Keeping Faith Review

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult, 1999, 502 pages

Faith is a 7-year-old who witnesses the breakdown of her parents marriage and subsequent rapid divorce as her father was having an affair and wanted to re-marry. Her mother falls into a deep depression and Faith is forced to deal with all of this in her own way. This child, who has no religious background, starts seeing visions and talking to God.

The book focused heavily on religion and dealt with very controversial topics such as miracles and the stigmata. Word spread and soon there was a media circus. The media can truly sensationalize any event and can become quite intrusive. Once the media is in full swing, the father, Colin, feels that he should have sole custody of Faith, saying that his ex-wife, Mariah, is not a fit mother. Thus ensues a very nasty custody battle.

I found the book to be a bit confusing as it had 1st person and 3rd person narrative. I did like the ending and feel that it would make a good read for a book club as it deals with such a controversial subject and am sure it would make for lively discussion and debate.

Rating 3 out of 5