Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

18 reviews

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!!!

---

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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

vanesst's review against another edition

challenging tense fast-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, and Alcohol

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

janeywaneyb's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Some times you read a book and you have to take a pause to think whether it was a plot wtist, a character, a theme or that it was just such a good read. With Small Great Things it was all those things, Picoult writes in such a way that you are able to stand alongside each character and share their experiences but with this book there is a hand on your shoulder saying "No, your experiences are not the same. No, you don't really understand." I am still processing this book, my own white privilege and how I can strive to be better

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Police brutality

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Death of parent

gtrue21's review against another edition

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, and Death of parent

gem114's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I understand what Jodi Picoult was trying to do here, and after reading her author's note, I accept and appreciate her efforts, but I still have a really hard time being fully okay with it. Picoult knows her audience, and I'm hoping some of her repeat readers benefited from reading this book. Hopefully Picoult is the medium they needed to face the issue of racism and do some introspection. Meanwhile, I'm just hanging out over here trying to stomach the number of times she uses the n word and that

the skinhead gets a redemption arc.

Yes, the story was engaging. Yes, Picoult is a pretty good writer. But yes, it gets super preachy. Overall, I'm feeling kind of meh about it for myself.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide

bgoodbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective 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

This is not an easy read, but it is an important one. This book has multiple points of view, which kept me interested. It gives great insight into understanding systematic racism, which can be a difficult topic. It is painful to see the prejudice against Ruth and I hated every section that I had to read from Turk's POV. Systematic racism is a truth that is real in this country, even if it is hard to acknowledge.

I did worry about this story, as I do my best to stick with #OwnVoices and Picoult is a white woman, however, I think it is a very important story and one that she did a good job researching. The author's note touches on this and is important to read.

Favorite Quotes:
"It's as if the little Post-it note on the patient file of Davis Bauer has nicked a vital artery, and I can't figure out how to stop the bleeding."

"'This has been going on so much longer than either of us, Kennedy. From where you stepped in, in your life, it looks like we've got miles to go. But me?' She smiles in the direction of the girls. 'I look at that, and I guess I'm amazed at how far we've come.'"

“Neither of these is true. She looks like an illustration in a book, two-dimensional, when she ought to be leaping off the page.”

"What Kennedy said to all those strangers, it's been the narrative of my life, the outline inside of which I have lived. But I could have screamed it from the rooftops, and it wouldn't have done any good. For the jurors to hear it, really hear it, it had to be said by one of their own." 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Death of parent