Claudia Guy

What a twisted, oppressed family this mother, Emma, created. She was “in love” with her firstborn son to the point of obsession in which every aspect of his environment is in place to prevent his having to deal with even the slightest adversity. Her second child was something to use as a household tool in order to help keep the House Rules in place. Reading this story I felt so angry with this inept mother and her continual abuse of her child. This novel basically mirrors the experience of Picoult’s novel, My Sister’s Keeper, another story of a highly dysfunctional family. In my mind, the story ends with the son, Jacob and the mother, Emma, locked up and removed from society and Theo lives with his father and his two half sisters. I do not blame Theo for any wrongdoing. He was raised with twisted house rules so I forgive him.