A review by beffynicole
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

3.75 stars rounded up, simply because I love Picoult & the twists she creates. Also enjoyed the author's letter at the end. 

I have recently been on a Jodi Picoult kick & normally love her books. However, this one jumped around A LOT and in a way that made it very hard to follow. Normally when Picoult's books do time jumps, its very easy to follow. It's "linear" enough to understand that they are the events leading up to the major event, and usually follow a progression forward. However, this book jumped all over. 

One second you would be during the hostage situation at the abortion clinic, the next you would be a couple days before. Then maybe you would be several years before, then 8am at the abortion clinic. But it also rotated characters so even then, I didn't feel like you had a great sense of every character. It was very jarring to have a narrative by "Olive" the woman who died, see before she died, then see her dead for several scenes, then jump back to her narrative when she was alive. It was so confusing that at the end, when it was revealed that Hugh's sister was actually his mother & that the daughter of the shooter, "Lil" was also "Beth," a character we had followed for awhile.. I just went, meh. 

All in all, probably wouldn't read again but I'm still glad I read it.
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