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MAD HONEY
Jodi Picoult
Jennifer Finley Boylan
Ballantine
464 Pages
It’s been a long time since I have picked up a book by Jodi Picoult. I used to be a big fan but after a few years I found that the books were becoming formulaic. I was hearing good things about Mad Honey, I thought I would give it a try.
In a nutshell, this book is about a teenage boy whose girlfriend is found dead and he is charged with her murder. Much of the book is set in the courtroom. There are alternating viewpoints by the boy’s mother and his girlfriend. The mother’s viewpoint, in the present, goes forward. The girlfriend’s timeline starts in the present, and goes backward. Yet, in each viewpoint, the timelines actually jump around. At times I found this writing style affected the cohesiveness of the plot. But, by the time I finished the book, it was fine.
Besides the death and subsequent murder trial, the story featured domestic violence and transgenderism. I was not sure if that is an actual word. I looked it up, it is.
There is a huge subplot about beekeeping and honey. I am not someone who looks for hidden imagery or meanings in books. If there is supposed to be a correlation between the bees and the main plot, it went over my head. If there was relevant imagery, I missed it. This is not a criticism is the book. I did enjoy learning about beekeeping, something I knew very little about.
This book was an eye opener to what life is like for a transgender person or child. I also learned a lot about what transgender truly means. Sadly, I also learned how cruel and hateful people can be because they do not take the time to understand.
Jodi Picoult wrote the part of Olivia, the boy’s mother. Jennifer Finney Boylan, wrote the part of Lily, the girlfriend who died. I think I figured out which author was responsible for which parts but they worked together to make it seamless.
I appreciated the Authors’ Notes, one by each writer, at the end of the book. It was interesting to learn how the book came to exist. And, I enjoyed reading about how they made the collaboration work.
A very interesting read.
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