Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Leave it to Jodi Picoult to write about a politically charged time in history. Our current history, where each of us has been affected in some way. Maybe you lost a loved one to Covid, maybe you were in the hospital, maybe you had children in school. Maybe a life event was cancelled or put on hold. Whatever the case, we all have been changed. For the better, the worst or we are still hanging on. I think depression has set in for many of us. Isolation, pitting one side against the other. Truth against lies. Only time will reveal the whole truth.
To me Jodie always makes her protagonist a martyr of sorts. Diana lives with her resident doctor boyfriend Finn in New York City. Finn comes home and the whole world turns upside down. Hospitals are being filled up quickly with Covid patients. They had planned a trip which Finn encourages Diana to take. She does and finds herself stranded in paradise. It is surreal and self reflective until it takes a turn that comes unexpected. A reality comes in that Diana and Finn must face.
I think we will all will reflect on this one. The experience of both Diana and Finn. I liked the spin on this and the ending was left for you to relish.
I don’t think Covid will ever be behind us but hopefully we look at ourselves and our fellow human beings differently. Everyone one has different fears and Covid brought this fears out 10 fold. It also brought out a mistrust for me. Mostly in our media. My saving grace was and continues to be my husband and children. Hang on to those that you love the most, given them grace, listen to their fears, validate their fears and encourage hope. We all need it. We conquer all in love not fear!
A special thank you to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
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Jodi Picoult
A Spark of Light by: Jodi Picoult
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I do not believe we, as a society, will ever agree on this issue. The stakes are too high, and both sides operate from places of unshakable belief. But I do think that the first step is to talk to each other and more important to listen. We may not see eye to eye, but we can respect each other’s opinions (and beliefs which in my opinion translate to religion)and find the truth in them. Perhaps in those honest conversations, instead of demonizing each other, we might see each other as imperfect humans doing our best. Jodi Picoult
Disclaimer: I AM PRO-LIFE. Going into this read and reading Jodi in the past, I know she is on the left side of and I am on the right side. No pun intended. The narration is emotional, personal and highly intense. Was there a bent on the glorification of abortion. Yes! Was there demonizing on pro-life, a bit of jab. The setting is Mississippi all centered in a Women’s health care facility that performs abortions among other women health issues. The narration starts in the intensity of a father seeking revenge by violence. Another father Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, is on the scene with his own daughter to protect. The patients, doctors and nurses, have their narration as this unfolds. Each on different sides and each with their own reasons.
Dr. Ward a Christian doctor that performs abortions. A personal reason relating to what happened to his mother, he desires for women to have a safe alternative.
Hugh a father first. A single father that has a few things in common with the gunman George. He uses what they have in common to talk George down. Knowing his own daughter is in the closet hiding from the George, he is determined that he is the only one that end this. Will his personal stake make him a hero or will it cause the death of more innocent people.
The Pro-Life protesters that keep guard and give “gifts” to each woman that walks into the center. I felt this group had the jab. No real indepth characterization so easy to dislike.
Wren Hugh’s daughter is 15 and has her aunt Bex to accompany her to the center for birth control. The relationship between father and daughter is endearing. However, Wren is making her own decisions and her aunt Bex is supportive to her younger brother and niece.
Aunt Bex takes a hit protecting her niece and reflects on the relationship with her brother and niece. She has a great secret that you are not aware of until the end that to me proved heroic and redemptive. She is the real hero of the story however, the narration paints a different hero, the woman who decides to abort and the reasons why.
Of course there is more characters that bring out the pragmatic issue of abortion. A unwanted child is easy for society to abort and made easier by calling said child a fetus. The demonizing of men who want to protect the unborn. Here is what is hypocritical. We want fathers to be involved in parenting but only if the child is wanted by the mother. The stats of Planned Parenthood of not receiving federal monies and the issue of a baby not feeling pain as it is aborted. There was a bent that abortion is not as terrible as pro-lifers make it out to be. That abortion does not have any known health issues such as cancer or infertility. All these issues was given a positive light on the side of abortion. No stats on choosing life.
So the 4 star rating is maybe confusing for some of pro-life friends and the reason being is that I thought the human struggle is real and to the point of why we are here. Why there is such on outcry on both sides. Did Picoult cause me to reconsider my beliefs – no but she confirm that there are real women that do not have choice and as a Christian we need to be ready to make other choices that they can live with.
A Special Thank you to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
Small Great Things by: Jodi Picoult
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You’re destined to do small great things,” she told me, “Just like Dr. King said.” She was referring to one of her favorite quotes: If I cannot do great things, I can do small things, I can do small things in a great way…when you say race doesn’t matter, all I hear is you dismissing what I’ve felt, what I’ve lived, what it’s like to be put down because of the color of my skin.. We can’t talk about race, because we do not speak a common language.
Get ready to talk about race. Get ready to feel the pain of race. The power struggle of superiority and how we bring others down. There are two types of racism – one is the flat out hate of the White supremacist and then there is the racism of you and me. The passive. When a black couple moves next door, do you tell your spouse that a black couple as moved next door vs. when a white couple moves in next door with two kids. How do you describe? This book challenges you. We like to believe that we are not racist but any time there is a power struggle, we put up fences and defenses. I had a co-worker that described to me that you take a white trash woman and a black trash woman and the black will come out smelling like a rose because black women have a confidence that this white woman knows nothing about. So why do I bring this up, because Picoult gives her characters confidence with vulnerability.
You are introduced to Ruth, a nurse that loves bringing new life into this crazy world. You instantly like her because of what she stands for. It is true, when you are pregnant you fall in love with your doctors and nurses that take care of you and your child.
You are brought into her typical day in a busy hospital delivering babies. One this particular day a couple demands that because she is black, she cannot touch their baby. This is when you realize that Ruth is a black nurse and the couple are white supremacist. Ruth is told by her head nurse the couples wishes. She is hurt and angry because she knows she is a good nurse. When the baby suffers a medical emergency and dies, the couple puts the blame on her and she is eventually charged with murder.
Picoult delivers in many ways…character driven with a compelling plot that speaks to our world right now. Ruth who is determined, confident and vulnerable, a single mother who desires for her son to live up to his potential. Turk The white supremacist who loves fiercely as much as he hates. But who does he really hate? Why did he became a white supremacist. Kennedy a public defender who in her white world discovers how racist she really is. It is this realization that she begins to help her client.
With every Picoult book I have read, she does paint a broad brush. Tea Party is evil and Democrat are heroes. but if you can get past all that, (you may have the same brush or brush might be switched) you may discover something about yourself that will make the world a better place when you put yourself where someone else has walked and lived. I would strongly urge if you get the urge not to read ahead…take this book and read it like you know nothing about it. By doing so it will reveal more of how you really feel.
A Special Thank You to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
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