Picture Perfect

By: Jodi Picoult

Narrated by: Brian Hutchison, Amanda Cobb

To the outside world, they seem to have it all. Cassie Barrett, a renowned anthropologist, and Alex Rivers, one of Hollywood's hottest actors, met on the set of a motion picture in Africa. They shared childhood tales, toasted the future, and declared their love in a fairy-tale wedding. But when they return to California, something alters the picture of their perfect marriage. A frightening pattern is taking shape - a cycle of hurt, denial, and promises, thinly veiled by glamour.

Torn between fear and something that resembles love, Cassie wrestles with questions she never dreamed she would face: How can she leave? Then again, how can she stay?

©1995 Jodi Picoult (P)2016 Recorded Books

Disappointed ending

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I like the book and would recommend it to someone (and in fact did).

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I did not feel like the stories between the 3 main characters fully developed.

Was Picture Perfect worth the listening time?

I was so disappointed by the ending. The other books by her that I have read have had suspenseful and eventful endings. But this one just ended. Because of this, I do not think it was worth the listen.

Disappointed

Jodi Piccoult is usually one of my favorite authors, but this book I could have taken or left. I feel like it lacked some of the research and emotional pull that normally make her books so good.

Overall it wasn't a bad read, but it also wasn't a great read.

Intriguing

Of course Jodi is amazing and this book kept me interested and opened my eyes to why some women stay with men and their feelings behind it. The twist wasn’t as dramatic as most of her books, but still a great story!

Jodi Picoult always delivers.

Another good, story. Ending was rather abrupt. Great character development and enjoyable narration. I have yet to be disappointed by Jodi Picoult.

I loved the characters!

I really enjoyed this read. I particularly liked the Native American stories and legends delicately interwoven into the plot. I hated for the book to end!

Boring, I couldn’t listen to the whole thing!

I usually really like this author but this book was so boring I couldn’t listen without loosing my attention. The male reader was better than the female reader. I forget their names. The story was monotonous. Wouldn’t recommend this book.

Recommend

I almost always admire Picoult’s talent of taking a serious social issue like spousal abuse and deftly weaving it into a bestselling novel. <I>Picture Perfect </I> is another successful example of Picoult’s special talent.

The three main characters—the concussed, violently abused (UCLA Dr. and Professor of Physical Anthropology) wife found stumbling out of a Los Angeles Catholic graveyard with no idea of who she is; the abuser, her silver-eyed, movie star husband, beloved by audiences worldwide; and the man who finds her, a half Sioux/half White newcomer to town, who will start his job as an LA policeman the next day.

All three characters have childhood backgrounds that shaped their adult personalities and make them slide together like pieces of a tragic puzzle. These backstories, which Picoult gracefully reveals as the novel proceeds, help the reader understand their sometimes
heartbreaking adult reactions to one another.

The story is well-paced, well-narrated, and populated with interesting sub-characters (especially those related to the policeman’s backstory in the South Dakota reservation that he had run from and which becomes the “safe place” where the main character, Cassie, hides for eight months).

If only the final chapters of the novel (Cassie’s actions, her husband’s decisions) had been less abruptly handled, I would have rated the story higher. The novel needed to continue the pace that it had set throughout. Instead, it seemed as though Picoult simply decided to hurriedly finish the characters’ stories rather than complete their arcs at the same pace she had set so far.

However, I recommend the novel for its theme and its well-developed storyline and developed characters

Left too many questions

I have listened to many of this author’s stories, but this one left me hanging. It was very hard to keep up with the story. She bounced too often from the present to the past, and by the end of the story I still did not know why the main character Cassie was found in the cemetery with a gash on her head that made her lose her memory, it was just very hard to keep up and I would not recommend the story. It almost feels like there was supposed to be a second book that explained everything that was left unexplained.

Abrupt ending but good listen

Ending could have been a lot better way better in fact

But the story was good and heartbreaking heartwarming performance was good as well

WTF

I invested so much time into this novel! I tried to quit for several hours, but I continued to give this book the benefit of the doubt. I can't believe I listened to this! I listen to so many audiobooks, and this is the first time I have been angry enough to write something about them!