What I’ve Read

It’s not politically correct to say that you love one child more than you love your others.  I love all  my kids, period, and they’re all my favorites in different ways.  but ask any parent who’s been through some kind of a crisis surrounding a child – a health scare, an academic snarl, an emotional problem – and we will tell you the truth.  When something upends the equilibrium – when one child needs you more than the others – that imbalance becomes a black hole.  You may never admit it out loud, but the one you love the most is the one who needs you more desperately than his siblings.  What we really hope is that each child gets a turn.  That we have deep enough reserves to be there for each of them, at different times. ~Georgie Ng

I just finished Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult, who is one of my favorite authors.  She has no one particular genre that she writes about; I never know what to expect from one book to the next.  This book was no different.  Luke Warren is semi-famous.  He has spent his career studying wolves, taking care of a pack in captivity and at one point even spending two years in the wilderness as part of a pack – leaving his wife and two children at home.

Six years ago Luke’s 18-year-old son Edward came out to his mother that he was gay.  She suggested he tell his father, and the next morning Edward is gone, leaving only a note saying he’s sorry and he loves his mom.  He fled to Thailand, and ended up teaching English as a second language.

Now 24 years old, Edward receives an overseas call from his mother Georgie, telling him his father and his 17-year-old sister Cara have been in a terrible car accident and his father is in very bad shape.  He must come home immediately.   Georgie is now remarried to an attorney, with twin toddlers.  Cara has long ago moved in with her father.

This story is told from the perspectives of each member of Luke’s family and Georgie’s husband, including excerpts from Luke Warren’s book about his 2 years living with the wolves.

When Edward returns, it’s to find his little sister fresh out of surgical repair of a broken clavicle and his father unconscious, with a traumatic brain injury.

And herein lies the problem.  The chief neurosurgeon tells him his father will likely never wake up, and if by miracle he does, there will be no quality of life.  They have done all they can and they have run all the tests, and they do not believe Luke Warren will ever awaken.  Edward, as the only adult next of kin, is responsible for making the choice of what to do next.  After conversations in his youth, he knows his father would not want to be kept alive.  Cara, who has lived with her father for the past four years, believes her father would want anything and everything done to keep him alive.  But she is a minor.  And so the battle begins.

This was a very interesting and heart wrenching story.  I felt all sides of the story.  However, I found myself only having glimpses of times when I actually liked Luke Warren.  His portion of the story – excerpts from his book – I found annoying, frustrating, wordy and often boring and ridiculous.  I think that was the point, though.  I think Jodi needed to show us that although this man had a wife and children – who he did love, and that is shown to us – his life and passion were with the wolves and there was nothing anybody could do to change that.  He acknowledged his shortcomings, but he simply couldn’t change who he was.

This story tells about the differences in love that Edward and Cara have for their father and how they feel for each other.  It also tells about a wife who married a man for who he was, only to realize that who he was would take him from her.  If I didn’t know what my parents wanted, if they didn’t have it all written in wills and Advanced Directives, I would have no problem with the decision other than the saying goodbye, but I understand the wonder.  What if she’s the one who wakes up and is able to live a normal life?  It happens, right?

Luke Warren’s written excerpts aside, I recommend this book.