Trixie Stone has always been her daddy's girl, but now that she's in high school and has a boyfriend, she's slowly growing apart from her parents. When her boyfriend, Jason, dumps her, she starts cutting herself to deaden the pain and becomes desperate to get back together with him. She and her friend, Zephyr, have a plan to try to make him jealous, but then things go horribly wrong.

Family and the power of thoughts are themes in this novel, which draws on Dante's Inferno and comic books in surprising yet believable ways. I really cared about the characters. Personally, I found some of the descriptions, like of Trixie cutting herself, a little too descriptive. The ending was not, for me, unexpected at all, but I still enjoyed the story. ( )

A great read!! It was an engrossing story with some unexpected twists. I loved the underlying theme of Dante's poetry and the circles of hell and the comic book illustrations. I also loved the descriptions of Alaska and the Yup'ik philosophies. The hidden clues (that you discover at the end) was an added bonus. Great read!!! ( )

I consider Jodi Picoult a guilty pleasure, and usually enjoy her novels. This one, in my opinion was just OK. Nothing really special aside from the fact that it uses graphic novel components to puncutate the story. Other than that, this was just average. ( )

I am a big fan of Jodi Picoult's novels. As a mother of 3 daughters, this one really hit home for me. I found it so sad at times it took my breath away. The books delves into the parent-child bond. Picoult always does a great job in exploring the dysfuntions of the family, but the way she captured the world of teenagers and their secret angsts is remarkable. I was captivated and put down the novel determind to find new ways to communicate with my own daughters before its too late! ( )

I’ll admit to having a bit of a weakness for Jodi Picoult’s work. I hadn’t read anything by her until sometime last year, but purchased two of her books on a whim. It’s a good thing that I did buy two that day, because only a few chapters into the first book I was hooked, and I had finished the second by the end of the weekend. I’ve most recently devoured The Tenth Circle, about high school freshman Trixie, her comic book author father, Daniel, and her Dante scholar mom, Laura. Daniel is in the middle of one of those awkward parenting stages – the one where he’s watching the little girl he’s devoted the last fourteen years of his life to as she’s turning into a difficult, rebellious teenager and not really knowing how to deal with it all – when Trixie tells him that her ex-boyfriend has raped her at a friend’s house. And with that, everything changes. Stories are told and secrets are kept and exposed and everyone’s life is turned upside down, but at the heart of it all, Daniel does what any father would: whatever it takes to take care of Trixie.

Admittedly, this is only the fourth or fifth of Picoult’s books that I’ve read, but it very well may be my favorite. There always seem to be a couple of twists in her stories that manage to completely blindside me, and The Tenth Circle was no exception. I love the family dynamics that she is able to create and explore. I'm often shocked by the actions her teenage characters take, but I've also come to learn / realize that Picoult does extensive research before putting pen to paper. She also manages to leave little clues that you almost don't even notice until the very end, where they hit you like a ton of bricks and make you say "Oh! That's why..." ( )