One of my resolutions is to read 52 books this year. I have so far finished 1 (and have another 3 on the go!) Good start to the year!
So my first completed book of 2018 is by one of my favourite authors, Jodi Picoult. I have loved almost all of her books and highly recommend her. Her books are very topical and very well researched but do cover some difficult areas – Great Small Things is highly typical of Jodi’s style and centres on racism.
A very simple overview is this book centres around a maternity hospital in the USA, a white supremacy couple have a baby and when a black nurse is involved, they complain and state that they don’t want black people touching their baby (this nurse is the only black person in the department). The baby then dies whilst being looked after by the black nurse, who is then arrested and tried for murder.
Some parts of this book were difficult to read (and as a white British woman) I found myself questioning my own beliefs. Am I inherently racist because I’m white? Are black people treated differently? There is a part of the book that touches on #blacklivesmatter and the fact that others have started #alllivesmatter. Is that our way of saying that black people don’t matter? Pre-reading this book, I would have said that this change was right, all lives, black and white matter equally and the change wasn’t wrong because it now treats everyone equally. But having read Great Small Things, I am now questioning that view, I’m not saying that black lives matter more than white lives but actually put in perspective of more black people being stopped by police and, therefore, more likely to be killed by police, more does need to be done to highlight that black lives do matter. It is the inherent racism within the police system and the number of fatal police shootings in the USA that have brought about this situation and whilst all lives do matter, having read about the issue from another perspective, I do agree that more needs to be done to highlight the number of black people being killed by the police. And that this issue does affect black people more than white people.
Another part of the book, which made me stop and think was the reference to Black History, something here in the UK we don’t specifically cover at school but they seem to do so in the US. But the black nurse made the point that slavery wasn’t just a part of black history but rather a part of all of our history. A good point and not something that I would have even thought about.
I certainly don’t consider myself racist and some of the points raised for black people (lack of education, lack of jobs, lack of prospects, discrimination, stereotyping, etc) could easily apply to those in poverty/disadvantaged in the UK. Society is designed to keep those on top on top and those at the bottom at the bottom and this applies regardless of colour. Children from well off families will benefit from having access to better education, better support and will ultimately get better jobs as a result.
Overall I loved this book, it raised some controversial issues and made me think about my own views. The ultimate ending seemed a bit more far fetched and out of keeping with the story but in a fictional world, I guess there can be a happy ever after.
<a href=”https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19256653/?claim=nbs8hjepb84″>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
Advertisements Share this:
