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| | The Tenth Circle: A Novel |  | Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $13.43
You Save: $13.57 (50%)
Used (5) from $13.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  230 reviews
Sales Rank: 1913378
Format: Large Print
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
ISBN: 0743286553
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743286558
ASIN: 0743286553
Publication Date: April 11, 2006
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Amazon.com Review
Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale. Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs. The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences. --Gisele Toueg
Product Description
Jodi Picoult, the New York Times bestselling author of Vanishing Acts, offers her most powerful chronicle yet of an American family with a story that probes the unbreakable bond between parent and child -- and the dangerous repercussions of trying to play the hero.Trixie Stone is fourteen years old and in love for the first time. She's also the light of her father's life -- a straight-A student; a freshman in high school who is pretty and popular; a girl who's always looked up to Daniel Stone as a hero. Until, that is, her world is turned upside down with a single act of violence...and suddenly everything Trixie has believed about her family -- and herself -- seems to be a lie. For fifteen years, Daniel Stone has been an even-tempered, mild-mannered man: a stay-at-home dad to Trixie and a husband who has put his own career as a comic book artist behind that of his wife, Laura, who teaches Dante's Inferno at a local college. But years ago, he was completely different: growing up as the only white boy in an Eskimo village, he was teased mercilessly for the color of his skin. He learned to fight back: stealing, drinking, robbing, and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself, channeling his rage onto the page and burying his past completely...until now. Could the young boy who once made Trixie's face fill with light when he came to the door have been the one to end her childhood forever? She says that he is, and that is all it takes to make Daniel, a man with a history he has hidden even from his family, venture to hell and back in order to protect his daughter. The Tenth Circle looks at that delicate moment when a child learns that her parents don't know all of the answers and when being a good parent means letting go of your child. It asks whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime or if your mistakes are carried forever -- if life is, as in any good comic book, a struggle to control good and evil, or if good and evil control you.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 225 more reviews...
 Disappointment August 26, 2008
I love Jodi Picoult's writing and the moral dilemmas she incorporates into her books. Tenth Circle, however, was too over-the-top.
Jason, the 17-year-old purported rapist was for me the most sympathetic character. He is a high school athlete with scholarship potential who hooks up with Trixie, a young 14-year-old girl. After Jason breaks up with Trixie, she says she will do whatever it takes for them to stay together. They separately attend the same party where Trixie gets intoxicated, plays Strip Poker and observes her peers playing foolish sex games. Later the same evening, a weeping and disheaveled Trixie goes home and tells her father she was raped.
Jason is first accused of the rape and then later the more serious crime of putting a date-rape drug in Trixie's drink. The actual culprit is Trixie's friend Zephyr. Zephyr, however, can be excused because she actually got the drug from her boyfriend's brother. Zephyr thought she had recreational drugs which might get somebody high but not put them in danger of rape. The story is further convoluted because the boyfriend's brother was none other than a college kid having an affair with Trixie's mother. Trixie's parents continue to protect Trixie meanwhile committing their own heinous crimes on behalf of their self-mutilating, emotionally fragile daughter.
A female who says "No" to having sex is supposed to be respected for her choice. However, what about accountability when everything said and done leading up to an assault says, "Yes"?
The main message is children are participating in sex long before they are ready for the responsibility and maturity required of sexual partners. Meanwhile parents turn a blind eye as they deal with their own sad lives. Unfortunately, the message loses steam as we turn the pages and lose sympathy for the characters.
Not my favorite **SPOILER ALERT** August 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was really excited about reading this novel and was slightly disappointed by it. I thought it was going to delve more into Trixie being a cutter and the problems being raped brought. It didn't. Picoult could have done so much with the plot but I felt like she didn't give it her all. As one review said, the plot deserved 5 stars but when it all came together it was only worthy of 3. I was really into it until the last few chapters (about the time Trixie ran away to Alaska).
I hate how Daniel forgave Laura for cheating on him so quickly and easily. I also really (REALLY) didn't like the scene with Willie and Trixie in the steam room. A 14 year getting it on with someone she just met? Was I supposed to be happy or aroused by the scene? I felt like a pedophile reading that part. I thought the whole Alaska tie in was lame (and the comic book aspect too) and the fact that Laura was the one that murdered Jason (too predictable). It would have been more interesting to go with Trixie accidentally murdering him or it turning out that he really did commit suicide. The whole "Oh, it was mom, end of story" thing didn't work for me. I also thought it was funny how fast the cops found them in Alaska. I know there's not a lot of people that live there and it was easy for them to trace the family to Anchorage, but come on now. They knew exactly where they were? Right down to the house Daniel hadn't been to in ages? The very day they get to Alaska? Perhaps I would have bought it if it took a few days for them to find the Stones but not as soon as they got there. It was almost like Picoult lost steam and wanted to end the story as quickly as she could.
I really did enjoy the story until the end. Throughout the whole novel I was thinking it was a 4 star kind of book but the end really ruined it for me so I have to give it 3. It's not going to stop me from reading any more of Picoult's stories. I enjoyed The Pact too much to let it ruin my interest in reading more by her. However, if I had read this story first it might have changed my opinion.
This book goes in circles, and leads nowhere July 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had high hopes for 'The Tenth Circle', after being blown away by 'My Sister's Keeper'. Unfortunately, while that book had all the ingredients for great fiction-likeable, sympathetic characters, heavy, yet still believable drama, and a story that leaves a deep emotional impact on the reader-'The Tenth Circle' has almost none of those.
Most of the other critics have already pinpointed the book's biggest problem: lack of focus. Picoult never quite figures out what she wants this story to be about, and who the target audience should be. Part teenage romance, part crime drama, part comic book adventure, part character study, with an extensive, but largely uninteresting travel guide to Alaska thrown in.
The Stones never really captured my sympathy. Instead, I found Daniel and Laura to be self-absorbed, while Trixie, supposedly the 'wronged girl', never really amounted to anything. The connection with Daniel's 'mysterious past' in Alaska turned out to be a waste of time, and the abrupt scene shift to the 'frozen north' late in the story just reminds us what a waste of time the first two-thirds of the story is.
Much of the teenage characterization seemed to be ripped off from old 'Afterschool Specials' or those 'young adult' novels that used to be so popular, back when Picoult herself was a teenager. As much as Picoult tried to give Trixie some depth and maturity, she just came across as a whiny, sluttish brat who was just as self-centered as her parents and her friends. The whole book had the feel of a cheesy, cheaply-made TV-movie, populated with 'B'-list soap stars.
The main characters are interesting to start, but their limited appeal wears off quickly: Daniel as the stereotypical 'moody young artist', and Laura as the 'career-oriented yuppie' who gives in to her 'adventurous nature' and settles down with 'comic book boy'. The real-life comic book references are accurate(Siegel and Shuster, Jack Kirby and his 'krackle' special effects), but gratuitous, thrown in simply to establish Picoult's comic book 'cred' with a new audience of readers she doubtless wanted to bring in for this book. The comic-strip version of the story was certainly a more interesting take on the basic premise, but it, too, was ultimately a disappointment. The current 'trendy' style of comic art is a far cry from the stuff those of us who read comics prior to the mid-90s would remember. While Picoult does have some experience in comics (having written a few issues of 'Wonder Woman'),her treatment of the genre in this book seems half-hearted and gimmicky. I can see how it would turn off anyone who's not interested in comics, but even I got tired of it once the novelty wore off. The whole 'look for the hidden message' gimmick really seemed like pandering,both to the comic fans and those who would otherwise have avoided reading the cartoons.
On the other hand, I had never read Dante's 'Inferno', so I found the descriptions in the text helped make the comic a little easier to decipher. Each of the characters definitely had his/her own 'circle of hell' to get through, but I just found all of them too flawed and 'anti-heroic' to care about. Considering how poorly Picoult did at trying to integrate the 'Alaska' subplot with the rest of the story, she might as well have just left it out completely. Another example of an author doing a lot of research on language, customs, culture, etc., and doing a clumsy job of squeezing everything in to an already-overcrowded story.
'My Sister's Keeper' was one of the best books I ever read, yet I found the ending too painful to give it the high rating I had planned on giving it. In contrast, 'Circle' is just long and tiresome, draining every bit of interest and suspense out of a story that didn't generate very much of either in the first place. I ended up finishing the book just to finish it. I cared nothing for any of the Stones, and was simply left thinking they were a miserable bunch who deserved each other.
I can imagine it would be difficult for any author to top a book like 'Keeper'...but 'Circle' doesn't even come close.
One of the few mildly entertaining scenes involves Daniel and young Trixie discussing the best super power to have. If I could turn back time, much like Superman in his first movie, so that I'd never read this book...I'd really be tempted to try it!
Not my favorite, but still worth reading July 23, 2008
I've been a big fan of Picoult's for several years now, since I read Keeping Faith. Since then I've counted her among my favorite authors and enjoyed book after book, especially The Pact and My Sister's Keeper.
One thing I love about her books is that they are always so well-researched and run the gamut from light-hearted to gut-wrenching. There aren't many authors who so consistently keep me awake after a long day at work because I *have* to finish the chapter before I can go to sleep. And usually, one chapter turns into 2 and well, there have been a lot of groggy mornings due to Picoult!
Usually it takes me about a week to finish one of Picoult's novels. The Tenth Circle was an exception. It was over a year before I finally managed to get through ~400 pages. It was really only the first few chapters that seemed to drag on and on, but with such long chapters it seemed brutal. Once it started to pick up, I ended up enjoying it, and as always it seemed to end too quickly, but it definitely took awhile to get into.
I'm admittedly not a comic fan, which may have hampered my enjoyment. I am a fan of Dante's Inferno, so I did appreciate that tie-in and all of it's elements. This just seemed really different from her other works that I've enjoyed and I think it's one of the only ones so far that I'm not likely to pick up and re-read (I've read The Pact 3x).
I did enjoy the puzzle, that was certainly a treat!
Not one of my favorites by Picoult July 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
THE TENTH CIRCLE by Jodi Picoult
July 22, 2008
Amazon Rating: 3/5 stars
THE TENTH CIRCLE has two main stories embedded in one. The main story is the one that follows the daughter, and the prologue involves Trixie getting lost as a toddler and her father freaking out, worried that she may have been kidnapped. This scene misled me to think the story would have a kidnapping scenario, but it didn't. It is hinted that this one experience maimed Trixie for life, and hurt her psychologically. From the story and the choices she made, yes, she had a lot of psychological problems, but they were never dealt with at any point - there are scenes where she gets into self mutilation. But at the same time, after reading the entire book, I feel that this intro with Trixie getting lost did not really connect with the rest of the book. I totally forgot it even happened, until I started writing this review.
Trixie, in the main body of the book, is a teenager who is having peer pressure issues. She just lost a boyfriend who was considered THE guy to be with, and because she had been dating him, she had been included with the "in group". Without him, she was considered one of the geeks, the outcasts. Upon the breakup, Trixie falls apart and is desperate. She cannot live without Jason. It's at a party that Trixie and her best friend decide that Trixie needs to make Jason jealous, and in a drunken state Trixie flirts and makes out with various guys at the party, and eventually ends up at a strip poker game with just four of them. It is just she and Jason, and his best friend Moss and her best friend Zephyr. It doesn't end on a good note. It's this event after the poker game that changes everything. This one single act changes the lives of many people, and is so devastating that it ends in tragedy.
The other story is that of Daniel and Laura Stone (Trixie's parents) marriage, their histories, and Laura's affair. In the midst of it all, Daniel is writing a comic strip based on his life and mirrors his need to protect his daughter. Daniel has a secret past, one that his family does not know. He's run away from it, a past that started with his childhood in Alaska. He's a changed person from what he was back then, but Trixie's problems with her boyfriend Jason will bring it all back.
While I'm giving this book a 3 star rating, it was not one of my favorites by Jodi Picoult. While I felt it was rather unique to intersperse the comics with each chapter, I felt they were distracting and they broke the mood of the main story. I get it that the father was a comic book artist, and I also got that the story in the book paralleled the comic book hero's story, but I still feel somewhat that this was unnecessary. On the other hand, it did make this a unique reading experience, and it's a book I won't forget. I'll always remember THE TENTH CIRCLE as the book with the super hero comic strip.
In terms of the story line - I am not sure what to think. I didn't like any of the characters, meaning I had no sympathy with any one of them: not the mom, who was having a secret life on the side, not the daughter who was living a life that her parents didn't know about, not the father who had a checkered past. Now, I never give a bad rating just because I don't like the characters. I attribute the creation of unlikable characters to good writing and realistic characters that I just happen to not care for. If I met them on the street, they wouldn't be my friends. I can't relate to them or the choices they made. I am not condemning any of the characters either, for what they did. But something about them I just didn't connect with.
One of the problems I had with the story line was the last section of the book that took us to Alaska. Yes, I get that Daniel was from Alaska, but I found that moving the story line to Alaska turned the book into am almost epic story, which I felt was unnecessary. The book was already on a grand scale close to being a soap opera, and I felt that this change in location broke the mood of the story. I would have liked it better if things were resolved in a courtroom, but as readers will find out, this doesn't happen for reasons I won't disclose.
3 stars isn't a bad rating, but I've always given her books a 4. THE TENTH CIRCLE is definitely not one of my favorite Jodi Picoult stories, but at the same time, it still kept my interest and it didn't' take me long to finish it.
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