Small Great Things: A Novel by Jodi Picoult (Epub)

Description

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?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious 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.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn’t offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

Praise for Small Great Things

“Small Great Things is the most important novel Jodi Picoult has ever written. . . . It will challenge her readers . . . [and] expand our cultural conversation about race and prejudice.”—The Washington Post

“A novel that puts its finger on the very pulse of the nation that we live in today . . . a fantastic read from beginning to end, as can always be expected from Picoult, this novel maintains a steady, page-turning pace that makes it hard for readers to put down.”—San Francisco Book Review

User’s Reviews

Review “Small Great Things is the most important novel Jodi Picoult has ever written. . . . It will challenge her readers . . . [and] expand our cultural conversation about race and prejudice.”—The Washington Post “A novel that puts its finger on the very pulse of the nation that we live in today . . . a fantastic read from beginning to end, as can always be expected from Picoult, this novel maintains a steady, page-turning pace that makes it hard for readers to put down. It also allows for conversations to be had and for people to sit back and look at their lives, actions (past and present) and wonder how they will move forward. This is a fantastic book not only because it addresses something that happens in America and around the world every day, but it also shows us that change is possible too.”—San Francisco Book Review “A gripping courtroom drama . . . Given the current political climate it is quite prescient and worthwhile. . . . This is a writer who understands her characters inside and out.”—Roxane Gay, The New York Times Book Review“Small Great Things embraces . . . empathy, hope and humility.”—Newsday “[An] author at the top of her heart-rending game.”—The National“A gripping read about an issue of urgency.”—The Vancouver Sun“A book that needs to be read.”—The Detroit News “Exciting and fast-paced.”—New York Journal of Books “[Picoult] offers a thought-provoking examination of racism in America today, both overt and subtle. Her many readers will find much to discuss in the pages of this topical, moving book.”—Booklist (starred review)“Powerful . . . revelations abound.”—The Free Lance-Star “Picoult has outdone herself.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch “A courageous and important work.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune“I couldn’t put it down. Her best yet!”—New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman “A compelling, can’t-put-it-down drama with a trademark [Jodi] Picoult twist.”—Good Housekeeping “It’s Jodi Picoult, the prime provider of literary soul food. This riveting drama is sure to be supremely satisfying and a bravely thought-provoking tale on the dangers of prejudice.”—Redbook “Jodi Picoult is never afraid to take on hot topics, and in Small Great Things, she tackles race and discrimination in a way that will grab hold of you and refuse to let you go. . . . This page-turner is perfect for book clubs.”—Popsugar

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Picoult has a very intriguing story here. She proposes very real dilemmas, enough so to cause you to really examine previous notions. She produces a plot that maintains your interest to the very end. However, she makes a couple of misguided assumptions and ignorant statements that totally disrupted my thoughts and insulted the reader. Her comments that Tea Party members are just Klan members in disguise is ludicrous. What about Black members of the Tea Party? They do exist. What about all the other minorities who agree with the conservative views of the Tea Party? Are they racist bigots? Totally insulting!! The story could have done without these veiled insults entirely and been a good story. There are also the insults to those who watch Fox News, insinuating that there is trash news on that is unfit for children. Again, this is insulting to a great many Americans, a good majority of Americans, and it was totally unnecessary in the frame of the story. You disappoint me thoroughly, Ms. Picoult. This is the last of your books that I will read. I, by the way, am not a Tea Party member, but I know a good number of them, good people who love this country in all its diversity. Shame on you.

⭐ Author Jodi Picoult had a sermon she wanted to preach. She explains in the Author’s Note at the end of the book how she wanted to write a book about racism for two decades. In Small Great Things, she indulged her wish.Before she could preach her sermon though, she had to build a pulpit. Picoult spends the first half of her book building that pulpit from the frayed headlines of news stories over the past decade, many of which have been retracted or proved wrong. (Headlines can be unreliable.) But build it she does; laboriously, flawed, shaky and stretching the credulity of the reader. I could list the ridiculous events readers are expected to swallow, but there are too many. It would bore you, and me, to try. Read it and you can be entertained by highlighting the “ripped from the headlines” events.It’s hard to care about a story if the characters aren’t believable or sympathetic. Picoult falls short in the character development also. To support her impending sermon, she had to create characters that would serve her message, 2 dimensional almost describes them, maybe 1.5-D would be more accurate. Ruth, the black nurse, is the pure snow-white angel, Turk, the white supremacist, is the black evil devil. And so they stay until the end when Ruth is saved by a now-enlightened social justice warrior public defender trust baby, and Turk is redeemed by his love for his wife who he finds out is half black. (Oh! The irony!) Don’t worry, Turk’s half black wife is conveniently disposed of to allow him an uncomplicated redemption.The preaching really gets going in the trial, which starts after the pulpit is sufficiently built. We are expected to forget the shaky, inconsistent and defective foundation and now focus on the problem of racism, and white privilege. After all, Picoult tells us in the Author’s Note that her intended audience is the privileged white class that arrogantly claims not to see color.I’m still left to wonder why people with a smidge more melanin in the top layer of their skin still need to be rescued, saved, explained and all the other patronizing remedies privileged whites foist on their behalf. How condescending. When will melanin-challenged people allow abundant-melanin people to be something other than victims? When will abundant-melanin people refuse to be classified as victims. I guess as long as there is money to be made and power to be had while pushing that meme, we will need a victim class.

⭐ I am South African. I grew up in apartheid South Africa. Nelson Mandela was released from prison when I was 18 years of age.It was a renewing of the mind for me. I had to learn to think differently. I had to see things differently. It sounds crazy, but it was as if I was brainwashed. Brainwashed by my country and by my upbringing.But, South Africa legalized apartheid, named it, called it into existence. As wrong as that is, it was out there, known to all.When I read small great things, I felt like America had this disease, this underlying disease that no one knew about. It rots from the inside. And the entire nation walks around pretending it’s all ok.In some ways, in South Africa, we are blessed, our disease was a big rotting sore, and we cut it open and it oozed puss and blood and it was not nice to look at, and it was shameful, but we knew it was there and that we had to do something about it. So we cut it open and exposed it to the world, but most importantly to ourselves, and that is where the healing began. We still have a lot to learn, we still have a long road ahead, but we are healing and learning to love again. I pray the same for America.

⭐ As a “successful middle-class” African-American woman I was truly stunned to recognize so many aspects of my own life in Ruth. I have read every Picoult book – some twice – but never have I had my own experiences articulated so effectively by someone who isn’t a person of color. I finished it yesterday morning and was rattled all day by the insights and depth of honesty revealed here. I still am, but had to take a moment to post everywhere and say THANK YOU!! Jodi, I read your acknowledgments of how you created this book, and I wish I could meet you. I am awed and will recommend this book to anyone I know: starting with my husband. Blessings to you for your courage, research and determination to see beyond what you knew, what was comfortable – and take this risk.

⭐ I love Jodi’s books, but this was far from her usual writing style. I am sick of having authors political views inserted into the story line. As a neonatal ICU nurse, the actions of the hospital lawyer, fellow nurses and Ruth herself would never have occurred. Any nurse observing a baby go into respiratory arrest would i immediately start to resuscitate and call for help. It was also stated that the baby s blood sugar was stable at 56. This is a medical emergency requiring immediate glucose. The Hospital lawyer would never throw a nurse under the bus like she did. And, even worse, Ruth would never have been handcuffed at 3am and charged with murder. Ridiculous!! The excessive violence and hate was overdone. It seemed like racism in both sides of the coin, with every stereotype of African Americans and Whites. Was this story set in 1960 or 2018? The real problem of racism should be portrayed much more realistically, as it is a serious subject. Ruth was lighter in color than her darker sister and had a good education, honor student son, and nice house. Her sister was darker skin, lived in low income housing, and her kids ran wild. The white people were very successful, and had high paying jobs. it goes on and on

⭐ What do you rate a book that you love and hate equally?What I loved:1. That she (Jodi Picoult) tried. I truly believe this will make many Caucasian folks, myself included, think.2. I literally couldn’t put this book down. I read most of it yesterday, and finished it up this morning after homeschooling my kids. It’s a very well done story.3. Micah, Edison, Davis, and Violet all made me smile.What I didn’t love:1. Turk, Brittany, Francis, Kennedy, and Ruth…I found myself feeling angry at ALL of them at points throughout this novel. All were racist in their own right, just to varying degrees and for different reasons.2. The epilogue…a little too “sunshiny” for me.3. Tons of minute inaccuracies about the medical field. For instance, there is NO WAY a note on a chart would prevent a nurse from performing life-saving procedures on an infant…even if her supervisor had instructed her not to. Our oath (yes, I’m an RN), is far too important.Overall, I feel this is an incredibly timely novel, with the NFL/kneeling controversy and the #blacklives matter efforts, followed quickly by #alllivesmatter, and because of our current divisive, rhetoric-spewing president. Having said that, I can certainly understand why it may not be a favorite of those who relate closely to Ruth.

⭐ Perhaps if this book was written with a setting in the 1950’s it would have been more believable. The premise is built on on a house of cards. The book is insulting to those not caught up in politically correct liberal identity politics

⭐ As a physician in practice for 30 years, I found the premise of this book ridiculous. Hospitals do not let patients or their families get to decide who treats them, although the occasional patient or family will attempt to dictate this. Any employee writing a sticky note keeping a nurse in good standing from doing their job would be immediately reprimanded and the hospital would be at risk for a lawsuit from the nurse. Then, the nurse who agrees to not treating this particular baby ends up alone with him after a procedure and a tragedy occurs. Would any intelligent, experienced nurse allow herself to be put in this precarious position? Not likely. Then, the hospital lawyer, who has not done anything other than speak to the staff involved in the incident, tells the father to sue the nurse rather than the hospital? That nurse is a hospital employee, the lawyer is supposed to represent her. Also, what person is going to sue a nurse rather than the hospital, which will be on the hook for millions of dollars? Then, an indictment is handed down in a few days after the tragedy, and the nurse LOSES her license. Pretty fast for this sort of thing, and nurses do not lose their licenses, they have them suspended, at the very worst, while an investigation is underway. Then, the police break the nurse’s door down in the middle of the night to arrest her…seriously? She is not a mass murderer, she is a nurse under investigation. The fantasy just goes on and on. While I think the issues of race, discrimination and inequality in this country continue to be important to write about, this story seems far-fetched and predictable, and does not give the reader an accurate or thoughtful view of the issues.

⭐ 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.I imagine some people will be doubters. How could the author possibly understand this situation, even if she is writing fiction. I have read interviews about the depth of research that she put into this book. She is not claiming to be an expert. She based it on a true story. The title comes from a line in a famous speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s: If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”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.​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 commend Picoult for taking on the writing of a potentially controversial subject and for tackling it with a story that has great depth and feeling.

⭐ I was dismayed due to a lack of realism. Picoult chose to put her novel in the real world, and that’s appropriate for a novel condemning the real world problem of racism. But the thing with setting a novel in the real world is it has to be believable to work. As someone with 19 years of experience in the healthcare industry, I did not find the central conflict of the novel to be even remotely plausible. In the story a note is put in a patient’s chart reading, “NO AFRICAN AMERICAN PERSONNEL TO CARE FOR THIS PATIENT.” Picoult chose to base her story off a real world incident, but how her novel plays out is not how the real world incident played out. Most hospitals will immediately refuse a white supremacist request like the one above, and in the very rare case of the one hospital where such a request was entertained, the black nurse sued the hospital and won. So there is no racial crisis to be confronted here; the healthcare industry’s anti-discrimination policies are working exactly as intended. But in Picoult’s world there is a different outcome. The hospital’s union, Risk Management, the state government and the police all throw the black nurse under the bus. Why? Because in Picoult’s novel every single white person is a racist. Literally everyone. There is not a single sympathetic white character in the entire novel. Even the white lawyer who on her own initiative takes up the black nurse’s case is eventually cast aside and fired. She spent the whole novel repeatedly prostrating herself before the altar of social justice and bemoaning her “white privilege,” only to be found lacking in the end because she wasn’t fanatical enough. It’s clear Picoult did zero research on her subject matter. Lawsuits involving alleged hospital malpractice resulting in a patient death rarely make it to trial, in part because of the high burden of proof. Mostly they are settled out of court. Yet somehow in Picoult’s fantasy world the state government quickly and enthusiastically goes to trial despite a total lack of evidence. It’s a chick lit novel in which the black nurse protagonist is a “Mary Sue,” a paragon of virtue whose husband died as a war hero in Afghanistan. In order to further the victimization narrative, the nurse starts having money problems as a result of the unjust charges brought against her. The nurse ditches her COBRA health insurance in favor of Obamacare and her son even offers her all of the money he had saved for college. Unfortunately, once again Picoult has not researched her subject matter, because if she had she’d know that the nurse would be getting free health insurance under TRICARE, and her son would get free full college tuition under the Fry scholarship as a result of her military survivor’s benefits. There’s just so many problems with this novel there’s no way I can recommend it.

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