Book Club Kits: The Pact

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For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty-- they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born.

So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet-- a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described.

The profound questions faced by the characters in this heart-rending novel are those we can all relate to: How well do we ever really know our children, our friends? What if…? As its chapters unfold, alternating between an idyllic past and an unthinkable present, The Pact paints an indelible portrait of families in anguish… culminating in an astonishingly suspenseful courtroom drama as Chris finds himself on trial for murder.

With this riveting psychological drama, Jodi Picoult explores the dynamics of intimate relationships under stress-- from the seemingly inexplicable mind of a teenager to the bonds of friendship and marriage. Few writers have such a gift for evoking everyday life coupled with the ability to create a level of dramatic tension that will keep you up reading late into the night. The Pact is storytelling at its best: wonderfully observed, deeply moving, and utterly impossible to put down.

Read an excerpt from the novel.

• How do you feel the extended family environment created by the Hartes and the Golds affected their children? Did it contribute to Emily's suicide?
  
  
• Is there such a thing as being too close to another non-blood relative family?
  
  
• How do you feel Chris handled his guilt? Can he justify helping Emily commit suicide?
  
  
• How did the marital relationships of the Golds and the Hartes contribute to Gus's and Michael's temptations?
  
  
• Is Emily correct in believing she had no other alternatives to suicide? Explain.
  
  
• Is Melanie justified in her feelings and actions toward the Hartes following Emily's death? What might justify her behavior?
  
  
• On page 35 is the following statement: "Chris and Emily had grown up with love, with wealth, and with each other. What more could they have needed?" Comment.
  
  
• In what ways does jail change Chris? In what ways does he benefit from the experience, and in what ways does it hurt him?
  
  
• Consider the personalities of the Hartes and the Golds. Do opposites attract? Does it make for the best communication in a marriage? How do the events of the book support or deny this thesis?
  
  
• Where do you see these characters in five years?
  
  
• Is the punishment meted out to Chris just? In your opinion, is Chris guilty of murder?
  
  
• Which character in the book is the most adaptable? The least adaptable? Why?
  
  
• Do you think Chris's trial will affect Jordan's view of the justice system? Explain.
  
  
• What is the significance of the "blank" piece of paper that Chris finds in the tin can at the end of the book?

The Pact on IMDB.

Check the catalog for availability: The Pact [videorecording DVD]