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40x40

gayga (2127 KP) rated Small Great Things in Books

Jan 9, 2020  
Small Great Things
Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.7 (19 Ratings)
Book Rating
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Another corker from Jodi
I was almost not looking forward to reading this book as normally Jodi Picoults books put me through the emotional wringer. However, this one left me (mostly) dry eyed. Don’t get me wrong, I love a blub more than most people but it’s nice to occasionally finish one of her books without being covered in tears and snot!

Despite this, it is an awesome book. I’m not going to divulge the story but it’s basically about racism and people’s perceived attitudes to it. The 3 points of view are Ruth Jefferson, a black nurse. Turk Bauer, a white supremacist and Kennedy McQuarrie, a lawyer.

It’s well thought out and you can really get under the skin of the character. A really good read, one I would probably read more than once.
  
40x40

Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Small Great Things in Books

Apr 9, 2019  
Small Great Things
Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.7 (19 Ratings)
Book Rating
Here lately we hear a different story every week where a person of color has been wrong by the police or another authoritative figure in their community. Jodi Picoult tackles this issue head on. Telling the story of Ruth Jefferson, the only black nurse in the Labor and Delivery Unit at Mercy-West Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. When she is removed from the Bauer case because of the color of her skin, she's upset but continues to to do her job. When something horrible happens to the baby, Ruth has to choose between doing the job she was trained to do and fulfilling the wish of the white supremacist parents. When tragedy strikes, Ruth finds herself in the middle of a murder trial.

This book was amazing. I have been a fan of Jodi Picoult for a long time. Her books have a way of grabbing at your heart strings and make you look at the world from a different perspective. This book was no exception. I literally read this book from cover to cover. Rarely do I read the Author's Notes, but this time I did. I had to know where the inspiration for this book came from and what would make a white woman write a book about such an explosive topic in our society today. As a woman of color I felt a lot of emotions while reading this book.

Ruth Jefferson is a highly educated nurse at Mercy-West Haven Hospital. Despite being the only black woman in her department and one of the few in her neighborhood, she gets along well with her colleagues and neighbors and considers some of them friends, or so she thinks. As Ruth tells her story, I can relate to some of the struggles she faces. I was always taught not to judge people by the color of their skin. With part of my family descending from slaves and another part who owned slaves, my family is quite a mix of cultures. But when Ruth is put on trial or murder, these colleagues and neighbors were no longer her friends, they were now people who saw her as the black woman who killed a white baby.

This is an important book for everyone to read. Told from three points of view; Ruth's the nurse on trial for killing a baby; Turk, the white supremacist father of that baby; and Kennedy, the white, female public defender who is Ruth's attorney. Each character learns about themselves and the people around them over the course of this book.

I commend Jodi Picoult for tackling this difficult subject, especially during this time in our country when the subject is so relevant. As she mentions in her Author's Notes, most white authors write historical fiction about the black community, but this book fits right with today's headlines and some are even mentioned. This book helps to confirm why Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors.