The Tenth Circle
by Jodi Picoult
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From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult, a powerful novel that explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself in the course of a lifetime—or if your mistakes are carried forever.Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone is in love for the first time. She's also a straight-A high school student, pretty and popular, and the light of her father's life... Comic book artist Daniel Stone would do anything to protect his daughter. But show more when a single act of violence shatters her innocence, seemingly mild-mannered Daniel's convictions are put to the test—while his own shockingly tumultuous past, hidden even from his family, comes to light. Now, everything Trixie's ever believed about her hero, her father, seems to be a lie as Daniel ventures to hell and back, seeking revenge. Will the price be the bond they share?
Revealing an "exceptional, unflinching, and utterly chilling" (The Washington Post) portrait of today's youth culture, Jodi Picoult pulls readers inside a shattered family facing the toughest questions of morality and forgiveness. show less
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The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult is an issue novel about rape. Except it's so heavy handed that the book is laughable and groan-worthy instead of being insightful.
Trixie Stone is fourteen and the perfect daughter of the perfect man, a comic book artist raised in Alaska on Inuit reservation (meaning he's extra-special spiritual™). Before anything goes wrong, though, this perfect family is on the rocks, because the wife is carrying on an affair.
And that's where the problem starts, I suppose. It appears that both mother and daughter are attracted to the bad boys. Trixie, being too young, doesn't know how to handle herself or boys yet. But she's a teenager and full of RAGING hormones and she can't wait any longer.
The set up for the book show more is this: Trixie lies to her parents, saying she's going to be staying over at her friend's house. Instead they go to a big party where Trixie purposely gets drunk to the point where her inhibitions are gone so that she can have sex without regret. Except that midway through she changes her mind and her bad boy potential boyfriend doesn't stop when she asks him to.
So at first glance we have a straight up novel about the consequences of underage drinking, changing minds, and date rape. No problem. The book should be relevant.
But the plot gets lost in a heap of unnecessary literary window dressing. First there is the mother's scholarship on Dante's Inferno (hence the title). Rape of her daughter is a worse hell than anything thing Dante envisioned. Then there is the father returning to his Inuit upbringing (while still being a privileged white dude because I guess it would be too much to make him an actual Inuit). And finally there is the father working through his pain through his comics, which are included at the end of certain chapters (they aren't very good).
If that combination wasn't enough, the accused rapist is found dead about midway through the book, thus spinning this already unbelievable book into pure crazy land. If I were reading this book as a rape survivor or as a parent of one, I'd be furious after reading this shlock. show less
Trixie Stone is fourteen and the perfect daughter of the perfect man, a comic book artist raised in Alaska on Inuit reservation (meaning he's extra-special spiritual™). Before anything goes wrong, though, this perfect family is on the rocks, because the wife is carrying on an affair.
And that's where the problem starts, I suppose. It appears that both mother and daughter are attracted to the bad boys. Trixie, being too young, doesn't know how to handle herself or boys yet. But she's a teenager and full of RAGING hormones and she can't wait any longer.
The set up for the book show more is this: Trixie lies to her parents, saying she's going to be staying over at her friend's house. Instead they go to a big party where Trixie purposely gets drunk to the point where her inhibitions are gone so that she can have sex without regret. Except that midway through she changes her mind and her bad boy potential boyfriend doesn't stop when she asks him to.
So at first glance we have a straight up novel about the consequences of underage drinking, changing minds, and date rape. No problem. The book should be relevant.
But the plot gets lost in a heap of unnecessary literary window dressing. First there is the mother's scholarship on Dante's Inferno (hence the title). Rape of her daughter is a worse hell than anything thing Dante envisioned. Then there is the father returning to his Inuit upbringing (while still being a privileged white dude because I guess it would be too much to make him an actual Inuit). And finally there is the father working through his pain through his comics, which are included at the end of certain chapters (they aren't very good).
If that combination wasn't enough, the accused rapist is found dead about midway through the book, thus spinning this already unbelievable book into pure crazy land. If I were reading this book as a rape survivor or as a parent of one, I'd be furious after reading this shlock. show less
The Tenth Circle follows Trixie Stone, her parents, and how her life falls apart after a single act.
I am in the process of reading through all of Jodi Picoult's books, and I think once complete, this will be very much in the middle or towards the bottom. In general, I liked the writing, I liked the fact that it goes over hard topics, and I liked the Dante tie in. Where it faltered for me was how much comic book talk there was (as someone who does like comics, it was a lot), there was so much back story for the dad, the mom was kind of horrible, and the ending wrapped up very quickly. I feel like some of the time dedicated to the dad's back story and the comic books could have been used for a bit more involved ending. I did like it in show more the end, and it was a good read to pick up during Banned Books Week (it has been challenged due to the content). Please check content warnings on this one before picking it up. show less
I am in the process of reading through all of Jodi Picoult's books, and I think once complete, this will be very much in the middle or towards the bottom. In general, I liked the writing, I liked the fact that it goes over hard topics, and I liked the Dante tie in. Where it faltered for me was how much comic book talk there was (as someone who does like comics, it was a lot), there was so much back story for the dad, the mom was kind of horrible, and the ending wrapped up very quickly. I feel like some of the time dedicated to the dad's back story and the comic books could have been used for a bit more involved ending. I did like it in show more the end, and it was a good read to pick up during Banned Books Week (it has been challenged due to the content). Please check content warnings on this one before picking it up. show less
Like the other Picoult books I've read, this story deals with teenagers in adult situations - in this case, (alleged) rape. Usually the parents aren't quite this dysfunctional, but the lack of trust was actually kind of refreshing: I was never quite sure who was lying and why. I'm also glad the plot did not devolve into a lengthy court case, as it easily could have. I enjoyed this story, and especially liked the vivid descriptions of rural Alaskan life, but I didn't feel the inlaid comic book was all that necessary. I guess it was kind of neat to have that extra connection with the characters, but it didn't really add anything for me.
Back when I was still working, Jodi Picoult was popular with our library patrons, so I figured I should give one of her books a try. I chose this one because one of the main characters -- the father -- was a comic book creator and I love omic books. So I bought the book and somehow never got around to reading it. Until now, a decde or so later.
The plot revolves around Daniel Stone, a comic book artist working on writing ann original comic based on Dante's levels of Hell, a subject his college professor wife teaches. A work-from-home parent, he has a strong bond with their 14-year-old daughter, Trixie. Life seems perfect until Trixie tells her father her older boyfriend raped her. From there, things spiral out of control
What once seemed show more perfect reveals itself to be full of lies and deceptions, all with consequences, from the aftermath of the rape accusation to Daniel's wife's infidelity. Slowly, Picoult peels back the layers until the truths are revealed. There are plot twists, some I figured out and some that surprised me, but this isn't a traditional mystery. It's more a look at a family that seems perfect until the family members are forced by circumstances to look more closely.
I could say more about the characters -- the blurb certainly does -- but the only other thing I'll mention is the comic book within the book, as Picoult got an artist to illustrate pages of Daniel's story of a man literally going to Hell to save his daughter, a knowing nod at life imitating art, fictional though both may be. That, and Picoult's easy prose that makes this a fast, compelling read. show less
The plot revolves around Daniel Stone, a comic book artist working on writing ann original comic based on Dante's levels of Hell, a subject his college professor wife teaches. A work-from-home parent, he has a strong bond with their 14-year-old daughter, Trixie. Life seems perfect until Trixie tells her father her older boyfriend raped her. From there, things spiral out of control
What once seemed show more perfect reveals itself to be full of lies and deceptions, all with consequences, from the aftermath of the rape accusation to Daniel's wife's infidelity. Slowly, Picoult peels back the layers until the truths are revealed. There are plot twists, some I figured out and some that surprised me, but this isn't a traditional mystery. It's more a look at a family that seems perfect until the family members are forced by circumstances to look more closely.
I could say more about the characters -- the blurb certainly does -- but the only other thing I'll mention is the comic book within the book, as Picoult got an artist to illustrate pages of Daniel's story of a man literally going to Hell to save his daughter, a knowing nod at life imitating art, fictional though both may be. That, and Picoult's easy prose that makes this a fast, compelling read. show less
Love Picoult’s writing, it’s all about story and she does an amazing job both with the psychological build and the sheer language. But this is now my second book of hers with a difficult topic….
This is a review I wrote in 2007:
Essentially a story of a family that has become dysfunctional almost overnight. Without spoiling the plot, mum Laura, a university professor, hasn't been paying close attention to family life at home, dad Daniel has secrets from his past, and their daughter, 14-year-old Trixie comes home in the early hours of the morning and confesses to her dad that she's been raped.... more revelations follow.
For a Picoult novel, this one is particularly harrowing (given the subject). Although all her novels are deep and disturbing this one I have found the most difficult to read in terms of subject. However, she writes as well as ever and her style of writing makes the book a compulsive read. This one lacks the court show more room scene (her trademark) but it doesn't miss anything for this.
However, 3 stars because the book ends very abruptly. When I turned over the last page I was literally expecting another chapter and had to turn back to check I'd read the last paragraph right. In another way it's also quite far-fetched in its extremes, and didn't speak to me as well as some of her other novels such as "Plain Truth" and "Keeping Faith".
If you're new to Picoult, I'd start with a different novel. show less
Essentially a story of a family that has become dysfunctional almost overnight. Without spoiling the plot, mum Laura, a university professor, hasn't been paying close attention to family life at home, dad Daniel has secrets from his past, and their daughter, 14-year-old Trixie comes home in the early hours of the morning and confesses to her dad that she's been raped.... more revelations follow.
For a Picoult novel, this one is particularly harrowing (given the subject). Although all her novels are deep and disturbing this one I have found the most difficult to read in terms of subject. However, she writes as well as ever and her style of writing makes the book a compulsive read. This one lacks the court show more room scene (her trademark) but it doesn't miss anything for this.
However, 3 stars because the book ends very abruptly. When I turned over the last page I was literally expecting another chapter and had to turn back to check I'd read the last paragraph right. In another way it's also quite far-fetched in its extremes, and didn't speak to me as well as some of her other novels such as "Plain Truth" and "Keeping Faith".
If you're new to Picoult, I'd start with a different novel. show less
This is a terrific idea: a family drama featuring a stay-at-home dad who writes comic books, a wife who is a Dante scholar at a local college, and a fourteen-year old daughter who is skating close to real trouble. When the daughter goes in over her head, her father not only reverts back to the violent bad boy of his long-hidden youth, but the mother’s own dark side is revealed, as well. The whole thing is brought together in the father’s comic book pages, interspersed periodically within the text, which shows his journey to Dante’s Inferno (seen as a frozen wasteland) to find his daughter. Although it is a fast-moving, intriguing plot in an interesting form, the characters struck me as ultimately rather shallow, and the plot was show more not nearly as philosophically complex as I had expected. I was expecting a rich chocolate torte and bit into a Hostess cupcake. That said, many will enjoy this book for its fast-paced story, its murder mystery, and its terrific descriptions of Alaska. A good beach read, perhaps. show less
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Author Information
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Jodi Picoult was born in Nesconset, New York on May 19, 1966. She received a degree in creative writing from Princeton University in 1987 and a master's degree in education from Harvard University. She published two short stories in Seventeen magazine while still in college. Immediately after graduation, she landed a variety of jobs, ranging from show more editing textbooks to teaching eighth-grade English. Her first book, Songs of the Humpback Whale, was published in 1992. Her other works include Picture Perfect, Mercy, The Pact, Salem Falls, The Tenth Circle, Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, Handle with Care, House Rules, Sing You Home, Lone Wolf, Leaving Time, and Small Great Things. My Sister's Keeper was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz. She received the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003. She also wrote five issues of the Wonder Woman comic book series for DC Comics. She writes young adult novels with her daughter Samantha van Leer including Between the Lines and Off the Page. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Tenth Circle
- Original title
- The Tenth Circle
- Original publication date
- 2006-03-07
- People/Characters
- Trixie Stone; Jason Underhill; Daniel Stone; Laura Stone; Zephyr Santorelli-Weinstein; Moss Minton (show all 9); Mike Bartholemew; Seth Dummerston; Janice
- Important places
- Maine, USA; Alaska, USA
- Related movies
- The Tenth Circle (2008 | IMDb)
- Epigraph*
- Hoever ga je om je geliefden te beschermen?
- Dedication
- For Nick and Alex Adolph (and their parents, Jon and Sarah) because I promised one day I would.
- First words
- December 23, 2005
This is how it feels when you realize your child is missing: The pit of your stomach free... (show all)zes fast, while your legs go to jelly. - Quotations
- In the very earliest time,
when both people and animals lived on earth,
a person could become an animal if he wanted to and an animal could become a human being.
Sometimes they were people
and sometimes animals
All spoke the same language.
That was the time when words were like magic.
The human mind had mysterious powers.
A word spoken by chance
might have strange consequences.
It would suddenly come alive
and what people wanted to happen could happen--
all you had to do was say it.
Nobody could explain this:
That's the way it was.
- 'Magic Words', by Edward Field
Inspired by the Inuit - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But when it looped in a half circle and turned upside down, it could mean only one thing: It was dumping luck off its back - anyone's for the taking, if you happened to see where it landed.
- Blurbers*
- Mitchard, Jacquelyn
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Teen, Graphic Novels & Comics
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3566 .I372 .T46 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
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- 7,205
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- Reviews
- 149
- Rating
- (3.45)
- Languages
- 12 — Chinese, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 64
- ASINs
- 18