Small Great Things

This book was published in 2016 and is the 25th novel by Jodi Picoult.

The title was chosen from Martin Luther King's words

"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way"

This story is narrated by three of the main characters, Kennedy McQuarrie, Ruth Jefferson and Turk Bauer. It begins by introducing us to Ruth Jefferson, a black nurse who loves her job and has an amazing and smart son, and then shows us Turk Bauer who comes into Ruth's hospital when his wife goes into labor. During the first few chapters we get to know Turk and Ruth, the way they think and react to things around them, and we learn that Ruth has always felt left out because of her lighter skin. She never fit in with the black children, however she never fit in with the white children either. Turk is a White Supremacist who was taught the ins and outs by an older boy when he was younger and became a legend in the community for almost beating his gay father to death.

During the Bauer's stay at the hospital they receive a beautiful baby boy and Turk displays his true nature when he demands that no African American's be allowed to to take care of his baby boy. When the baby goes into arrest in Ruth's presence she faces a horrible dilemma, touch the baby and try to save him or respect her superiors orders. In the end she tries her best to help the baby but it dies anyway and this releases a rage inside of Turk and his wife that must be quenched with Ruth going to jail for killing their baby.

There is then a trial and Kennedy is assigned as Ruth's lawyer. Throughout the trial they skirt around the issue that really brought around the death of the baby and Ruth gets angrier and angrier at the injustice of it all. She eventually demands that Kennedy put her on the witness stand so that she can tell her part of the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gives us a new perspective of racism and it shows us how easy it is to stop it. All we need to do is treat everyone fairly and like they are all people, because regardless of what color our skin might be, we all struggle through life in our own ways, we are all part of a family, we all have jobs and hopes and dreams. The color of our skin can never change that.

We can never change the world if we do not address the issue, as the foreword of this book said

"It is about opening your eyes."

Thanks for reading xx