Small Great Things

No one is more surprised than me by how delicately handled and well-developed this book is. The last time I read a Jodi Picoult book was probably around 15 years ago, and it was called The Pact. I've always thought Picoult's books were for a different audience. I decided to give this one a shot because some of my good friends recommended this without hesitation - people whose taste I respect - and the synopsis hooked me.

That aside, this book is great. It doesn't have the detailed prose that drives most of the fiction I read, but it has really excellent characters with fairly realistic - at least in my mind - conversations and dialogue. There are parts of the book that definitely make it fiction and not real life, but it handles these moments smartly. Picoult handles the nature of “invisible privileges” really well, and questions common thinking without shoving it down readers' throats.

The book feels very movie-like to me with its pacing and dialogue-driven writing, so it's not really a surprise that it's being adapted into a movie. Looking forward to seeing Viola Davis bring this to life.

I hadn't read a Jodi Picoult novel in quite a while, I had loved the initial releases on which she made her name such as My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen Minutes but I had become hardened to the moral dilemma format of her stories and had begun to find them samey, in fact the last book I read was the one's that saw her writing with her daughter as they were a complete departure from the norm. Advertising for Small Great Things really captured my imagination though.

This is the story of Ruth, a 40 something Black Labour & Delivery nurse with more than 20 years experience in her job. A single parent working hard to raise her honour roll son to be able to fulfil his potential and gain entry to a good college. She is called in to assist in the post delivery checks for a couple on her ward and is shocked when during her examinations the father demands that she not touch his newborn and asks to speak to her supervisor. It quickly becomes apparent that the father, a white supremacist, has elected to have her removed from the child's care because of the colour of her skin. Barred from touching the child she is angry and upset at the lack of support she received from her colleagues and disgusted by the beliefs of the father. She carries on with her job though until she finds herself, in an emergency, left alone with the child as he recovers from a circumcision. When the child stops breathing she is faced with a choice, does she assist the child and break the guideline she's been given not to touch him or does she ignore the fact the child is in distress.

Picoult has picked a very difficult topic for this novel, it is one the author admits she has been longing to write for some time since she read a story about a black undercover police officer being shot in the back by his colleagues during an altercation despite having the designated marker highlighting him as police clearly showing. Race issues in the United States have been igniting more and more often recently as people question the way police officers treat people of African American heritage.

In this book Picoult brings it to the fore in a story where Ruth is charged with the murder of the newborn she has been told she cannot touch because of her race, when the father of the child deems her responsible for his death. From there we find ourselves seeing events through the eyes of all the different characters in turn. Ruth, who has always seen herself as part of the hospital team, a good mother and with a son with wonderful prospects suddenly finds herself on trial for nothing other than her race, she begins to question everything she's stood for and the steps she's taken to ensure she ‘fits in'. Turk, the father of the baby leads us through his journey into the world of white supremacy, his relationship with his wife Brittany who shares his beliefs and the violence that always bubbles just below his surface. Finally we view events through the eyes of Kennedy, Ruth's lawyer who is undertaking her first murder trial and has to tread a careful line of not making the courtroom case entirely about race as that is not how the system would view as appropriate.

It is a book that I found quite difficult to read because some of the chapters shine a light on a hard truth, that race equality is something that although we believe we have made progress with is still, and may always be an issue right across the world. One chapter highlighted it best for me when Kennedy visits a store and finds herself faced with hair products for black people and states that she has no idea how these work or that they ever existed because the only shampoo or hair commercials we ever see on TV are for white people. Similarly how when 80% of the celebrities in movies are white then that means that so often the movies on screen do not represent the world as black children know it. Whilst this is the case how can we ever claim that equality exists?

Having a break from the novels of Picoult perhaps allowed me to really reach into this one with such enjoyment. Really when you strip everything away the old tried and tested format she has become famous for was the basis for this story and that hadn't changed so perhaps if I'd come to this direct from one of her other more recent books I wouldn't have found it quite so fresh and engaging. It is brilliant then that I've had that break and it felt like catching up with a long lost friend as I slipped back into her writing style.

This book is one that will cause you to question yourself, your own approach to race and as Kennedy says in the book force us to admit that really we are all still a little racist as the system is built that way. It challenges the way you look at the subject, it forces you to look at the extreme beliefs of Turk and Brittany and question how this level of hatred can still exist. It also has the most wonderful ending, the most unexpected twist and this for me was such a wonderful gem of a way to end the book. I don't want to say too much as it would ruin it for other readers but when the event happens you catch your breath and silently punch the air, you suddenly see the whole truth and it's appropriate and a twist that will make it stand out from other books for me in months and years ahead.

Absolutely wonderful and very very highly recommended.

Amazing. Outstanding story line. This book made me look inward. It caused me to reflect on some of the prejudices that I have. On a negative note, it made me hyper aware of the daily challenges, I face as a black woman. The book did its job! Would recommend to everyone

Just alright.

Warning! This book may make you cry!

This was a deep and dark book. There were some very painful parts and it really made me think about my beliefs and how I see people.

[b:Small Great Things 41021501 Small Great Things Jodi Picoult https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1533135682l/41021501.SX50.jpg 45950662]Gripping. Powerful. A story that needs to be told. From two different perspectives. One that is almost unbearable to read. Actually, both are very difficult to read, but in different ways. One character's life makes you think not only of her outlook but forces you to truly take an introspective look. From another's viewpoint as well as how you look at the world. While you are reading it, it is hard to imagine that it was written by a white, female author. Jodi Picoult's SMALL GREAT THINGS. This book is so riveting as it strikes a chord. Given the state of race relations in our country, the story is all the more haunting. To say that the issue of racial inequality has actually taken a turn for the worse, would be an understatement. The disparity in everyday life. I found myself doubting things that I have said, whom I may have inadvertently hurt or offended with no malicious intent. Reading this book made me sick to my stomach. But I read on. It is important. Picoult is trying to get a message across. Please don't misunderstand, I was enthralled by the book. The story is passionate, intense, and portrays a deep struggle, which you want to read.My heart breaks for the characters in this book, but that made me want to read it even more. I am very behind the ball with books this year. It seems that I should have taken this book and read it the day it was released. The story is about a nurse, no ordinary nurse, but one who is dedicated and well regarded, with a twenty-year career at the hospital where ‘the incident' occurs. A husband and wife have just had their first baby. When the nurse comes into their room, to take over the shift of another labor and delivery nurse, upon seeing her, the parents, who are white supremacists, see that she is black and immediately request to see her supervisor, whom they tell, in no uncertain terms, that this woman is not to touch their baby. What unfolds next is a devastating. Both of their lives take a turn neither could have predicted. The story is told from both sides. Heartbreak from the nurse's and mistrust of everyone she encounters. She has noticed this before or rather, has worked hard to rise above it, but now it is all surfacing and cannot be ignored. The extremely racist man is angered to the point of revenge and his wife is shattered and taken to bed and depression.I have no desire to spoil the story for anyone, if however, you haven't read it I suggest you read it. Some books make you think. Some books turn you to a fantasy world. Some books make you step outside of yourself and think how others feel. SMALL GREAT THINGS makes you think, step outside of yourself, take another's perspective, and re-think your beliefs, and step outside of the fantasy world you have been living in, where all people are treated equally. It is both disturbing, heartbreaking and enlightening. I love how this book opens your mind opens your heart and makes you want to see change in the world we live in.

It was well written, but frankly I couldn't finish it as I found the content too disturbing.

I bought this book to do a buddy read a couple years ago, but we never got around to it. I didn't pick the book, I just agreed based on the Goodreads score alone. I picked it at random from my tbr with a number generator. Fair warning, this is going to be a full on rant.
I don't like the way it made me feel reading it. This book was an accumulation of every stereotype and had the most ideal and unrealistic ending. I hate that she let Turk end this novel and it was a redemptive moment. I personally feel like the opportunity to share stories about racial injustice should be given predominantly to the people who live through the societal consequences that come with walking through the world while being part of said race.
Jodi Picoult is a popular author. She has several best selling books and even has movie adaptations. Even this one is getting a movie adaptation. It makes me wonder at the true motivation for writing this book. She has already received so much acclaim for pedaling trauma porn in all of her other 27 books and yet this one is among the highest rated. Makes me wonder who actually benefits from this book? This is the type of “allyship” that feels icky. Virtue signaling while also typing countless slurs and making the reader look through the perspective of member of the white power movement. Just icky. In the author's note the author talks about how she wanted to write about race for 20 years and found a real story of a poc nurse in Michigan who was requested to be removed from a patient's team, a skinhead who turned their life around and apologized to someone they terrorized years prior, and identified with the character who tried to do right as a white person but made blunders along the way. I hate the narrative from famous “allies” that white people should make other white people understand that what they think is wrong. Because at the base of that, these particular white people are profiting off of it. They get the book sales, and movie offers, and pats on the back. At no time, did she stop and think she should promote the stories that already exist from people of color. Invite people of color into the space of your readership and viewership and give them the floor. Show your support, do your own research, and field the questions afterward. Give the press coverage to them and stop using their trauma to feel good about yourself. Ugh. /rant

WOW. When reading the first “Turk” chapter I almost just put the book away and filed it under “I tried”.
I kept going though and am so very glad I did. The research Jodi Picoult did to make this book what it is. An eye opening. A look into racism from 3 different views. And let me tell you. Reading “Turk”'s parts were... I felt mortified that there are still people who think this way and act this way.

oh boy, I don't know. I did find a lot of this cringe-y, particularly when Jodi was writing from the POV of Ruth, the black nurse, and trying to expand on how microaggressions feel? And, like in the other Jodi P book I've read, just a LOT of coincidences/twists/etc. But uhh... she's trying? This might teach some middle-aged white people about microaggressions? And in the back material she recommends reading [b:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 6792458 The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328751532s/6792458.jpg 6996712], which is rad. I wouldn't recommend seeking this out unless you are a Jodi Picoult fan already, or, like me, you are TOO CURIOUS.

Thought-provoking, emotional, wrapped up a bit too neatly. Reading the author's note in the back of the book gave me a greater appreciation for the passion, interest, and work that went into this book, and the bibliography is a great resource.

I had been looking for this book for months and finally found it for sale as an ebook. Once I started reading it I had reservations about a book on race written by a white woman, especially when there are so many classic books by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou et al that I have not read, particularly one laced with so many n-words. It made me wonder why I passed so many classic works by African American women to read this one written by a white woman. Was that part of my personal bias?

Anyway, it did a good job of showing growing awareness in a white “non-racist.” It showed two ways of dealing with racism from the point of view of the protagonist and her sister. It reminds me of Cornel West in Race Matters. He spoke of race-effacing, race-identifying, and race-transcending people of color, and I think those dynamics are explored here. It explored the contradictions of hate, similar to the laundry scene in American History X and when the antagonist sees others around him soften when children and other priorities are introduced. It takes a lot of energy to hate, and in some ways it provides hope that in this current environment we can hope that extreme elements who feel emboldened to be overtly racist will one day wake up to the reality that love is what powers the universe and that we all need to work to dismantle racism.

There weren't any pat answers, and I didn't expect there to be. There were moral lessons, hard conversations, and the realistic portrayal of the delicate, painful, and rewarding nature of inter-racial friendships and the shallow nature of most “friendships” like those we share with co-workers and people we grew up with.

Well done, Ms. Picoult. Kudos!

this book was so good, and beautifully done. but i really need to start checking trigger warnings or learn how to dnf because this was so hard for me as a mother to read.

It started a little slow for me but I really enjoyed listening to this on audiobook and it did widen my perspective.

Kisah diawali dengan lahirnya seorang bayi bernama Davis, putra dari Turk Bauer. Turk meminta kepala perawat untuk melarang Ruth mengurus anaknya, karena Ruth berkulit hitam. Setelah baru berusia beberapa hari, Davis meninggal dunia. Ruth bimbang antara mematuhi perintah langsung atasannya atau menyelamatkan nyawa Davis. Hingga akhirnya Turk menuduh Ruth membunuh Davis karena balas dendam. Kasus ini sampai dibawa ke pengadilan, dan Kennedy sebagai pengacara Ruth berusaha membuktikan bahwa bukan perawat itu yang menyebabkan kematian Davis.
Yang menarik & sentimental dari kisah ini adalah bagaimana Ruth sejak kecil bermain sesuai aturan, menenggelamkan segala sakit hati atas perlakuan yg diterimanya, baik sengaja maupun tdk disengaja oleh orang kulit putih, bekerja sepenuh hati menjadi perawat mengabdikan dirinya pada org lain, nmaun tetap saja, hal buruk bisa menimpanya.
Endingnya menyentuh sekali, sebuah buku yang hebat, menurutku. Suatu klimaks & ending yg kuat sangat menentukan buku itu bagus atau tidak. Menghabiskan hampir 600 halaman yang sangat layak untuk Small Great Things.

3.5?

I feel that this book was much better than My Sister's Keeper. However, I felt that there was this huge plot hole: In the beginning of the book Ruth says the baby is born ‘without a face...but where an ear should have been, there was a twist of lips and a single tooth. Instead of a face there was a swirling eddy of skin with no features.' Which I took to mean no nose and likely an under- or abnormally developed respiratory system. But then it never seems to come up again. It doesn't come up when they're going through medical evidence and Turk posts a picture of his son on the blog and I thought mentioned something about his nose. I am just so confused and annoyed, it seems contradictory and fairly major. And depending on Turk specific bent of white supremacy should also have then hated his son or demanded a plastic surgeon immediately. (Edit) So discussed this in book club and it seems Ruth was discussing a different baby that had died and it took the mother a little while to accept their death

Touched a little on colorism (Ruth and her sister have differing complexions and appear to be treated differently for it) but didn't call it by name. Also touched on (white) privilege, but again not by name and just referred to things as ‘racist' not even ‘systematic racism'. I am glad that the term ‘generational wealth' was used.

Something else that pissed me off, and not for the reason one might think: Turk spits on Ruth IN court. The only consequence is he leaves the court, where he then talks to the media. Spitting AT someone is assault, how come Kennedy doesn't mention this? I don't necessarily expect Ruth to know or be in the mindset to be aware of her full legal rights.

I still am processing how I feel about hearing Turk's side of things. I can't recall how I heard this form of argument, but it was something like when we teach about the moon landing, the shape of the Earth, or the Holocaust we don't give ‘equal time' to the “opposing view”. We might mention that some people thought the moon landing was a hoax but it wasn't and explain, some people think the Earth is flat but it's not and explain, some people are Holocaust deniers or think that things were greatly exaggerated but it happened and explain. Having Turk's narrative (which did contain conspiracy theories such as white genocide and thinking that the Holocaust was greatly exaggerated) feels like he was given almost equal time of Ruth's story. I understand that it was his baby that died, but I think of this as Ruth's story, how she was a scapegoat for the death of a child and how she handles the fallout. I understand Picoult wanting to expose the reader to Turk so we could understand how hate can manifest, how hate can have a human side, and also to have Turk change, a redemption.

And the twist Britt's mother is black. I'm fine with that. I under that complexion differences can WIDELY differ. I had just assumed that the twist was going to be revealed in court where due to cognitive dissonance Britt and/or Turk would say or do something to have the case be overturned, thrown out, or otherwise resolved in Ruth's favor. Additionally, having the reveal in court would have been safer for Britt as well as Adele. But instead Britt kills herself and the case ends as a hung jury. Also was it a little weird for Adele to abandon Britt? I understand that maybe she wanted to get away from potentially abusive Francis (and he did threaten to kill her) and start over with maybe the choir director (would have been so cool if that guy turned out to be Wallace). Would a ‘white passing' baby have fit into her life would she have had the energy, means, or ability to fight for custody of Britt?

I was reading this at the time of the Charlottesville protest which made it very real. I didn't find it an easy read and had to walk away from it a couple of times. I thought it was excellent except for the last couple of chapters which were too well rounded off to be realistic. I would rather it had finished at the end of the trial.