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The Pact: A Love Story
 
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The Pact: A Love Story (Mass Market Paperback)

by Jodi Picoult (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (212 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 8.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Teenage suicide is the provocative topic that Picoult plumbs, with mixed results, in her fifth novel. Popular high-school swimming star Chris Harte and talented artist Em Gold bonded as infants; their parents have been next-door neighbors and best friends for 18 years. When they fall in love, everyone is ecstatic. Everyone, it turns out, except for Em, who finds that sex with Chris feels almost incestuous. Her emotional turmoil, compounded by pregnancy, which she keeps secret, leads to depression, despair and a desire for suicide, and she insists that Chris prove his love by pulling the trigger. The gun is fired in the first paragraph, and so the book opens with a jolt of adrenaline. But Picoult stumbles in delineating both sets of parents' responses to the tragedy. Unconvincing behavior and dialogue inappropriate to the situation (plus, most importantly, the fact that the parents fail to discuss crucial topics) never touch the essence of bereavement and thus destroy credibility. Picoult redeems herself in flashbacks that reveal the two marital relationships and the personalities of both couples; and she sensitively explores the question of how well parents can ever know their children. After Chris is accused of murder and jailed, the narrative acquires impressive authenticity and suspense, with even the minor characters evoked with Picoult's keen eye for telling detail. The courtroom scenes (reminiscent of Picoult's 1996 novel, Mercy), are taut and well paced. Readers may remain unconvinced, however, that an intelligent young man like Chris would not have sought some help rather than respond to his lover's desperate request. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; foreign rights sold in Germany, France, Poland and Norway.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


From Booklist

Picoult is a writer of high energy and conviction who has, in her fifth novel, brought to life a cast of subtly drawn characters caught up in a tragedy as timeless and resonant as those of the Greeks or Shakespeare. That is not to say that Picoult is anything but accessible; in fact, this psychologically shrewd tale is as suspenseful as any best-selling legal thriller. The Hartes and the Golds, professional folk living next door in an affluent New Hampshire town, are close friends, and their children, the Hartes' son, Chris, and Emily Gold, were born just weeks apart. Inseparable all through childhood, they slipped from the haven of intimate friendship into the tempestuous realm of love in high school, a transition their parents fully expected and welcomed. But Emily is secretly appalled by the incestuous nature of her relationship with Chris, and when she discovers that she is pregnant, she can imagine only one solution: suicide. Chris is with her when she dies and is consequently charged with her murder. As Picoult takes us through the nightmare that follows, examining each character's struggle with guilt and sorrow, she forges a finely honed, commanding, and cathartic drama. Donna Seaman --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews

212 Reviews
5 star:
 (143)
4 star:
 (48)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (212 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars No parent should ever have to deal with teen suicide!, April 10 2009
By Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
The Hartes and the Golds had been neighbours and best friends for 18 years. So it was no surprise that their children, Emily Gold, a talented young artist, and Chris Harte, a bright, motivated athlete and the star of his high school swimming team, would also grow up as inseparable best friends. Emily and Chris, born only scant weeks apart, bonded even as infants and grew up as close together as two non-siblings possibly could be. What Emily knew, Chris also knew and understood. When Chris was hurting, Emily also suffered and shared his pain. What Emily experienced, Chris also felt with a powerful bond of empathy that approached the strength of the almost surreal attachment that fraternal twins feel for one another. It came as no surprise to their parents, their teachers and their friends that their attachment, in the fullness of time, blossomed into a more mature romantic love that everyone around them fully expected would end in their eventual marriage to one another.

Emily told nobody, however, of the difficulties that she was encountering in dealing with the newer sexual side of her relationship with Chris. Perhaps it was the simple stress of living up to everybody's expectations of the future of their relationship. Perhaps it was the residual psychological stress of a close experience with sexual assault and rape when she was a much younger girl. Perhaps it was her disturbing sensation that sex with Chris was rather too akin to an incestuous relationship with a brother. Stress, confusion and mental turmoil lead to profound depression and despair with the conviction that the only escape was suicide. Of course, because Chris was the only person she felt she truly loved and could completely trust, she asked him to help her complete the act of suicide.

Any potential readers that are tempted to give vent to a storm of righteous indignation at my summary should sit back down, relax and be assured that I haven't given the game away here. The suicide itself takes place in the opening chapter and the underlying causes as I've summarized them likewise come as no surprise and are detailed very early in the story.

Fans of Jodi Picoult's novels will understand immediately that the mere details of this story are NOT the raison d'être for the novel. The story serves only as a backdrop for the exploration of the complexity of the surrounding issues - teen suicide; the responsibility of parents, teachers and peers to recognize the signs of depression and to act upon the near occasion of suicide; the moral difficulties of assisted suicide; the nature of friendship; the stress exerted by parental, teacher and peer pressure; and the difficulties encountered by the survivors of a suicide.

Having said that the story itself was not really top billing in the novel, I have to give Picoult full credit for her marvelous portrayal of some absolutely electric courtroom scenes and Chris Harte's trial for capital murder. The description of his time spent in prison and the relationship that he develops with his cell-mate is absolutely heartbreaking and certainly qualifies as first-rate storytelling. On the other hand, my impression of "The Pact" overall is that it is considerably weaker than some of Picoult's other efforts such as "My Sister's Keeper" or "Nineteen Minutes". Some rather lame dialogue, an overly lengthy exposition in the central part of the novel and my personal difficulty in believing that Chris Harte would have chosen to deal with the issue entirely on his own detract from the overall effect of the novel.

But, make no mistake, a poor day with a Jodi Picoult novel is still a very sunny day in a literary world clouded with sub-standard choices. I'm a confirmed fan. Now that I've found her work, I'm looking for another one to read post haste.

Paul Weiss
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed it immensely, until the end, Jun 20 2004
By SP (Glen Ridge, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Pact: A Love Story (Paperback)
I found this book in my house, having been left accidentally by someone. I picked it up out of boredom and was soon unable to put it down. It was a very compelling story, and the two main characters were developed extraordinarily well.

But I found it ultimately unsatisfying. There was a major issue that was unresolved, and I felt that it needed to be explored in greater depth - especially Melanie's understanding of this issue.

I also felt that the relationship between Gus and Michael could have been explored in greater detail.

It was almost as if the author was under time pressure to get this finished, and did not have the time to fully wrap up some key details that had been introduced.

Still, it was a good read and I would recommend it without hesitation.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Suicide, Jul 13 2009
By J.S. (Canada) - See all my reviews
Just finished reading this book (at 3.15 am) - there are so many comments and reviews, mine isn't needed.
Wanted to say, though, that no matter what age: we should all let someone else know if a friend/family member says they want to commit suicide.
We will - regardless of the final outcome - know that we did our best to help - as there are professionals/agencies that just "might" save a life where we could not.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pact -- a Review
Jodi Picoult's novels are excellent stories, even if sometimes they follow a predictable pattern when it comes to the courtroom drama. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Allison J. Hayes

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Chris and Emily have been good friends since they were born. Their parents have always been friends, and they were destined to become a couple once they entered their teenage... Read more
Published 18 months ago by TeensReadToo.com

5.0 out of 5 stars So Sad
I loved this book and could not put it down. At the heart of this story
was the sexual abuse of Emily in the mens washroom when she was very young. Read more
Published on Sep 28 2007 by Carol Paterson

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling
This is my first novel by Jodi and I am going back for more. I never cry in books but this one wins the contest. Read more
Published on Jun 5 2007 by Moe

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing writting...love Jodi Picoult
I loved this book. This was my first Jodi Picoult novel & I am now going to continue on with her others. Read more
Published on Nov 1 2006 by jazzy's mom

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pact
My friend was supposed to read this book for school, so I found it in his backpack while we were in Europe.

For the next two days after, I read it all the time. Read more

Published on Jul 19 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Good one
This was a good book. However, I felt a little bit dissapointed that the plot was very similar to Keeping Faith, a book I had read before this one. Read more
Published on May 29 2004 by Carlie

4.0 out of 5 stars Loving the Good Cry
This book made me cry as I read the climax. And I only cry three or four times a year. So, if you want well written angst that truly transports you, this is the thing for you.
Published on May 26 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!
It's by far one of my favorites!
Published on April 7 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Can it get any better?
I loved, loved, loved this book. I have read it 3 times now. I can relate to this book in so many ways and it's amazing what Jodi Picoult can write. Read more
Published on April 1 2004 by Ellen

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