Book Review: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

February 20, 2013

I picked up Plain Truth a couple years ago after watching the movie, My Sister’s Keeper, and subsequently reading the book of the same title. I had decided to read all of Picoult’s novels, because I was so moved by My Sister’s Keeper. 
 
Plain Truth is probably my favorite novel by Jodi Picoult. I couldn’t put this one down. It has just the right amount of mystery mixed with a whirlwind of emotion, and it’s all set in an Amish community.
 
I loved this novel so much, I chose it for this month’s title for the North Platte R1 High School’s Teen Book Club. We will be discussing it on February 28th, and I am really looking forward to finding out what the students thought of it.
 
Without giving too much away, the novel starts out with a murder in an Amish community. What makes it so shocking (other than the fact that it takes place in an Amish community, of all places) is the fact that the victim is a newborn infant, and the suspect is an unmarried Amish teenager, believed to be the infant’s mother.
 
The story is about the investigation and search for the truth. You don’t have to know a lot about Amish culture in order to understand the book. The suspect’s attorney learns it all right along with the reader. The outcome was a shock!
 
I really enjoyed this book the first and second time I read it! I highly recommend it. And, the movie is good too!
 
Jordan P.
Edgerton Branch