Durch die Vielzahl der Themen, die jedes für sich allein genommen reichlich Stoff für ein Buch hergeben, kann natürlich jedes einzelne Thema nur höchst oberflächlich behandelt werden.

Someone hands me a gauze pad, which I press against the cut above my eye. When I glance up I see it’s Fitz. “What does the other guy look like?” he asks.As one of Wexton’s three attorneys, Eric does real estate transfers and wills and the occasional divorce, but he’s done a little trial work too – representing defendants charged with DUI and petty thefts. He usually wins, which is no surprise to me. After all, more than once I have been a jury of one, and I’ve always managed to be persuaded. In what ways does Elise's alcoholism significantly impact both Delia and Eric, and the choices that they ultimately make? Before I know it, I am telling Fitz about the lemon tree. I explain how it felt as if the heat was laying a crown on my head; how the tree had been planted with pebbles around it instead of soil.. How I could read the letters ABC, on the bottoms of my shoes. I've read better from her. It wasn't terrible and I enjoyed parts of it, but all in all there were too many issues that bothered me and left me with an odd feeling. Partly, and I've had the same issue with some of her other books, especially my sister's keeper, where I feel like my idea of poetic justice or how people feel and react are just SLIGHTLY off hers. Which is worse than completely off, somehow. Life is very different, on so many levels, for you now. Not only has Melissa gone but you’ve lost your possessions…

It’s about a woman who, for whatever reason, wanted to be someone other than she was and that manifested in needing materialistic belongings,” says Kate Atkinson. “She's charming. She's compelling, charismatic and she could convince people of something that patently did not exist. The biggest challenge is to not feel pressured to give the audience what they want or who they think Melissa is because none of us know. And this is not a truth telling, it’s not a documentary. It's part of the nature of the show that we’re teasing out every version of this possible story and intriguing people with their own notions — and everyone has their own theory about what may or may not have happened. But it’s also important to remember that there’s a real world story out there beyond the mythologising of this person. There’s still a human cost to what happened and a lot of hurt.” Many of the chapters told from Andrew’s point of view occur while he is in prison, “where everyone reinvents himself.” What do these scenes, which depict in graphic detail the harsh realities of life behind bars, reveal about Andrew? What do they add to the overall storyline? Delia says that as children she, Fitz, and Eric each had their roles: “Fitz was the dreamer; I was the practical tactician. Eric, on the other hand, was the front man: the one who could charm adults or other kids with equal ease.” Have they continued these roles into adulthood? How so? Is each one comfortable in his or her role, or is there a longing to be something different? Oh, come on. Everyone’s got something that’s strange about them. Like the way Eric can fold his tongue into a clover, and that disgusting thing you do with your eyes.” Indeed some of the characters are interesting but too many of their actions felt contrived. As so many of this authors books focus on similar topics, she needs to ensure that every single one is brilliant. This was just about okay. To date, her best book has been The Storyteller.

Was there nothing during your marriage and prior to that raid that made you question her business conduct? Nun steht ganz plötzlich völlig unerwartet die Polizei vor der Tür und verhaftet Delias Vater. Delia, aber auch Eric und Fitz müssen nun mit der Vergangenheit des Vaters, aber auch mit ihrer eigenen Geschichte fertig werden und versuchen, eine Lösung für die Situation zu finden. I enjoyed the initial plot outline, it was something different and I felt empathy for the lead characters. By midway, I was beginning to feel a little bored as I knew where the story was heading. The writing felt dated. By the time the grand court case that Picoult is famous for came to be, I had lost ninety percent of my patience with the book and found myself skimming the long court based conversations. I could tell that she was under a lot of pressure and stress. I just sort of tried to calm her down and managed to do it. And yeah, that was really it. I think anyone in that circumstance will be overwhelmed. Even for me it was a lot having to manage that and with her son, trying to manage what was going on."

Right versus wrong is a dominant theme in Vanishing Acts— whether Andrew was right or wrong to kidnap Delia, whether Eric is right or wrong to hide his continued drinking from Delia, whether Delia is right or wrong not to stop Ruthann. How do the multiple perspectives in the story blur these lines and show how two people can view the same situation completely different? Were there any instances you changed your mind about something in the story after reading a different character’s viewpoint? As usual, Picoult spins a terrifically suspenseful tale by developing just the right human-interest elements…an experience novelist takes her sweet time to rich rewards: overall, an affecting saga, nicely handled.” And I never say this, but OMG the "big secret" was so effing obvious it hurt how stupid and blind all the characters were. I really don't mind being able to figure out how things end, that's fine with me, but when the clues are so obvious and none of the characters react to it at all... yeah. Not good.I’m sitting on the living room floor after dinner, swatches of fabric covering my legs like a patchwork quilt. “Who cares whether the napkins are blue or teal?” I complain. “Isn’t teal really just blue on steroids, anyway?” He doesn’t hear me, though, because he’s bent over and reaching into his desk. “Hey, I’ve got something for you.”

He steers me out of the cafeteria and into his office. “Did she get to the part where her cat was abducted by aliens?” He lives with me, yes. We have definitely navigated it together, but we don't talk about it because we both live the same experience, so there's no real point in any conversation about it. Remembering the good times is the best way to cure that, so that's what we do together. It’s about all of the laughter that we had together, or the times when Melissa would do something silly and we'd both laugh together, like one time when Melissa walked out of a restaurant with a napkin still attached to her dress, and you know, she wasn't very happy about that. And her son and I copped a little bit of the brunt for that before we all just looked at each other and started laughing."She looks up at me. “When you’re with them,” she asks, a slice through the heart, “do you ever think about me?”