifts viewpoints. There is a martyr mother, a child who has the main issue, a sibling with a secret, destructive issue (that's right, even if you choose a subject like cancer, you will get a bonus plot thread of pyromania or bulimia or shoplifting). The first time I read Picoult, I was drawn into the drama. In each subsequent book, however, the formula has impressed me less and less. You might as well start with a book about a subject you are sure to enjoy.

That being said, how does House Rules stack up to Picoult's other books? In House Rules, Picoult introduces a character with Asperger's Syndrome who is obsessed with forensic analysis. When his tutor turns up dead, he becomes a prime suspect in the murder. There are two ways you might judge this novel: 1) As a murder mystery, 2) As a glimpse into the life of people with Asperger's Syndrome.

I solved the murder mystery before Jacob (the character with Asperger's) was arrested. I assumed Picoult did not mean to keep the solution to the murder a secret because it seemed so obvious. The novel moved forward for me because I wanted to see the repercussions of other characters discovering the truth about the murder, not because I needed to find out for myself. I was disappointed, then, when the solution to the case ended up being Picoult's trademark end-of-book twist. The book ends right after readers find out what really happened. There is no explanation of how this revelation changes things for any of the characters. Consequently, I felt as if all the threads that kept me interested were left unresolved.

How, then, does the book measure up as a portrait of Asperger's? On the one hand, Picoult has clearly done her research, and there are many long explanations from each of the characters about what it means to have Asperger's. Unfortunately, there is more "telling" about the disease than "showing." Yes, we see Jacob's outbursts. But the novel is weighted toward characters discussing Jacob and remembering life with him rather than demonstrating Asperger's through plot. Furthermore, Jacob's chapters seem to contradict some of what we hear about his syndrome. He is extremely self-aware in his first-person narratives. I had trouble believing that a character who was so self-aware would make the decisions and mistakes Jacob made surrounding the murder.

Overall, House Rules was not painful, but it is not a book I would recommend. (If you want an excellent book about a character with autism, try The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time).