Overall rating and opinion of Defending Jacob
- gali
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Overall rating and opinion of Defending Jacob
How did you like the book? What do you like most? What do you like least? Would you recommend the book for others to read? Why or why not?
-- September 3rd, 2015, 4:19 pm --
I am reading it right now and enjoy it so far, though some parts do drag out. It certainly raises some interesting questions (such as how far a parent would go to protect his child). I am also curios to find out whether the kid is guilty or not.
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- bookowlie
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My favorite parts of the book are the main character Andy's reactions and behavior. It was a really good plot device that he is the Assistant D.A. and has to grapple with ethical questions about protecting his son. The case gets taken out of his hands early on in the investigation for obvious reasons. Still, it's fascinating to watch Andy as he uncovers little pieces of evidence that may or may not be pertinent, and how he deals with it. Andy's wife Laurie slowly deteriorates from the stress as any mother would. I liked seeing how the two parents reacted differently over the course of the book. Everything was so realistic that I felt like I was reading a true story.
I liked how the author made their son Ben, the suspect, a relatively minor, less fleshed out character. This way I was able to view the investigation like a detective would.
My least favorite parts were the sections about whether there can be a genetic predisposition to violence and if violence runs in Andy's family on his father's side. I'm sure these sections will be interesting to many readers. However, I thought these parts of the story were too clinical and dragged a bit.
I am not going to discuss my thoughts about the ending as I'm sure many members haven't finished the book yet. Maybe we can discuss what we think about the ending later in a week or so.
- ashley_claire
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My eyes glazed over a bit every time a teenager had dialogue. They all had exactly the same voice and there were only so many times I could take reading "like, you know". I know teenagers aren't the most forthcoming or eloquent, but all I could think about was that the author was trying too hard to sound like a stereotypical teenager.
I actually didn't mind the ending, it certainly leaves a lot open for discussion. Possible spoiler~ I still have no idea whether I think Ben did it or not.
- bookowlie
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Interesting points! I thought it was clear whether Ben did it or not, although I am not going to give a spoiler right now. The author used a subtle way of giving the answer, in my opniion. As for Laurie, I think the stress of the investigation took its toll on her marriage; finding out about Andy's family history was just another straw that "weakened the camel's back."ashley_claire wrote:I started out really enjoying this book, but liked it less and less as it went on. I couldn't relate to Laurie and how she reacted when finding out about Andy's family history. It would take a lot more than that to question the entire 30 year relationship I had with my spouse.
My eyes glazed over a bit every time a teenager had dialogue. They all had exactly the same voice and there were only so many times I could take reading "like, you know". I know teenagers aren't the most forthcoming or eloquent, but all I could think about was that the author was trying too hard to sound like a stereotypical teenager.
I actually didn't mind the ending, it certainly leaves a lot open for discussion. Possible spoiler~ I still have no idea whether I think Ben did it or not.
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The grief-stunned family was next door in the living room, old grandmas, baby cousins.
I knocked, opened it, poked my head in to peek around.
He nodded, looked off toward the center of the room, disappointed.
AND! AND! AND! AND!
I'm sure I may sound like a whiner, but as I've gotten older, I've become more discerning, and this sort of thing bugs me. I know the author knows about the word "and." I think it's become trendy to write this way, but I don't care for it at all.
If I make it further, I'll share my thoughts about the story itself, which the above isn't really a reflection of.
- gali
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If you want to discuses specifics (aka spoilers), you can open a new thread.
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- bookowlie
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- gali
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bookowlie wrote:Gali, I agree that Andy was annoying at times. I think the author purposely made Jacob a vague, less redeveloped character. This way the readers wouldn't get to know him enough to form their opinion of his guilt from knowing him "personally", other than from his parents' thoughts and the evidence.
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"In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer J. Adler)
- bookowlie
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- lmmallia
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This time I enjoyed the book much more. I think it is because I have kids of my own now so as I read it I was also thinking about what I would do if I were in that situation with one of my children.
I agree with Gali on her comments about Laurie. I felt like her character kind of waffled back and forth in the book which I'm sure was intentional to show her inner struggle about her feelings of Jacob's innocence but I didn't find it very convincing.
This is kind of random but did this book remind anyone else of that guy who the police thought was involved in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba? I looked up the dates and this book was written after both incidents so I wondered if maybe William Landay drew on that story for inspiration.
I found it pretty suspenseful and I enjoyed it. I rate it 3 stars.
- bookowlie
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I also wondered if a true crime was the inspiration for this book. I didn't think of the Natalee Holloway case. I wondered if there was a case involving a teenager committing a murder against a child.
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