Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

16 reviews

jennswan's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide, Medical content, and Death of parent

joshkiba13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"What if the puzzle of the world was a shape you didn't fit into? And the only way to survive was to mutilate yourself, carve away your corners, sand yourself down, modify yourself to fit? How come we haven't been able to change the puzzle instead?"

This was my second Jodi Picoult novel, after Mad Honey. This novel likewise explores complex social issues by way of a court trial, but it was a whole different ballgame. In Mad Honey we as readers were not present during the murder at the start of the novel, and details of the victim's death come throughout the book. This time, we are present as one of our main characters struggles, but fails to save a baby's life. The question here as readers is not if Ruth is innocent or guilty, but whether she can escape the heavy iron grip that racism has on her life. 

This was a very heavy, saddening story. We follow three characters: Ruth, a black delivery nurse; Kennedy, her white defense attorney; and Turk, a white supremacist, the father of the baby Ruth failed to save. Each character had their own unique voice (apart from each one having a separate narrator on the audiobook). Ruth is optimistic about the world but hurting; Kennedy is enthusiastic and passionate; Turk is angry and wrathful. Each character was written brilliantly. 

One thing I wished for throughout the whole book was to see a little bit more of Turk; as horrible as his mindsets were, he was a very troubled and unique character to read about. His life was intriguing. It wasn't his story in the end, however, and I really enjoyed the relationships portrayed between Ruth, her sister, her son, an old friend, and Kennedy her lawyer. 

This novel taught me that racism isn't just discrimination, it's privilege inherent (or missing) in our society based on race. One quote that stuck out to me was that ignorance is a privilege too, that white people get to enjoy. It's easy to underestimate the struggle that people of color in America go through daily when you're not the one experiencing it---when you're the one benefitting from it, even unintentionally. It's a hard truth to face, but such an important one. 

I was sad and feeling heavy every time I finished listening to the book, but it was absolutely worth it. The wrap-up of the story did not at all go like I expected, and it was very emotional for me. If all of Jodi's books are this fraught with tension and emotion, I think I'll be reading her for years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Suicide

bri_morgan's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Hate crime, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

squarahreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

flew through this one and really reading it overall (though it made me feel sick to my stomach at times)

a little trope-y and not entirely sure how I feel about some aspects of the storytelling- though I think it is pretty well-suited to tell this kind of story to the target demographic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

katreena's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

a_beautiful_soup's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, and Classism

inirac's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

kanderson246's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Classism

mrs_elliott19's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I normally don’t write a hole sappy thing, but this boook!!!! I life is forever changed! I thing every needs to read this book at least once! I’m balling!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is such a well written story. I LOVED the addition of the author's note at the end, it shows how much time and research Picoult put into this book. 

I really liked the 3 different POVs in the book and how we saw such immense character growth. She didn't shy away from getting into the heads of 3 very different characters and was able to really get to the core of who they are. 

This book tackles some extremely sensitive topics and can be really difficult to read, especially from the father's POV. I think that Picoult was able to find a balance between demonstrating sensitivity while showing the reality of this story. 

My only criticism is that some parts dragged a bit and the book was a tad too long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting