Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1004)

Content

Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Small Great Things in Books

Mar 15, 2018

Small Great Things

Jodi Picoult | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry

8.7

(19 Ratings)

Book Rating

I read this book (a while back now!) as part of a readalong with lots of bookish friends on Instagram! It was called it #TheSmallGreatReadalong see what we did there! Anyway, this review is coming so late compared to when I actually finished, but at least its here now!

My overall opinion on this one is that I liked it, but mainly because it was such a good discussion book, not because of the actual story. Now, that may sound controversial, that I didnt enjoy the bulk of a book all about racism, but thats not what I mean. Let me explain

I think this book did an amazing job at opening up the topic of racism to the reader. As a white woman, living in a pretty middle class existence, I know for a fact that I have unfair privileges and I will never fully understand the complexities of racism, as much as I try to educate myself. This novel certainly has opened my eyes to the some of the more subtle aspects of racism that I hadnt even thought about before. While there were the obvious racist themes in this novel, it wasnt those that shocked me the most, it was the parts that you dont often think about when you think of racism. So for that, for opening my eyes and my mind, I applaud Picoult for writing such a difficult and controversial book.

However, I think the teachings of this book could have been done in a more compelling story. At the end of the day, there was nothing inherently wrong with the plot, but I didnt quite connect with it. I found a lot of it unexciting and the twist at the end, that Picoult just has to add into each one of her books, was so blatantly obvious it didnt surprise me at all and kind of made the rest of the book feel a bit cheap?

Picoults writing isnt my favourite, it doesnt suck me in as much as other authors, but its still weaves a pretty interesting story. I think the characters in this book were far stronger than the plot.

My favourite part of this novel was watching Ruth and Kennedys relationship grow. I loved seeing how Kennedy steadily grew to understand Ruths frustrations and her plight to bring race to the forefront of peoples minds.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, mainly because of what it taught me and how its made me see things in a different way. But, its not the most exciting story Ive ever read and Im not big on the writing style.