Aspergers, patient mother, and murder. Dun dun dunnn

The title: 

House Rules

Who penned this work?:

Jodi Picoult

How did this piece find it's way to your nightstand?:

I'd heard she was a good author.  That's all there is to it.

Number of pages:

532

Time passed from start to finish?:

Two weeks, maybe?

Describe the cover:

A boy crouching near a lake, writing in the sand.

In what section of the bookstore would a reader find this?:

Fiction  

Summary of the basic plot:

Jacob is an 18 year old with Aspergers, he has a 15 year old brother, and his mother who works from home.  He's obsessed with forensic criminology, and likes to crash crime scenes to tell the police what happened to the victim.  It's all harmless until a victim is someone he's close to, and the crime scene makes every clue turn into making him into a suspect.  So most of the book is finding out what really happened to the victim.  Each chapter is from the perspective of a different character, which I thought was neat.

Background information on the story/author:

She is also a #1 bestselling author, who lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three kids.  Is that good enough?  

What did you think of it? (your general response, what you liked or didn't like, what you learned, anything else you want to share about it):

I actually liked it.  I wanted to turn the pages to find out what happens next! I didn't know much about aspergers, so it was neat to learn about something. 

Which page was your favorite? Share why:

I need to remember to keep track of that kind of stuff when i'm reading. because i couldn't tell ya. 532 pages is a lot to go back and find out which was my favorite.

If the story was made into a movie, who would you cast as the main characters?

i bet leonardo dicaprio, back in the day when he was in gilbert grape, would have been good as jacob.  I don't know many 18 year old actors that could pull off that right now.  

Share a quote that was worth reading twice. Explain why:

Again, i forgot to take notes, but looking one up online, here's a good one:

"I don't know what he means by that, but I nod and smile at him. You'd be surprised at how far that response can get you in a conversation where you are completely confused."   It shows how Aspergers works in his mind.  The line before that was most likely a metaphor, and Aspie's take everything 100% literally.  

           Choose your rating:

          - Changed. My. Life.
          - I laughed, I cried, I want you to read it
          - A definite page-turner
          - Good to check out but don't spend the cash.
          - Why did I waste my weekend on this?
          - A disgrace to paper everywhere

Flip to page 2, 22, or 202. Share the 7th sentence on the page. 

It's the child who's supposed to cry, and the mom who makes it all better, not the other way around, which is why mothers will move heaven and earth to hold it together in front of their own kids.