Small Great Things: A Novel

This book tackles the optic of prejudice and discrimination from multiple perspectives. The book is artfully crafted and written in a unique first person style. The characters are complex and thoughtfully developed, and the story is riveting. It is heart-breaking, heartwarming, and occasionally shocking. I loved every chapter.

I was thinking today of some of my greatest influences, even as a child. Dr. King, Selma, Maya, Mahalia and Dinah Washington. For some reason, maybe reincarnation? I have always felt a pull. The first time I heard Dinah sing, “This Bitter Earth”, I cried. When I heard Mahalia sing, “It is No Secret”, I cried. Maya’s “Still I Rise”, Dr King’s “I Have A Dream”, and when I learned of the events in Selma, I cried. And recently, after reading Small Great Things. I don’t cry easily, I really don’t. And I can’t stand racism, bigotry and xenophobia. Back to Small Great Things. This book moved me to tears. It is sad, poignant, though-provoking, touching, gripping and compelling. Without a doubt, this book will be on my favorites shelf. I have often said that I am “colorblind and a humanist”. I very much believe that everyone should be regarded equally with respect. To me, we are all God’s children. Black, white, gay, straight, Hispanic, Asian, Muslim or Mormon none of it matters to me as neither does creed or religion. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, I believe you should be able to live your life, in peace. Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene? The infant ends up dying and Ruth is charged with murder and committing a hate crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong. A couple of poignant statements: “I am not a racist, Ruth. And I understand that you’re upset, but it’s a little unfair of you to take it out on me, when I’m just trying to do my best—my professional best—to help you. For God’s sake, if I’m walking down a street and a Black man is coming toward me and I realize I’m going the wrong way, I keep going the wrong direction instead of turning around so he won’t automatically think I’m afraid of him.” “That’s overcompensating, and that’s just as bad,” I say. “You say you don’t see color…but that’s all you see. You’re so hyperaware of it, and of trying to look like you aren’t prejudiced, you can’t even understand that when you say race doesn’t matter all I hear is you dismissing what I’ve felt, what I’ve lived, what it’s like to be put down because of the color of my skin.” “Active racism is telling a nurse supervisor that an African American nurse can’t touch your baby. It’s snickering at a black joke. But passive racism? It’s noticing there’s only one person of color in your office and not asking your boss why. It’s reading your kid’s fourth-grade curriculum and seeing that the only black history covered is slavery, and not questioning why. It’s defending a woman in court whose indictment directly resulted from her race…and glossing over that fact, like it hardly matters.” Oh my God. I am guilty of that and I am sorry. I would never intentionally dismiss what anyone has lived through, especially the black community. A tweet today from the Women’s March: “Throughout history, violence has been committed and justified in the name of white womanhood. Terence Crutcher is no exception.” I remember Dr. King saying “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” And I am left with the question, what can I do to make a difference?

Even though I am not a great fan of these kinds of novels; nevertheless, I am also open to reading novels on unusual or thought-provoking themes. This is that kind of book. Small Great Things by Jody Picoult deals with the issues of race and bias in many places in our country. Ruth, who is a black nurse is charged with a crime, and a white attorney takes her case. I never give away too much information when reviewing any novel, but if you are a fan of Jody Picoult, this is a novel you may want to check out. It has a somewhat complex story that will keep you turning the pages. I enjoyed reading this book. Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Season of the warrior: A poetic tribute to warriors).

I’ve had to think on this book and review for a couple of days now. Trying to find the words to do some justice for this book is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I feel like anything I say will be insignificant to the true meaning of this book. But I have to express the affect this book has had on me and encourage others to PLEASE PLEASE read this book! “There are just some feelings, I’ve learned, for which we never invented the right words.” That’s exactly how this book left me feeling and why it took me almost a week to find the rights words for this review. This is probably going to be my longest book review ever. There’s so many important things to talk about and I can’t decide which ones I should leave out. So please bare with me. To be honest, I don’t know how Jodi Picoult found the words to describe this issue so flawlessly. Once again talking about an issue that is controversial, but definitely needs to be talked about. In my opinion, she did an AMAZING job! Some (well a lot) of the things written in this book made me stop and think. For instance, “White people don’t mean half the offensive things that come out their mouth“. And its so true, I never thought too much about the comments that I make and now I’m wondering if I’ve possibly misconstrued a few things along the way. As Ruth points out, we probably don’t even realize we move our purse as soon as a person of color walks by. The fact that it’s so embedded in our subconscious is quite freightening. The thing that gets me the most is that we don’t even realize we are being disrespectful at all. I’ve found myself paying attention to these little things in my every day life. So many truths voiced in this book that we as a community are trying to avoid at all costs. This: there a certain African American people that feel like outcasts no matter what population they are surrounded by. The don’t fit in with the black folks from the hood and they don’t fit in with the white folks on the other side. That’s a real struggle and one I will never know. But it’s real for many, many people. The lighter the skin the more opportunities a person has. Including light skin African Americans. I’ve heard many African Americans say the darker the skin the less opportunity that have, but I never wanted to believe that was true. When deep down I knew different. To be 100% honest, I was so not ready for getting inside the mind of someone who is racist because I was scared for what I would read. I was born and raised in the Deep South so I know that everything portrayed in this book is true and it just makes me sad. I don’t understand why people focus so much on the color of someone’s skin but they do. Props to Jodi Picoult for tackling this very prevalent issue, not that she’s ever shied away from a touchy subject. Another shocker, one that unfortunately is also true, is the white male supremacist seriously comparing killing an African American to killing a deer and then commented that at least you can eat the deer. Omg! My mouth literally feel to the floor. And he’s very contradictory when he goes to jail and makes best buddies with an African American man saying it’s different on the inside. And it doesn’t just stop with race. It goes on to target homosexual people as well. I’m just baffled. I knew what the book was about but I didn’t know the extent it would go. I should’ve known given that’s it’s written by Jodi Picoult. “The worst of all is anti racist White folks.” Wow. Just wow. Is it sad that I was concerned about whether or not Jodi Picoult tries to make a point of the situation being reversed? Because it happens and I’ve experienced it first hand. It’s not just one sided. The answer is yes she does and Adisa is the epitome of it. I find relief in that because I feel that needs to be talked about as well. Kennedys epiphany at the end is exactly what we need to happen to every single person. Kennedy is me and I know that is the point. Some people have racist actions and thoughts so engraved into their subconscious and claim they are not racist when in fact they just don’t realize it. I’m trying to do no finger pointing here, but I do know I am guilty. This books needs to be read by EVERYONE! It really is a life changer because everyone could use the eye opener that this forces. “You’re destined to do small great thing she told me. Just like Dr King said. She was referring to one of her favorite quotes: if I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Beautiful.

Picoult hat sich mit diesem Buch erstmals in ein neues, sehr umstrittenes Feld getraut: Rassismus in Amerika. Manche mögen sagen, dies sei nicht ihr Recht, da sie weiss ist. Das Buch ist (wie immer bei Picoult) ausserordentlich gut recherchiert. Sie erzählt die Geschichte von mehreren Perspektiven und schafft es, dass man sich in alle Protagonisten hineinversetzen kann, obwohl diese extrem unterschiedlich sind. Ruth, eine schwarze Krankenschwester in NYC, hat ihr ganzes Leben versucht, niemanden vor den Kopf zu stossen und alles richtig zu machen. Sie hat gute Noten, bemüht sich in der Schule, bekommt ein Stipendium und geht schliesslich zur Yale Nursing School, um Krankenschwester zu werden. Sie hat sich ihren Traum erfüllt. Ihren Sohn erzieht sie ebenfalls auf diese Weise. Eines Tages passiert jedoch etwas, was sie spüren lässt, wie sie als Schwarze in einer Weissen Welt von allen anders behandelt wird - sie ist nicht so akzeptiert, wie sie bisher geglaubt hat. Wahnsinning spannend und gut geschrieben, eines der besten Werke Picoults bis jetzt.

ダイバーシティという言葉が浸透してきた昨今であっても、白人優位のコニュニティで生き抜いてきた、またこれから生き抜いていく黒人女性の主人公Ruthがとても魅力的な作品でした。様々なことを努力でカバーして、色んなものを手に入れてきたけれど、あっという間にすべてが奪われてしまいそうになる過程は、読んでいてハラハラしました。 裁判を引き受けた白人女性弁護士Kennedy、白人優位主義者のTurk、その妻Britなどの登場人物の背景をここまで描く必要があるか？と思っていたけれど、最後はこうつながるのか～！と唸りました。 日本に住む純日本人の私ですが、人種の問題に深く考えさせられたのも事実です。 作者の著作では「私の中のあなた」を読んだのですが、他にも読んでみたい作品がたくさんあります。

I was originally reticent about a book about race being written by a white person but Picoult handles the subject with delicacy. Having read this novel twice now I am persuaded that Picoult tackles racism from a very relevant angle and manages to catch out today's white liberal population - you may not think of yourself as a racist but it's your actions that count. As the mother of a mixed race child I was encouraged by this book. Picoult writes in a very accessible style which is thought provoking rather than finger pointing. The world is full of white people who deep down feel that somehow they deserve more than the rest.

This book is an eye opener, to all the discrimination that we do and that we receive.. A must read.. 👌👌 I've become a fan of the author.. Her writing style is so damn good.. 👍

I read, cried, smiled and read some more. I savored reading this book and was sad to finish it last night. This is a special story, unlike anything I’ve read before… it deserves to be read thoughtfully. I found parts of it difficult to read for different reasons. It’s a powerful story, told from different perspectives. One perspective is that of a white supremacist and it briefly includes spontaneous violence that, had it been televised, I surely would have held my hands up to block the view more than once. But the compelling story is so much more than that, so I’m glad I didn’t let those parts deter me from reading through – and in fact, I think those bits are important to the whole story and belong there regardless of how difficult they might be to read. I found myself pausing throughout this novel to allow what I was reading to soak in, and to recess for a little self-reflection. Reading this book my eyes are opened wide to just how pervasive racism and biases are – they permeate so many aspects of our daily lives. My own realization that I have not been sensitive enough to recognize just how ubiquitous racism is, and how privileged I am, has left me feeling disappointed and embarrassed at my own naivety around these subjects. Despite that embarrassment, I’m thankful this book afforded the opportunity to learn more about these issues and I appreciated the careful and thoughtful manner the author approached challenging topics. I enjoy Jodi Picoult’s writing style, and especially admire how she quietly and expertly weaves examples of veiled racism into a storyline dealing with flagrant racism. I found myself often raising my eyebrows and thinking ‘I never realized or even considered that…’ when encountering so many examples of the injustices minorities can face in every day living. I was deeply moved by Ruth’s unyielding bravery in the face of great adversity, by her relationships with her family, and by Kennedy’s journey to self-awareness too. Discussing this book with my husband last night, I found myself choked up even just talking about the author’s notes at the end. I don’t feel like I can do this book any justice in trying to capture its importance with my own review. I’ll just say that I expect each person’s experience reading it may be different, but it is so worth reading. I feel enriched for having read it and I can’t wait for my husband to finish it so we can discuss it more fully. I highly recommend this book, especially for book clubs, because this is one you're going to want to discuss after reading.