Saturday, November 5, 2016

Small Great Things ~ Reviewed by Elizabeth Barnes

"Freedom is the fragile neck of a daffodil, after the longest of winters. It's the sound of your voice, without anyone drowning you out. It's having the grace to say yes, and more important, the right to say no. At the heart of freedom, hope beats: a pulse of possibility."

Small Great Things

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"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?"

I have only read one book by Jodi Picoult, which was "My Sisters Keeper" and I fell in love with the story. I also really enjoyed the movie. I apologize to Jodi Picoult because "My Sisters Keeper" is the only book that I have truly enjoyed. This book changed all of my thoughts about her writing ability. For me, dodging a good book is hard to do, especially when the reviews are great. Each time I would come across "Small Great Things" on either NetGalley or Goodreads the book pulled me in. My mind kept on telling me: "YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK!" I am going to be honest, I was not sure at first if I wanted to read it or even review it. But, I am so glad that I am doing so.

Jodi Picoult was given a real life game changer in this book. My review will not be too long and too specific about the story line because I do not want to spoil anything. Jodi Picoult approaches this difficult topic in such a way that the reader ends up learning something. The reader might learn about who he/she really is and how we really feel about social issues and racism. She opened my eyes to the realization that news stories could be about our families, our mother, our grandmother, and any number of our relatives/friends.

As I finished this book, I knew this story would stay with me for a long time to come. It really grasped my heart and made me learn a lot. I am very troubled about some of the things that go on in our world, and this book really made me think about what we can do to make the world a better place.

This book, I believe, will give Jodi Picoult a new level of respect between authors and readers.

I give this book a 5 OUT OF 5 stars!

1 comment:

TheBookNurse said...

You've read my review of this and it definitely will give people much to talk about, if they can have a discussion on this very difficult subject.

My issue is that I don't know how a white woman can definitively speak for a race so different to her own about racism -- even if she polled or talked to every woman of color on the planet. And, the story was fiction, which gives her many liberties.

And, the ultimate thing that puts me off from all of the books by this author is the Jodi Picoult "gotcha" at the end.