Books › Handle with care
Handle with care
a novel
477 pages
An emotionally heavy, ethically complex exploration of the impossible choices parents make when love collides with the harsh realities of medical care.
What it feels like
This absorbing narrative pulls the reader into a heavy, emotionally fraught atmosphere where love and survival demand impossible choices. The pace is steady, allowing the profound moral dilemmas and psychological tension to fully take root as the story navigates the devastating intersection of medical ethics, personal morality, and the staggering cost of care. The prose is earnest and probing, refusing to shy away from the agonizing realities of chronic illness or the heartbreaking fractures it can cause in lifelong friendships. It is a deeply thought-provoking experience that asks uncomfortable questions about parental sacrifice and the value of life. This book will deeply resonate with readers who seek out serious, ethically complex family dramas that linger long after the final page.
- Mood
- heavy
- heart-wrenching
- tense
- thought-provoking
- Tone
- earnest
- probing
- serious
- empathetic
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- moral ambiguity · parental sacrifice · medical ethics · friendship and betrayal · the cost of care
- The writing
- Absorbing and emotionally direct, focusing heavily on the psychological weight of impossible choices.
- The arc
- Moves from the agonizing reality of chronic illness into a tense, morally complex legal battle that tests the limits of love and friendship.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate emotionally heavy, ethically complex family dramas that ask difficult questions without offering easy answers.
Content notes
- chronic illness
- childhood suffering
- medical trauma
- discussions of pregnancy termination
- legal battles
About the book
In Jodi Picoult's she explores the moral dilemmas faced by the parents of a severely disabled child. When faced with the reality of a child who will be disabled, at which point should an obstetrician counsel termination? Should a parent have the right to make that choice? And as a parent, how far would you go to take care of someone you love?Willow O'Keefe is born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, which means she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, and a lifetime of pain. As the family struggles to cover medical expenses, her mother Charlotte decides to file a wrongful birth lawsuit against her obstetrician for the compensation which might ensure a lifetime of care for Willow.But it means that Charlotte has to say in a court of law that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she'd known about the disability in advance. And the obstetrician she's suing isn't just her physician - she's her best friend.Handle with Care is an absorbing narrative which also questions the basis of medical ethics and of personal morality. What rights do parents or doctors have to terminate a life? How disabled is too disabled? As a parent, how far would you go to save someone you love?
Description from Open Library.
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