Mad Honey: A Novel

MAD HONEY is the second one of Jodi Picoult's books I've read, and it contains all the ingredients I've come to expect from her writing: beautiful prose, a compulsive plot line, relatable characters, and great twists. Picoult and co-author Jennifer Finley Boylan utilized a dual-timeline, multiple point-of-view approach in their writing. The result is a smooth introduction of backstory and an intriguing look at events through the eyes of several key players. The reader learns straightaway that single mom Olivia is a beekeeper and is raising teenage son Asher. Doing her trademark deep dive, Picoult provides lots of details about the lives of bees and beekeeping, and this becomes a powerful metaphor for family life and society at large. Asher is dating the multi-talented Lily, a cellist, champion fencer, and font of knowledge about various topics she's researched. Lily and her mother are newcomers to the small New Hampshire town that provides the story's backdrop, having migrated from Seattle. We learn that the motivating factor behind the move was a need to escape an abusive husband/father. Although both Lily and Asher are distanced from their fathers, we come to understand that there are very different reasons for the fractured parent-child relationships. Very little in this book is what it seems at first glance, and the authors have done a terrific job bringing the reader on a journey that reveals the truth bit by bit. There comes a point when medical information is doled out, and it is given in a sensitive, appropriate manner. I won't give spoilers, except to say that the courtroom drama is as compelling as any other part of the book, and that a murder is involved. It isn't until close to the end of the book that a definition of "mad honey" appears. "THERE IS ONE type of honey you should avoid at all costs. Mad honey comes from bees that forage on rhododendrons and mountain laurel, and it’s full of poisonous grayanotoxins. It causes dizziness, nausea and vomiting, convulsions, cardiac disorders, and more. Symptoms last for twenty-four hours, and although rarely, if left untreated, can be fatal." The definition perfectly fits the final, shocking twist. I highly recommend MAD HONEY to readers who love sensitive treatments of social issues, lovely prose, and lovable but flawed characters. If you've read other books by Picoult, you'll understand exactly what this means. If not, dive in!

Good book. It took me a while to read it . I put it in a DNF but decided to pick it back up and glad I did. There are a lot of stories within the story. I did learn a lot on several topics.

I absolutely loved this book!! it looks at two issues often talked about but largely not understood, domestic violence, and transgender. It was helpful to me to understand that there are many sides to these two complex and complicated issues. Knowledge is power and we are all God’s people.

My apologies for this review being as lengthy as it is, but I just couldn’t find anyway to shorten it. 🙃 I was immediately captivated by the storyline and the characters as the plot began to unfurl from page 1, and onward. Having said that, I’m not surprised, considering that Picoult was a contributing writer for this book. No disrespect meant toward Boylan, I’m just simply not familiar with her writing. There is a huge amount of intensity, both good and bad, as well as contentment and certainty regarding the mother/son relationship, the other mothers, and Lily (one of the key characters) as well as the strong bad-ass females that are representing for our gender. (Hoo-gah!!) There is an undeniability, together with an apprehensiveness, as to what is eventually expected to unfold as told on the "jacket cover" description provided by the publisher/writer. This begins to build as the reader is submersed further into the narrative, and as the story moves around from the POV’s provided by two main characters of the story. You’ve previously been forewarned, and conscious of what is yet to come. Even if you care to have it delayed a bit longer, it’s one of those novels you irrefutably can not put down. It’s like watching a passenger train on the tracks, knowing it’s about to derail, and it’s evident there’s nothing you can do to stop it, yet you can’t turn away from the horror that’s about to unfold before your eyes. There is one major key genre that is curiously left out of any of the previews, but to have it included, would destroy what is to develop at a later stage. It would’ve been a HUGE spoiler. For that reason, it makes it even more difficult in writing this review. I honor the writers, and will not mention it here either. All I can say is to continue reading through, until the end to see why my mind was so completely blown! The ending alone regarding the responsibility of Lily’s death, is another mind stunner. I also want to mention, that while reading, I was very curious and hoped to be enlightened as to who wrote which sections of the book. Thank goodness I always read what the authors write in the the "Dear readers:" section, as will as anything else that follows. I unequivocally feel the need to include something Jennifer Finney Boylan states in her ending message/notes: "All of us have something in our hearts like a flower that cannot bloom because it is held in secret. The adventure of life can be to get that thing out of the darkness where it lies and let the sun shine on it. So it can go back inside your heart facing the right direction." WOW! Doesn’t it appear we all have that abysmal, cavernous secret buried so far down, it’ll never see the light of day again, if it were up to us? Imagine considering her outlook toward it instead? Just something to ponder at a later date, possibly… And I also feel the need to share something that Picoult wrote in her ending message/notes: "What would I like you to take away from this novel? Absolutely nothing. I’d like you to give—a chance, a thought, a damn. Like gender, difference is a construct. We are all flawed, complicated, wounded dreamers; we have more in common with one another than we don’t. Sometimes making the world a better place just involves creating space for the people who are already in it. —Jodi Picoult" Another WOW moment! I rarely give out 5 star ratings and have a system of 3 key qualifiers, one of which is: "Those that profoundly affected my whole being while reading, and left an intense deeply-rooted impression as well." This one is a 5 star rating for sure, and I significantly advocate, encourage, and recommend this as a Must Read Novel.

Mad Honey is a book that pulls the heartstrings in several directions at once. It is a good read, although it is probably my least favorite Jodi Picoult book that I have read to date.

So, first of all, this book reminded me why I love Jodi Picoult and need to read more of her books. Picoult can be counted on to deliver a well-written, powerful, human narrative that's still a relatively easy read. Looking for a "beach read" that's great instead of trashy? JP is your woman. Here she partners with Boylan who is also a great writer, and in all honesty, it's seamless and does not for a moment read like a collab. Mad Honey is compelling from the start with hero characters including Olivia, a single mom/power beekeeper/abuse survivor, Lily, a teen savant/cellist/depressive/also survivor, and Asher, a teen Prince Charming whose hidden depths- and hidden pain- no one but Lily truly sees. Quickly this becomes a murder mystery and trial procedural, so, again, super entertaining and also emotionally intense. For the first probably half of the book, I did not want to put it down. I really want to avoid spoilers here. I will say there's a major plot twist, an interesting one, but unfortunately at this point the book takes a dive. There is SO MUCH explication to support the plot that the book becomes more of a textbook and less of a novel. For me personally I didn't need 99% of this surrounding information, it was familiar to me - and I think it would be at least understandable to anyone who would love this book. This is the point where, I think, the writers needed to decide if they would rather just tell a story and let the reader fill in, or if they needed to inform and provide massive context, and they chose the latter. The book is about 30% longer as a result (insert head-banging emoji). I really loved the writing here; the character development; and the power and empathy with which the writers communicated painful and joyful things. But *just as a novel* it's a super-flawed book: there's all this endless explication, the ending is unsatisfying, *and* you can see the real whodunit coming from miles away. If I were not such a fan of the intent here, I'd say three stars.

I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Jodi Picoult books. I live her stories, hate her endings. And I really hate that that's the first thing that comes to mind in reviewing this book. It is an amazing book. The absolute best thing I can say about Picoult is that she doesn't write the same book over and over. She tackles new topics in every book of hers that I've read, and I've read most of them. Sometimes I forget who I'm reading because every book is so different. I think even the writing style is unique to each story. But enough about Jodi, Jennifer, I'm sorry. It's your story, literally your dream child, and Jodi gets top billing on everything, even in this review. But one thing she gets absolutely right is that she couldn't have told this story without you because it isn't her story to tell. I think this is my introduction to you and I will be reading much more. I'm also sorry you didn't win the Detective Mike argument. Lol And I am curious who's idea was the ending, the reveal of the culprit, so to speak. I blamed it on your coauthor because whack endings are the one thing that you can count on in a Picoult book but not having read you before, I admit I could be wrong. Regardless it's an amazing book. To get 5* from me a book has to make me laugh and cry. And oh it did just that. I also have to have someone to root for. I loved almost all the characters and realistically every book has to have an antagonist or two, so the characters were perfect. I also should relate to it in some way no matter how small. There was a lot that could be pulled from my own story both as a child and as a mother. For some of my book club friends, to get five stars, they require a book to be something that everyone should read. Something that everyone can get something from. I haven't looked yet to see how they rated it but for me, this is one of those books. I think we live in a time when being trans or enby or anywhere in the LGBTQ+ spectrum has so much more acceptance than ever before and at the same time so much more opposition. The more acceptance anything other than the "traditional male/female sex assignment" gets, the more those that think it's truth need to fight to maintain their status quo. The strongest purpose of fiction is empathy. It's to allow ourselves to walk around in another person's shoes and find out how our preconceived notions are wrong and how they inhibit other people. Obviously if every person in the world read this book, many would identify more with Braden, or Lily's father, or Dirk and completely miss the point. One of the book club questions is, can someone like them change. It's not easy, but I have seen it happen. The reason there is more acceptance of differing genders is because people can change. But there are also people in this world like Olivia who just don't have a cl inue until they have the first conversation, until the first time they walk around in those shoes. So I do think everyone should try all these various shoes on for size.

I have read Picoult books for many years. They usually are above the norm in book lists. This book us one of the best. The subject does not disappoint, and the writing is excellent. Don't know author Boylan, but total book was very readable, and intelligent. Picoult writes her books about subjects in the news of our U.S. culture and they just jump out of the page for the reader. We learn about bees and beekeeping, mother love, real story about law and trial, teens trying to find their gender, in walkways, not headline reports. We see all sides if problems, and work through the characters as they try to figure out answers. A girl dies, is her boyfriend her killer? What would make anyone kill a likeable young girl? Motive? As far as bee info, it was very interesting, never boring. This is a WOW of a story that can't be put down till the end!!! Recommend this book to anyone over age 16. Will miss these characters for some time. You feel as if you are with them in the story. Great writing, wonderful explanation of sex problems, but never steamy. Intelligent. Not over your head. Loved this book. Once in awhile you are lucky enough to read something like this.

Originally purchased for my daughter, definitely not my typical novel but I needed some holiday reading. To my surprise I finished the book, and got educated along the way.

Just finished the book and wow! It was educational, eye opening, and came to a bittersweet end. What more, I realised I had seen an episode of Oprah from 2005 that featured author Jennifer Boylan after looking her up, what a lady she is and the life she's created. Also, Jodi Picoult doing her fabulous thing as usual. Highly recommended.

Excelente

I loved this book because it opened my mind on so many issues. Specially knowing that in some places, this book is banned, I felt privileged to be able to read it. Learn about minority communities like the one discussed in the book was mind opening. This is a book that makes you look at the society with more compassion and understanding. Loved this book.

This must have been a challenging book to write considering the scope of topics and combining the work of the two authors. The story is told from the perspective of two of the characters Olivia, a beekeeper and Lily, a high school student. Their paths cross when Olivia's son Asher becomes Lily's first love and the lives of the two students and their families become intricately intertwined. The characters were very well written and provide a lot of insight into the troubled family dynamics. There were endless surprises, a lot of details about bee keeping (more that I ever wanted to know!) and a complex plot that book clubs would have an interesting time discussing.