This is the story of Zoe, Max, and Vanessa. Zoe and Max had tried for 9 years to have a child, but IVF resulted in 2 miscarriages and 1 still birth since they both had fertility problems. Max decided on divorce and went his own way, right into drunkenness. Zoe is a music therapist and is dealing with her own issues resulting from the still birth. She becomes close friends with Vanessa, a guidance counselor at the school where Zoe sometimes does music therapy with at risk students. Vanessa is a lesbian. Shortly, they discover they love each other and marry in Massachusetts, since Rhode Island does not yet allow gay marriage. Meanwhile, Max, a landscape business owner, is living in his wealthy brother's basement and going down hill quickly. After a severe accident during a snowstorm while he was drunk, he gets religion and joins a conservative Bible church that his brother and wife, Liddy, have attended for many years. When Zoe wants to use the 3 frozen embryos left from her fertility treatments, She and Max end up in court with lawyers, one of whom is pro-gay rights and the other who is anti-gay rights and a flashy grandstander out for all the publicity he can get. At points, this book was difficult to read given the subject matter. ( )

Caution - Only read Sing You Home if you are willing to navigate the very strong emotions surrounding politics and religion regarding same sex couples that it will elicit. This book is not for wimps.

Sing You Home follows the life of Zoey and Max and their 9-year marriage which involves 5-years of fertility issues. During this time, the couple’s relationship dissolves but their embryos remain.

As Max, a failing alcoholic, starts over, again, with the help of a powerful and outspoken religious church (yes, I put the word religious in there purposefully - not all churches are as “religious” as others - read zealot) and a room in his brother and sister-in-laws basement, Zoey finds Vanessa. And much to everyone’s surprise, the two fall in love and get married.

When Zoey asks Max for permission (required as he is the biological other half of the embryos DNA), to use the embryos so that she and Ness can start a family, all hell breaks loose. The church hires the country’s biggest anti-gay lawyer and off we go.

DISCLAIMER: There were numerous times during this book that I almost put it down, away, and permanently off my shelf. I am glad I didn’t do any of those things. The plot, in Picoult style, was flawless, inspiring, enraging, endearing, heartbreaking, inflaming, and hate-filled (okay maybe all her books are not hate-filling). It was A LOT. My emotions and brain were all over the place. As a grandmother-in-waiting to a gay child who has yet to find their person yet wants to be a parent, I wanted to throttle Max, his lawyers, the church. But, as a beyond middle aged woman who works in the legal field reading a book written 12-years ago about the legalities of gay marriage, legal rights of embryos, and church versus state, I had to continue. I’m glad I did.

The resolution is as it should have been - there were no red herring zingers at the end and I’m thankful; my heartstrings couldn’t have survived.

Sing You Home should be required reading for those who believe there is only one way to be a family. Thank you, Jodi Picoult, for having the foresight, the inspiration, and quite frankly, the balls to write such a beautiful story. ( )

I've read a number of Jodi Picoult's books and remain a big fan. She always takes on current and controversial issues. This time around it's abortion coupled with gay & lesbian rights. As usual, she pulls no punches making for a really fast and compelling read. But after reading several of Picoult's books I'm beginning to realize they are quite formulaic. Yes, she takes on lots of different topics but the novels all seem to have the same form and pattern, and as a result have become fairly predicable. In her next work I'd like to see Jodi break from her usual mode and experiment with something different. Her characters always grow and develop and I'd like to see her writing do the same. ( )

I just finished this book about a half hour ago. I haven’t read something that caused me to feel so many emotions in a really long time. I’m honestly still kind of reeling from the whole thing – the emotional roller coaster, and the happy ending has had me smiling since I finished it.

The story is told through three points of view: Zoe, Max, and Vanessa. Zoe is a music therapist who has been married to Max for ten years, and has wanted a baby since she was a child. Max is a former alcoholic, a surfer dude who owns a landscaping company. Vanessa is a school counselor who knows Zoe because Zoe sometimes works at the school with teenagers. After their third miscarriage, Max asks Zoe for a divorce, stating that he no longer wants a baby like Zoe does. A few months later, Zoe has married Vanessa, and they’re living happily and in love together. Seeing as Zoe and Max were trying to become pregnant using IVF treatment, Zoe still has 3 frozen embryos left over from her last cycle. She asks Max permission to use them, so that Vanessa, can carry her child to term, but Max takes her to court – family court, over property law – because he’s now a born again Christian who refuses to have his children raised in a ‘sinful household’.

This is a story told in 2011, a story that honestly feels so real to read. The case is very believable and also echoes something that has happened in the past. Every person I’ve told the plot to told me that they’ve heard of something similar happening, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly. This just adds to the validity of the feeling behind the whole story – Zoe and Vanessa could be any LGBT couple that we know fighting for their right to exist equally in today’s society. While the world has made leaps and bounds since 2011 – including the USA – there are still states, countries, situations that echo what happened to them.

The book made me feel so many emotions – happiness, laughter, anger, and sadness. There are so many beautiful instances in the novel as a whole that just made me sit back and absorb just how amazing Picoult’s writing style is. She evokes so many emotions in me in this book – I found myself literally laughing out loud as I read some parts, and actively seething with rage at others (I had to restrain myself from throwing the book across the room because I couldn’t physically strangle Pastor Clive).

Seriously, this book is amazing. I’ve not read something so evocative in a really long time, and something that actually felt like it was happening to me personally. The characters have such a distinct and beautiful range of voices, the story is well paced and even the side characters are worth investing in. I’m such an advocate for LGBT rights (as anybody who knows me personally knows), but it’s not just that that made me love the book. It’s how Picoult is able to give you both sides of the story in a very impartial way: the story of the ones who are persecuted, and the ones who think they’re being persecuted, but are just assholes.

I can assure you though, it has a happy ending, and even the ‘villains’ get redemption this time.

Final rating: 6/5. ( )

Max and Zoe Baxter, married nine years, have struggled to have a baby. After suffering several miscarriages and a stillbirth after several rounds of IVF, Max has finally had enough and seeks a divorce. Zoe is devastated. Max moves in with his brother, and Zoe eventually becomes close to her friend Vanessa. What wasn't discussed in the divorce settlement was what would happen to the three remaining frozen embryos that Max and Zoe left at the fertility clinic. Who do they belong to? And who should control what happens to them when both Zoe and Max decide they want them?

I keep thinking Jodi Picoult will one day run out of controversial topics to write about, but so far that hasn't happened. This was another good example of presenting both sides of the story, and illustrating that not everything is black and white. You've got homosexuality, the Evangelical church, divorce rights, frozen embryos, some teenage depression, and what it means to be a good parent. And of course a courtroom drama to help decide who's right and who's wrong, when of course it's never that easy. I enjoyed this, with the exception of a couple things. While I realize Evangelicals and a fair amount of other Christians do come across the way they are portrayed in this book, I think Picoult lends a bad name to Christianity in general. Not all Christians are like that, and I think it's important to remember that. Secondly, I read the audiobook, which has some songs interspersed between chapters, with lyrics written by Jodi Picoult and the songs composed and performed by a friend of hers. These were meant to add to the story (esp. in light of the character of Zoe being a music therapist), but I found them distracting and not particularly enjoyable. The lyrics were okay I guess, but the music and voice were not so appealing to me. I think I could've done without them altogether. ( )