Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult
Review by Priscilla Comen
Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult
Review by Priscilla Comen
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult is an audio book and a delight to listen to. Thirteen discs with excellent voices make this story a reality. Ruth Jefferson is the only African American nurse in the birthing ward at Mercy Hospital in New York. She’s worked there for twenty years and is respected as an excellent nurse by all the staff. Edison is her seventeen year old son, an honor student, and college bound. Turk is a white supremacist, married to a beautiful girl, Brit, who also hates blacks, gays, and anyone different. Her father, Francis, lives in the duplex next to them.
When Brit gets pregnant, and prepares to deliver, she goes to Mercy Hospital. Turk gives instructions that Ruth Jefferson is not to touch his baby son. When the baby, Davis, goes into the nursery for a routine circumcision, he goes into cardiac arrest. A code blue is called. Ruth is alone in the nursery. She doesn’t know what to do: follow her supervisor’s orders not to touch the baby, or follow her instincts to resuscitate to save him. After Turk has Ruth arrested for murder of his baby, author Picoult enters the courtroom for the intense trial.
Kennedy McQuarry is the defense attorney, white and sensitive as the public defender. Turk’s prosecuting lawyer is black and determined to convict Ruth. Edison, Ruth’s son, has been a model student, but goes to the streets in anger over the way his mother is being treated. The jury is chosen carefully, but no one knows how they will vote. Attorney Kennedy calls the pediatrician and the coroner to testify. When Ruth demands to be put on the stand, she defines racism for the jury and the judge elegantly. Author Picoult puts into meaningful scenes the definition of racist and kindness, even though she has said race does not belong in the courtroom. Feelings really stand out in this audio disc.
Will Ruth go to prison for murder? The interaction between judge and attorneys is stunning. Find this and other excellent audio discs at your community library.
When Brit gets pregnant, and prepares to deliver, she goes to Mercy Hospital. Turk gives instructions that Ruth Jefferson is not to touch his baby son. When the baby, Davis, goes into the nursery for a routine circumcision, he goes into cardiac arrest. A code blue is called. Ruth is alone in the nursery. She doesn’t know what to do: follow her supervisor’s orders not to touch the baby, or follow her instincts to resuscitate to save him. After Turk has Ruth arrested for murder of his baby, author Picoult enters the courtroom for the intense trial.
Kennedy McQuarry is the defense attorney, white and sensitive as the public defender. Turk’s prosecuting lawyer is black and determined to convict Ruth. Edison, Ruth’s son, has been a model student, but goes to the streets in anger over the way his mother is being treated. The jury is chosen carefully, but no one knows how they will vote. Attorney Kennedy calls the pediatrician and the coroner to testify. When Ruth demands to be put on the stand, she defines racism for the jury and the judge elegantly. Author Picoult puts into meaningful scenes the definition of racist and kindness, even though she has said race does not belong in the courtroom. Feelings really stand out in this audio disc.
Will Ruth go to prison for murder? The interaction between judge and attorneys is stunning. Find this and other excellent audio discs at your community library.