Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

28 reviews

sarahbada's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Medical content, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Suicide, Hate crime, Self harm, Grief, Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

lexithelion's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wow, what a captivating novel. I went into it not really knowing what it was about or how intense it was going to be. I was a bit caught off guard in the first 3rd of the book because of how blatantly head-on it is on the topic of racism. As a white person myself, I feel the same way Jodi did writing this book as I was reading it; I want to understand and adjust my perspective to better face the injustice in this world and after reading this I feel as though I am less lost on how I can help. This story is not only based on a true one, but the fictional characters feel so real as if this did actually happen. Every character has a fully fleshed-out backstory and motive for their present actions. Every character feels as though they were written by a different author, creating incredible character diversity. They feel authentic and make the story feel well-timed and not rushed. I do wish that more was written about Edison, however, as we started to see his character change throughout the novel without really an answer as to why or what triggered this. I thought it would have been interesting to read how Ruth and Edison's dynamic changed as Edison faded out of being this 'perfect American high-school scholar' archetype.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Death, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Gore, Medical content, Suicide, Racial slurs, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Infertility, Medical trauma, and Sexism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Excrement, and Blood

savreads28's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, Gore, Hate crime, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Mental illness, Racism, Blood, Cursing, Gaslighting, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

or10n's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 I gotta admit, it was really hard to start this book. I won't sugar coat it, there were parts of this book that were difficult to read for sure. However, now that I have finished it, I think the payoff was just worth it. That being said, I think that the slurs could have been censored and still gotten idea across. That aspect just rubbed me the wrong way.
I've seen a lot of reviews saying that the white supremacist character got too much of a sympathetic narrative, but I don't really see that. I assume what they mean is that they dislike his role as one of the narrators, since he is such a flagrantly unreliable narrator. But "sympathetic" is not the word I would use to describe his characterization. He is an almost unbelievably cartoonish Nazi. Literally one step from having a Hitler stache for 99% of the book. Sure, he has a redemption arc in the last chapter, but I think that is more indicative of the author's wishful thinking than anything else.
There were aspects of white knighting in this book that I wasn't super keen on. Kennedy seems to get her head out of her own ass by the end, which made up for it a little, but you still have Ruth *needing* her, so I guess it just breaks even.
Ruth's sister is also portrayed as overreacting or sloppy or a bad mother frequently too, from both Kennedy's and Ruth's perspectives, which I think rings of respectability politics. There is nothing that she does in this book that is actually indicative of a bad sister, other than involving Wallace Mercy, but even that is shown to ultimately help Ruth! Justice for my girl!
From this review, it really sounds like I didn't like this book, but I did! I think it would have benefitted greatly from assistance from a Black co-author or a bit more research into commom unfavorable tropes, but the story overall was good. If you have the patience to get over the hurdles I mentioned, you WILL like this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Violence, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Medical content

evipefi's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child death, Medical content, Antisemitism, Self harm, Death, Hate crime, Racism, and Suicide

katreena's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Self harm, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Violence, Child death, Classism, Death, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Gore, Mental illness, Hate crime, Murder, Misogyny, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Cursing, Slavery, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Toxic relationship

a_beautiful_soup's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Child death, Hate crime, Police brutality, Self harm, Death, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

kades26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book is a crescendo. Slow. Fast. Slow. Fast. It puts you on the edge. As a biracial woman it made me uncomfortable, but there is growth in discomfort. Character growth you're not expecting. Themes that leave you thinking. The ending was a bit flat in comparison to the rest of the book. I wanted it to be drawn out a bit more. I haven't reading another Jodi Picoult book but I liked her style. I listened to the audiobook on Libby and really enjoyed the narrators. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Death, Medical content, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Police brutality

Minor: Transphobia and Antisemitism

mrhouse's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I really wish part of the author's note was in the beginning and not the end. I really wanted to like the book but for most of the story, I felt conflict with a white woman telling the story of a black woman. I felt uncomfortable at times with how easily derogatory words were used so frequently, again constantly remembering it is written by a white author.
I think the book does show racism in America but it is not the author's story to tell. I think there are other ways it could have been done to avoid speaking from a black woman's perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child death, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide and Animal death

curious_oyster's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Medical content, Racial slurs, Child death, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt