Book Chatter

Small Great Things
By Jodi Picoult
Ballantine Books, 9780345544971, February 2018, 528pp.

The Short of It:

This is a book that will fire you up and make you angry but it’s also a great book to discuss.

The Rest of It:

A good friend suggested Small Great Things to me after I read Just Mercy. Before the “safer at home” orders, I bought a copy of the book but then I sat on it because with the quarantine and all, I had such a hard time focusing on reading that a book, heavy with race themes, didn’t seem like a book I wanted to reach for. But, I promised her I’d read it and I finally did.

Ruth is a labor and delivery nurse, a graduate of Yale with twenty years experience in the field. As she tends to a young mother who has just given birth, and begins to assess the infant, she is asked by the parents to step away from the child. Shortly afterward, her supervisor explains that the parents do not want a black nurse tending to their son and places a Post-it note in the child’s file, saying so. Although it’s explained to Ruth that parents make special requests all the time and that this is no different, Ruth is the only black nurse in the unit and feels that this is a personal attack against her.

After the child experiences a medical emergency, and Ruth is the only nurse available to tend to him, she’s not sure what to do. Care for the infant in an attempt to save him or follow the orders that she’s been given?

This was a really great read. Timely. As I was finishing the final pages the news about Ahmaud Arbery came to light and it made me all the more angry while reading. Small Great Things speaks of injustice but also touches on white supremacy and the rise of it. It’s a tough pill to swallow and you will hate some of these characters. I suppose that’s a testament to Picoult’s writing because these characters smacked of hate and I did not want to spend any time with them.

That said, this would make a fabulous book club read because there is so much to discuss. Ruth is also a widowed mother, caring for her college-bound son so her choices directly impact her son and his ability to continue his education. Have you read it? If not, definitely add it to your list.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Sunday Matters

One day more
Another day, another destiny
~Les Mis

Right Now:

This week has been a particularly bad news week. The nastiness of the world seems to be coming at me from all directions. I seriously need to stop watching and listening because with each headline I just get angry.

First off, the Ahmaud Arbery shooting in Georgia. To think that you can kill someone and be roaming free for months afterward. That is ridiculous in and of itself.

Second, that ridiculous conspiracy video floating around that has turned some of my friends into fools. I won’t even name the video because it’s gotten too much press as it is. Have people lost their minds?

All that aside, today is Mother’s Day and although it’s not like any other Mother’s Day, it’s still a day to celebrate. We will hop in the car, drive somewhere to get food, eat in the car or maybe outside, get back in the car and come home. I am hoping for some grilled fish tacos and maybe a view of the ocean.

This Week:

My daughter’s dental appointment was rescheduled again. This will be the fourth time. I am fine with it. I was getting anxiety just thinking about it.

There is a online tap dance class this week for daughter. There is a sign language presentation due and then the final and I think that’s it. My daughter will be glad to have that class behind her.

My son is interviewing to be a Liberal Arts Ambassador for Cal Poly this Saturday (Zoom). This will be really good for him so I hope he gets it. He is still working with transfer students for his department. They offered him a little money to reach out to them since they can’t tour the campus right now. That seems to be going well. And he also got offered a voice-over gig.

My work is still plugging along. No mention yet of us returning anytime soon. Summer classes will be online. Fall classes are still being discussed. I can’t imagine us going back before July but things can change so quickly.

Reading:

I finally finished Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. It’s a great book and I will have the review posted soon but it was so difficult to read with all the racism surfacing everywhere I look. It is a book that will make you angry.

Watching:

We finished Paranoid on Netflix. It was just okay. Short, only eight episodes and I liked the characters a lot. The plot was a little thin. The big reveal, not very surprising.

We had a horror movie night on Friday. We watched Hereditary and got pizza. My son and daughter had already seen it but my husband and I had not. What a horrifying movie. Good, but will definitely creep you out.

New Things I’ve Tried:

I’ve tried a few new wines but none I feel compelled to recommend. Of the ones recommended to me by some of you last week, I’ve not tried them yet. It’s so hard to get things delivered these days. It takes weeks to get anything. I ordered blue light glasses for my daughter because all the online school work is taking its toll but they haven’t gotten here and that was over four weeks ago.

Grateful for:

Fake tanning cream. It’s hovered between 95-100 degrees this week which means I am wearing shorts and my legs were Edward Cullen white! Three days of cream and I am looking alive again.

For those of you celebrating Mom’s Day today, I hope you have a fabulous day, can enjoy some good food and maybe a little time to yourself. That sounds weird because all we are doing right now is having time to ourselves but you know what I mean. QUALITY time.

That’s it from hot, sunny, California. Tell me what is going on with you.

Chatting with friends about books and life…