Small Great Things in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jul 14, 2020 Robyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Wow! I have so many things to say about Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I am not even sure where to begin….sighs.

Jodi Picoult is usually a go to author for me as I love her stories and the emotions they bring out in me. Picoult is a fantastic writer and can draw you in so easily with her beautifully written stories. While, Small Great Things is an important story, I felt it got washed out by a lot of stereotypes. So much so, that I cringed almost every other page. It felt like I was reading Wow! I have so many things to say about Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I am not even sure where to begin….sighs.

Jodi Picoult is usually a go to author for me as I love her stories and the emotions they bring out in me. Picoult is a fantastic writer and can draw you in so easily with her beautifully written stories. While, Small Great Things is an important story, I felt it got washed out by a lot of stereotypes. So much so, that I cringed almost every other page. It felt like I was reading White Fragility all over again. Don’t even get me started with that nightmare of a book.

Perhaps this particular story may not have been the wisest choice for me to read at the moment especially with what is going on around the world today. This is definitely a hot and debatable topic. I have my own views on it as well as everyone else around the world, but Let’s stick to the story. Do I think something like the premise of this story can happen and does happen, yes. But, I think this story pushed the narrative way too hard and in your face.

Ruth has been a labor and delivery nurse for twenty years. She is also the only Black nurse in the hospital she works in in Connecticut. When Turk and Britney Bauer, White supremacists, have their baby at the hospital, they demand Ruth be taken off their case. They do not want any African American’s anywhere near their baby. But, after a routine procedure, baby Davis Bauer, is in distress and Ruth is the only nurse around who can help baby Bauer. Ruth soon faces the consequences of her actions when she is charged with a crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, public defender, is assigned the case. She is a white attorney who says she does not see color. Can Kennedy really understand enough of what Ruth is faced with and in the process get her acquitted?

I am really, really torn about this story because I believe any author should be able to write any story they want to, which often leads to readers calling it problematic especially if an author is writing about a different culture. Ownvoice stories have been really pushed to the forefront recently and I get it, I really do. But, I think readers also fail to realize that Ownvoice stories can also be problematic as well. Not all but some.

I just have a hard time agreeing with a lot in this story with a narrative that is being pushed down your throat like, stereotypes such as: “She doesn’t sound black.” Then on the same token saying Black people have become whitewashed if they speak grammatically correct. It is like a lose/lose situation. There are also issues between light and dark skin Black women, living in a middle class neighborhood while being Black, white privilege, systematic racism just about everything we hear about in the news today. Every racial stereotype you can possibly imagine was thrown into this story, which became way too much to read.

While I will still read other books by Jodi Picoult, I am rather disappointed in this one. Maybe it has a lot to do with my personal beliefs, I don’t know, although I try not to let my beliefs influence a story either way. I will say the writing is really good and there is a really good lesson about karma and yes that kind of made my day reading one particular part in this story. I think at this point though I am just torn down the middle.

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Apr 09, 2017 Gina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-book-release, favorite-authors, women-s-fiction, books-i-own-read, lawyers, parenting, women-s-issues, contemporary-fiction, death, family

Jodi Picoult never leaves me disappointed that's for sure. This book explores racism, racial inequality, covert and overt racism, anything and everything that makes us uncomfortable about the state of race in the US today. It's about the kinds of things we don't like to talk about but Picoult puts it right out there and forces the reader do some self-examination and you just might find yourself being quite uncomfortable while reading this book...and that's the whole point. I like many of you rea Jodi Picoult never leaves me disappointed that's for sure. This book explores racism, racial inequality, covert and overt racism, anything and everything that makes us uncomfortable about the state of race in the US today. It's about the kinds of things we don't like to talk about but Picoult puts it right out there and forces the reader do some self-examination and you just might find yourself being quite uncomfortable while reading this book...and that's the whole point. I like many of you reading this don't consider myself a racist. I don't discriminate against people of color. I have many wonderful black friends. However, racism isn't just about that overt kind of racism that some people like the character in the book, Turk, who is a white supremacist puts out for all to see. Racism is about institutional power that, as a white woman, I was born with. The author discusses the facts that most white people are born in circumstances that, at birth, set them up to be more successful than a person of color. Just as it gives black peoples disadvantages that make success harder to achieve. As a white woman, I am not followed in a store by clerk or have my bags and receipts checked on leaving. I don't think a thing about opening a package of food in a grocery store and eating it if I am hungry. In the novel and in real life, this is what black people are treated like daily. I would be exhausted if I had to live my life this way. Picoult forces the reader to see through Ruth's eyes how black people are on the receiving end of passive racism everyday. White privilege. It's a term I learned to become very acquainted with, especially lately, when discussing different issues with my black friends. Yes. It is uncomfortable. But once I realized how I was contributing to the problem of racism I was able to become an ally against all forms of it.

This is a tough book to read. It will make people uncomfortable. I bet there will be controversy. But it's a conversation we all need to have to move forward. I know I didn't really talk about the plot. A Black nurse is sued for the murder of a white supremacist's newborn after being told explicitly by her supervisors that "No African-American Staff" interact with this baby. The baby goes into cardiac arrest. What is Ruth to do when she is left alone with the baby during an emergency? Help and ignore direct orders? Don't help and follow orders? A very difficult decision for 20+ year L & D nurse. Then the trial when race should "never enter the courtroom" when it's entirely about race??

This is a book that must be read or at the very least a discussion that must be had! Extremely well-written and researched which I would expect nothing less from Picoult! Highly Recommended!! 5 Stars. ...more

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Aug 21, 2016 Kathryn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2016, fiction, netgalley

This is a fantastic novel and one of the best books that I read this year. Jodi Picoult's books always delve into controversial and relevant topics and in Small Great Things, the topics of racism, prejudice, white supremacy and white privilege among others are discussed. In my opinion, the ending was too neatly tied up, but I still find this an excellent book and I highly recommend it.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Random ...more

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Jan 25, 2019 Mandy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-favorites

Wow. This book packs a punch. I knew before I started reading that it was about race, but it is so much more than that. It's about sacrifice, parenthood, society, love, hate, and introspection. It's about being strong and also about being weak. This book pierced me in a permanent way, and I am better for it.
It would be a great book club pick, guaranteed to spark conversation and thought. ...more

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May 10, 2018 Mary-Megan rated it it was ok

While I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book and applaud her for trying to open people's eyes, for me the book rubbed me the wrong way (and not in the way the author intended). I almost didn't finish it, not because the subject matter made me uncomfortable, but because I felt like I was being force-fed racism while my eyes were being pried open to see her message. Not to say that "I've heard it all before," but her examples of racism and the characters felt stereotypical an ...more

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Feb 23, 2020 Anne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2020, randomizer-2020

It had been a while since I’ve read a book by Picoult. I still like her style a lot. Yes, the characters are a bit stereotypical. And yes, I don’t think medical profession would hesitate to act in case of emergency, whatever their supervisor said. But still. If this books helps people see their white privileged bubble, it might also make them look deeper. And further. And make the world a better place, one small great thing at a time.

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Oct 10, 2016 Nikki rated it really liked it

I received this book for free from a goodreads giveaway.

Wow this book was really good! I have read a few of Jodi Picoult's books before, and have liked them all. I was a little hesitant about this book because of the race issues. This book is about Ruth, an african american nurse being accused of harming a white supremacists baby. The white supremacists end up suing her. Ruth ends up with a white lawyer. Ruth tries to show Kennedy that everyone sees in color, and what white privilege really mea ...more

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Jan 29, 2017 Lori rated it really liked it

Read this for book club. This book was thought provoking for people who think they are not racist and how you do not have to be extreme to share in this problem. The only thing I did not like about the book was the very clean way everything was tied up. No loose ends, no wondering. A little too cutesy.

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