Personal Connection to "Perfect Match"

If you were a fly on the wall at my house, you may have heard my husband and I discussing the news.  It's pretty much a daily occurrence, usually in the evening after eating dinner while my older two children are taking a shower.  And usually it is the catastrophic events that fill our conversation.  "A girl I went to high school with that lives in Florida - her husband was killed in a car crash today and they have a 1-year old. Isn't that sad?"  I might say.  He might piggyback with the latest update on the missing Malaysian flight, also commenting on how much he hates flying these days and wishes he didn't have to do it for work.  We often comment on how odd it is that that particular day might be the worst day of someone's life, and here we are.  Just going through the mundane.  The rote events of our day.

And this reminded me so much of the beginning of the book Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult.  She is one of my favorite authors, yet I had never read this earlier novel of hers.  She starts by introducing us to the three main characters.  Nina is a powerful Maine state prosecutor who tries all the cases of sexual abuse and molestation.  She deals with criminals every day.  We meet her son, Nathaniel, a curious five-year old boy.  And finally her husband, Caleb, a bricklayer and devoted father and husband. 

We learn about 10% of the way into the book that Nathaniel has been a victim of sexual abuse and it crushes Nina.  She has been doing this for a living for years, and didn't recognize the signs of abuse in her son.  She feels like a failure.  A line that really captured this feeling (and that reminded me of my nightly conversations with my husband) reads, "How do you find the words to explain that the life you woke up in yesterday is not the one you woke up in today?  How do you describe atrocities that aren't supposed to exist?" (Picoult 49).  This was the worst day of her life.  Finding out that someone was hurting her son.  As a mother, it is the worst thing I can imagine.  The news numbed her, consumed her.  As it should.  But she later reflects, "Life, it turns out, goes on.  There is no cosmic rule that grants you immunity from the details because you have come face-to-face with a catastrophe.  The garbage cans still overflow, the bills arrive in the mail, telemarketers still interrupt dinner" (Picoult 75). 

Reading this book makes me appreciate the healthiness of my children and the fact that my family is not in the middle of a catastrophe.  But there is still that lingering idea that somewhere, someone is experiencing the worst day of their life.  And we should all be aware of this.  Help people when we can. Do what is right.  Put ourselves in their shoes.

As I continue reading, I wonder about many things.  I wonder who has abused Nathaniel.  I wonder if he will tell his mom.  I wonder if justice will be served.  Updates to come!