Friday, February 03, 2017

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult: no 'Mockingbird" alas ...

When a newborn baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, there is no doubt about who will be held responsible: the nurse who had been banned from looking after him by his father. 
What the nurse Ruth, her lawyer Kennedy, and Turk the father of the child cannot know is how this death will irrevocably change all of their lives, in ways both expected and not.
My review:

On the whole, this book is a disappointment especially as usually I really love Picoult's books. This is definitely not her best and not even her most far-reaching work. The trouble is that the author has been so taken up by the nobility of her cause (campaigning against racism) that she has forgotten to write a novel. Most of the first three-quarters of the book could have been better expressed by means of non-fiction, and I felt that the material was being forced into a novelistic form which it definitely did not fit. As a result, Ruth is very dull and irritating and needs a good shaking every now and again - she repeats herself constantly and I ended up skipping her sections in order to read the sections on Turk or Kennedy, which were better written by far.

It's a great relief when the court scenes finally arrive in the last quarter of the book, and Picoult actually starts writing the novel rather than beating us over our heads with her cause. From then on in, I enjoyed the story, and it raced through to the dramatic (and, yes, a wee bit laughable) end. Ruth of course remains unbearably smug, but I loved the way things turn out for Turk. He at least is a great character.

I hope Picoult will remember to let the story and the characters (not the cause, please!) take centre stage for her next novel - a return to form would be appreciated!

Anne Brooke Books

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