Wow, just wow. I thought this book was fantastic. I had heard about Defending Jacob here on Goodreads in a poll, I think the question was something along the lines of, "What would you do if your child was guilty of a horrible crime?". It grabbed my attention immediatly, I was baffled, what would I do? I have no idea. It's a terrible situation I doubt any parent ever envisions themselves in.
This story brought up so many things that are so controversial, the nature vs nurture argument for instance. Are we a product of the environment that we are brought up in or are we predisposed to certain traits from the start thanks to genetics? Could be a scary thought right? I mean it is a compelling question, how many times have you heard someone say, "She gets her good looks from her mom" or, "He's smart just like his dad", etc. So if we can inherrit these positive attributes, why not the negative too, a bad temper, or violent tendencies?
Another thing that spoke to me was that I really felt terrible for these parents, all of them. One set lost a child, that is just the unimaginable for any parent. Your children become your universe, I couldn't concieve a world where my daughter was not in it. Then you have these parents who have a child who is accused of a horrific crime, murder. This was really their story, and throughout it my heart ached for them. They were victims as well. I thought it was a true feat to make them so. I know so many instances where I hear about a child committing a crime or even bullying and people say, "Well it must be the parents". People, myself included at times, are quick to assume that if a child is doing something disturbing they probably picked it up at home. It can be hard to consider the fact that maybe they did "all the right things" and still had a child with serious problems.
Defending Jacob was very well written and thought provoking, I highly recommend it! It was so much more than a simple crime mystery. If you haven't picked this book up yet, do it!