Darswords

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW! Can I give this book 10 stars instead of 5? This was a brave and wonderful story! I need to preface all this with the fact that I got this uncorrected proof from NetGalley.com. And GoodReads is having a giveaway right now. Good luck! I hope you are able to get this one way or another.

I haven’t read anything by Jodi Picoult that I know of. I have heard of her but just never got around to one of her books. Now I am a big fan! On a day when this happened once again (http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/us/falc…) we need a discussion of how it would be to walk in someone else’s shoes. If you are white, do you understand, truly, what it is to be black? If you are black or other non-white, do you understand your counter-point?

This book doesn’t just say that we should all get along. Ms. Picoult tries to get us into the heads of her characters both the black nurse and the white neo-nazi new father. When he bans the nurse from the post delivery room, little does he know that the person he bans could be the only one that could save his child’s life. No one is completely innocent, except the baby. But Jodi takes us into their heads and lives to help the reader learn more about these lives. She, also, takes us into the head of the defense attorney. Through these points of view we learn about their histories and families.

The in-depth research shows all through this story. Not in a boring, author knows more than reader sort of way, but enhancing the characters and story bringing the reader into a deeper understanding of love and bigotry. If you think you are without a bias of some kind, this book will open your eyes to areas you may need to work on.

If it weren’t for the idea that I hated to read required books in high school, I would love this book to be required reading for all human beings. That is how good it is. AND if this was the uncorrected proof, how would one know the corrected proof? I saw no problems. But that may be why I am not an editor. I do get deeply into the story and tend not to see mistakes. Even in the stories I write. Take a look at my reviews, you’ll see tons of mistakes, I’m sure!

Anyway, if you haven’t figure this out: I LOVED this book!!!! Try it and see if there aren’t gems just for you to collect!

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