Product Description

When Daniel Stone was a child, he was the only white boy in a native Eskimo village where his mother taught, and he was teased mercilessly because he was different. He fought back, the baddest of the bad kids: stealing, drinking, robbing and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush – where he honed his artistic talent, fell in love with a girl and got her pregnant. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself – jettisoning all that anger to become a docile, devoted husband and father. Fifteen years later, when we meet Daniel again, he is a comic book artist. His wife teaches Dante’s Inferno at a local college; his daughter, Trixie, is the light of his life – and a girl who only knows her father as the even-tempered, mild-mannered man he has been her whole life. Until, that is, she is date raped… and Daniel finds himself struggling, again, with a powerlessness and a rage that may not just swallow him whole, but destroy his family and his future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103747 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 385 pages

Amazon.com
Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale.

Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs.

The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences. --Gisele Toueg

Review

'This story of a flawed family on the brink of destruction grips from start to finish'

'Picoult is an amazing storyteller and as she weaves you deeper into the lives of her flawed families you'll be gripped by their traumas. A further level of narrative is added by Daniel's illustrations, which punctuate the chapters. A sad and complex, but ultimately enthralling read.' *****

'Picoult has been incredibly successful in dissecting the pain that family members go through when faced with sensitive and emotive issues . . . Any mother who has turned a blind eye to a too-short skirt or has backed down over unsuitable friends will find The Tenth Circle to be an honest reflection of the more difficult side of family life . . . a touching read and it easily merits a place in the bestseller lists.'

'This wonderful, sensitive yet exciting tale can only augment Jodi Picoult's already impressive reputation as an author.'

'The themes are weighty: adultery, rape, violence and death. But Picoult deftly manoeuvres her way through the characters, taking pains to delve into the psyches of each one. . . Picoult's appreciation of teenage angst is exquisitely unwrapped . . . This book is a well-written, mature and entertaining study of sex, lies and love on family relationships.  The Tenth Circle is Picoult's 12th novel, and on this form she's going to leave her readers impatient for more.'

From the Publisher
Jodi Picoult's new novel is as involving and intriguing as her others, and makes us consider more than one difficult question. It makes us think about that moment when your child is growing up, and you see them falling, and have to let them get up by themselves. Can you do it? And it makes us wonder what we, like Daniel, would actually do to keep our child safe. It also has a tremendously atmospheric setting, among the Inuit in Alaska. And there's another dimension to it: the graphic novel that Daniel is writing interleaves the chapters of the novel. You can ignore it if you like and read only the conventional novel - or you can read the graphic novel too and have it illuminate what's going on in the main book.

Customer Reviews

The Tenth Circle - Picoult just gets better and better
In this latest novel by Jodi Picoult, a take on Dante's 'Inferno', we find our 'hero' Daniel Stone, a comic-book artist and stay-at-home-dad to 14 year old Trixie fighting his way through a past he thought he'd left behind to the 'Tenth Circle' - the inner most level of Hell - after the boy she adored tore her life apart in the worst possible way. Illustrations by Daniel (Dustin Weaver) from his current piece of work, mirror his thoughts, emotions and journey throughout, the book and also have hidden in them letters making up a phrase - a mystery for you to discover as you read this highly charged and emotionally complex drama. If you've enjoyed Jodi Picoult's previous novels, you are certain to find this one equally as gripping, and if this is your first - well, you're in for a treat.

Disappointing
Having read many of Jodi's books and become addicted to her writing, I was very disappointed with this one. It took a while to get into it, although the main body of the book was very good and kept me hooked. However once the setting moved to Alaska, I felt it lost the momentum and I found the final chapters lacking. Best novels for me have been My Sisters Keeper, Plain Truth & Perfect Match

Liked it but not her best work.....
I suppose when you are so successful at writing great stories that cleverly explore moral dilemmas and some of the most interesting human situations an individual/ family can encounter, you can't expect to be a winner every time.
For this book by Jodi Picoult I would echo the sentiments of other reviewers. The eskimo culture didn't seem as well researched as it could be. The reader isn't really able to understand how it influenced Daniel Stone's character any more than any other culture would have done. This was much more to do with the events which shaped his life and there seemed no direct relevance.
I would agree the story ended too abruptly also. The book seemed to be missing about another 20 pages which would have brought the story to a more complete conclusion.
I'm still a fan but this wasn't up to standard.