I promise I really do read other authors, however when I go through my Jodi phases I read two or three books of hers at once and it is a huge treat (I have yet another one I have read this month that I will write on too! hehe). I was very happy when I got this book in the mail. First of all it was special because it was a signed copy that my boyfriend had signed, and I got it in a time before I was flooded with Grad school reading and a packed schedule. Keeping Faith is a beautiful story about how strong the power of faith can be, that often believing in something, in anything, has a beautiful and immense power itself. The book struck a chord with me because hardships endured childhood, often force children to find creative methods to cope. Children have an incredible way of finding faith, whether it manifests through a religious belief, a God, or finding the silver linings in daily life. Faith, the main character, a young girl, who has found companionship in her own God, a female Guardian in whom she confides in and also manifests herself possibly through Faith to save people. This aspect of the book was written so intricately that it pushes the reader to consider religion, the world beyond, and both have confidence but also question Faith. The use of "faith" as both the noun and the verb is a further literary element that works as a vehicle that makes the reader stop and look around and as always to think. There is never an answer with Jodi Picoult, which makes her work consistently compelling. Faith started seeing her Guardian shortly before she also encountered her father with another woman. As any young girl she didn't understand the complexities of what she had just seen, she only understood the effect it had on her own mother's emotions but also thought she may have been at fault for the separation of her parents. Soon after, her visions and the benefits of saving people's lives, put Faith in the center of a public sphere. She experiences extreme episodes where she falls very sick and after being able to the bring her grandmother back to life. People came to see her in hopes of their lives being saved, and she even inspired atheist Ian Fletcher, a religion debunker and entertainer to come to her and attempt to prove her visions wrong. The extreme exposure of a young girl draws attention also to the lawsuit of child custody she is part of. Faith's cheating father files for the custody of Faith, and the lawyer claims the mother is hurting Faith, in order to draw attention to herself indirectly. The book begs you to think about religion, mental health, and law. It is raw and evokes emotion and thought.
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Josephine Bush-Colorado State University Undergraduate Archives
June 2017
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