Between the Lines (review)
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Veteran adult novelist Jodi Picoult teams up with her teen daughter on this fantasy about a bookish teenage girl who falls in love with a character in a children's fairy tale. As Delilah reads the tale, she discovers it is no ordinary book; the illustrations move, and the characters' lives go on when the book is closed. While most of the characters are content with their roles, Prince Oliver longs to escape the tedious cycle of reliving the same story every time the book opens. When he realizes that Delilah can hear him, he calls out to her, and as they plan ways for him to escape, they fall in love. The story is told through three different voices: Oliver's, Delilah's, and the narrator of the fairy tale itself, and these are distinguished by font style so that readers will have no trouble tracking the three perspectives. Delilah's desires are clear and simple: she is drawn to Oliver because they are both fatherless, and because she wants a boyfriend and she thinks he is really good-looking for an illustration (which he is, as evidenced in the full-color art and spot silhouettes scattered throughout). Hence, she speaks for every girl who finds fiction more satisfying than reality. Similarly, Oliver feels trapped by the role he is required to play, desiring to be a real hero instead of a paper one, and falls in love with Delilah because she is literally the first person who hears him. There is no subtlety or complexity, here, [End Page 577] unfortunately, either in the motivations for the narrative or in the relationship; Oliver and Delilah's expressions of their feelings for each other are romantic clichés devoid of nuance or depth. However, the concept and the book's very simplicity may still appeal to younger adolescents, who will enjoy diving into their favorite books and hoping their prince will come.
