Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Sometimes a book speaks to me - like the book of two ways by Jodi Picoult. I read all of Picoult’s work, and am unsure how I missed this. I’m blaming the pandemic and related issues. I am grateful that Libby offered this when I was looking for an available audiobook. Beautifully narrated by by Patti Murin, Picoult gives us Dawn who has the unique opportunity to revisit her past and consider which of two ways her future might unfold. When her faith in her marriage is shaken by her husband’s actions - Dawn begins to reach back and question all the decisions that brought her to this point. She is married, the parent of a teenage daughter, and working as a death doula. In another life - with one different choice - she is with her first love (first passion?) working as an Egyptologist in a newly discovered tomb. How much do we choose and how much do we just let happen? Using the ancient Egyption tradition of being buried with the book of two ways - offering two paths into the afterlife - Picoult explores this question in multiple ways.

I don’t love Dawn - she is problematic to me on some levels, but boy she is bold in seeking out what will make her happiest and most fulfilled. I admire that (Am I jealous?). Picoult develops her in detail, warts and all. She does the same with Dawn’s husband, daughter, lover, and client. I felt their pain and confusion, and even when I didn’t agree with or understand their choices, I was prepared to hang on. Character development is one of Picoult’s gifts. Another is complexity, and she provides it in spades. She establishes through the Egyptology Book of Two Ways angle how long humans have dealt with choices and options. She offers a look at the power of choices made and not made through Dawn’s work as a death doula and her client Win who asks her to help her deal with the repercussions of her choices. And of course, Dawn’s choice to come home and care for her mother instead of completing her work for a PhD. And the book ending choice - Brian or Wyatt. As usual, Picoult presents multiple sides and points of view. Nothing about the plot and conflict here is simple - one of the things I love about a Picoult book.

On reflection, I’m not sure exactly why this book spoke to me so profoundly. One is that I am fascinated by the important work of the death doula - introduced to me in The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer. The job seems so important, and I am so unfamiliar with it. More philosophically, often life feels to me mostly a series of choices and the consequences - good or bad - that follow. I don’t do well with decisions. I take a great deal of time making them and even longer settling in with them. Once I do settle though, I try not to look back. I think that is why I was both uncomfortable but admiring of both Dawn and Win. I found them selfish and yet envied their ability to reflect. I feel like I am in a place where I should be looking back on my life and figuring out what I’ve learned. I have no easy answers here to the thoughts and questions this book provoked - much like the book itself. Perhaps that is why the book resonated with me in a number of ways. I was fascinated by Picoult's treatment of the power of choice and change and consequences the book of two ways.