Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, there were some tests that were recommended to my husband and me early on in our first trimester.  Not due to my age or any specific concerns -- they were simply routine tests designed to identify or rule out health problems or birth defects.  I hemmed and hawed over these tests.  They were not medically necessary and I was still in my pre-birth idyllic frame of mind in which I wished to keep my pregnancy free of any unnecessary invasions.  And I felt certain that nothing was "wrong" with our baby.  But I also couldn't help but wonder what I'd do if something was detected that was cause for alarm.  We were pregnant with a baby we had absolutely planned for and whom we wanted more than anything in the world. If a test told us something was wrong with our baby, what would we do?  For me, I came to the conclusion that I would do nothing so I felt that the tests were not important.  We elected to opt out of the first trimester tests, with complete support from our midwife.  In our second trimester, there was another round of routine tests which we did undertake and, fortunately, they came back fine.  We went on to deliver the most beautiful, perfectly healthy baby girl who has since grown in to a lively and lovely almost three year old.


What do you do if you are not so fortunate?  What if tests or ultrasounds conclude that your beloved baby will be born with a condition or illness that will cause them pain for their entire life and greatly restrict the quality of life they have?  What if this condition requires so much of you, as a parent, that you would be forced to give up nearly every recognizable aspect of your life and yourself in order to care for your child?  How do you decide how much of a life is worth living? 


In Jodi Picoult's Handle With Care, we follow the life of Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe's daughter, Willow, who was born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta.  Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is also known as brittle bone disease.  It means that Willow will suffer hundreds and hundreds of bone breaks in her lifetime.  It means that playing at the playground or skating on the pond with her big sister are absolutely out of the question.  One trip, one fall will leave Willow literally shattered for months.  As such, Willow's childhood resembles nothing of the typical, whimsical childhoods parents envision and dream about for their children.  


Charlotte leaves a successful career as a well-known pastry chef behind to care for Willow full time.  Sean works around the clock to try to keep up with mounting medical bills and expenses.  Though struggling financially and burdened by fear and the restrictions that OI imposes upon their family, the O'Keefes are a happy family.  They do their best to balance their joys and struggles and somehow they manage just fine.  But, following an ill-fated family vacation and an initially innocent meeting with a lawyer, the O'Keefes find themselves divided over the deeply controversial concept of wrongful birth.  What results is Charlotte and Sean becoming so consumed with their anger toward one another, and their vastly opposing viewpoints, that they fail to notice that their older daughter, Amelia, is lost in the shuffle and drifting down a very dangerous path.  And whereas Charlotte has convinced herself that Willow will know the truth despite what her mother tells a jury, Sean is not so certain.  One by one, Charlotte alienates her loved ones and becomes so single-minded and determined that you wonder what she'll have left in the end.


As I discussed in my Sing You Home review, I enjoy Jodi Picoult's novels so much because they are very real.  Simple happy stories or tales that run in to a little trouble but which are wrapped up in a pretty bow at the end are not her style.  I could mention any of the books of hers that I have read in a group and the crowd would likely immediately become passionate and argumentative.  Certainly Handle With Care has the power to divide a group.  Though I could intellectually understand the legal concept of wrongful birth, I also found it incredibly difficult to rationalize it in my heart.  There were moments in the book when I felt I understood Charlotte's obsession and her motivation.  But there were other times when I felt overwhelmingly frustrated by how far off track I felt she'd become.  I love how Picoult weaved medical ethics and personal politics together in Handle With Care.  And though I wanted more from the ending, and in spite of the fact that it made me terribly sad, I have a deep appreciate for Picoult's style and I loved Handle With Care.