"Small Great Things" by Jodi Picoult

     There were seven of us at the beginning of book group today at Linda's; Sheri, Annie, Maddie, Saran, Marylib, Libby plus Linda.  Mary came later after a visit to Boulder and her grandchild.  Jodi Picoult writes books to start social conversations, and "Small Great Things" certainly did that for our group.  We all had various criticisms of the characters and the writing, but agreed it was a worthwhile book to read, if not for the engaging good story, but also for the self exploration we did upon reading it.  Jodi Picoult wants her books to teach readers something they didn't know either about the world or about themselves, and she admits that in writing her books, she also learns a tremendous amount herself.
     The author said this was a book about family, relationships, and love.  There were three family units and each family unit learned something from the situation portrayed in the book.  Each main character had to confront his own beliefs, come to terms with those beliefs, and decide what they wanted to change about those beliefs to move forward.  Jodi Picoult writes about socially conscious themes to challenge the reader's beliefs. 
     Some of us had thought this author was a fluffy best seller-type of writer, but this book certainly proved us wrong about her and we may read others of her many books. 
     Maddie and Marylib told about experiences in their lives with African Americans (or colored or blacks, as the author pointed out).  Libby mentioned the ideal world of the military where everyone is employed and provided for and all races live together and mingle socially.  Several of us thought Turk was way over the top, and Annie mentioned that he was too well spoken and eloquent for what she though a person of his ilk would be. And he was complicated emotionally.  Ruth was too perfect but then we couldn't see her really deep anger until the trial.  Kennedy changed as the book progressed as her client pressed her on certain issues. 
      Annie mentioned that Picoult said "ignorance is a privilege."  A powerful statement that made us all sit up.  The rest of the conversation ranged from the fact the book seems ready to be a screen play for a movie, the ending was contrived and a surprise, did Ruth live a dishonest life, and we all thought Edison was terrific.  The consensus was that despite flaws, it was a very successful book.  Whites who think they have no prejudices don't realize they do.
     Thank you, Linda for a great choice, and good luck on your move.  Please add your own comments as I am sure I left out a lot!

Commonwealth

Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth is a semi-autobiographical novel that she describes as “the book that all her other books are based on.” She explains that the common thread among all her books is throwing two different groups of people together to create a community. One of the reasons Ann Patchett wrote this story is because there “was no book as big and messy as my family or my friend’s families.”  Being a child in a divorced family, whose father was a cop, whose family was a Catholic-blended one, who moved from one side of the country to another you certainly realize the parallels in her own life with this book. However, as Ann Patchett’s mother says, “None of it happened and all of it is true.” The truth in the novel is the emotional content.  As Ann, herself explained, the story is not what happened in her life. It’s between what she was afraid would happen and what never happened.

 

Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth was met with mixed reviews by the 6 of us who had read and discussed the novel. The overwhelming consensus was that the book was confusing and hard to follow at times – it seemed disjointed from one chapter to the next since the chapters (which were like short stories in and of themselves) were not in chronological order and there were large gaps in time. That being said, Margie and Libby were pretty positive about their reactions to the book. They both felt that reading reviews of the book helped to give them a different perspective which then led them to more favorable impressions. Libby captured it well when she talked of the book being “like a brilliant puzzle.”

 

On the other hand Sheri had the opposite reaction. She felt “manipulated” while reading it because as one chapter ended there was no closure on what happened. Additionally, she did not think the book was realistic. Mary Lib, Libby and Margie felt that it was realistic of the era of the 60’s when Moms were ‘stuck’ and kids pretty much were out running wild all day doing whatever  they did without their parents having much awareness.

 

There was lots of conversation regarding the characters (Saran thought Leo was ”creepy”); specific chapters (Sheri and Libby loved the swimming chapter; Saran thought the Amagansett chapter was “fascinating” and Libby thought it was “painful”);  the  purpose of specific plot elements (Sheri was “puzzled by the gun part”); and themes within the story (aging, how one incident can have such a wide ranging effect; family; bonding, loyalty and love).

 

Mary Lib suggested that your age and what stage of your life you were in would make a difference to the reader as they progressed through the book. She related an interesting experience she had recently had when she and Denny were traveling and they returned to a place and time from their past to visit the ‘path not taken.’  Certainly there were numerous points in the novel where one could ponder on different outcomes had certain events not taken place or had they happened differently.

 

Margie wondered about the numerous rave reviews and wide-spread acclaim that this book had received based on the mixed reviews of our small group. That led to an intriguing question from Libby: “Is this book valuable as a piece of literature?”

 

Shortly after the book group gathering Linda, Margie, Libby and Annie went to hear Ann Patchett speak. She was delightfully entertaining regardless of your take on her latest novel.