First book of the year, and it's one I've been interested in reading for a few years now so I'm glad I got it out of the way. Also the first book I've read on my iPad Kindle app.
Source: Bought Kindle edition
Pages: 510
Rating: 3/5
Plot
The book centres on Ruth, an experienced black Labour & Delivery nurse, who has been accused of murdering the newborn baby of a white supremacist couple after they insisted she not look after their baby due to her race. As with all Jodi Picoult books that I know of, it culminates in a court case so it just follows that, from the baby's death to Ruth's arrest, the discovery process, and the case, and how it all changes her, Turk's and Kennedy's life.
[I don't know what to make of the main ending, but the small twists at the end seemed way too neat and saccharine.]
Telling
It's told from the perspective of three characters: Ruth, Turk Bauer, a white supremacist, and Ruth's public defender, Kennedy. I enjoyed Ruth and Kennedy's perspectives, but it was very uncomfortable reading from Turk's, since he was just constantly using racial slurs and being over-the-top hateful.
Like other Picoult books I've read, it was a page-turner and an easy, engaging read. I cared about what happened to Ruth.
Characters
Ruth was a very sympathetic character who'd 'done everything right', with her Masters in Nursing from Yale, her honor-roll son Edison (whom I liked) and her veteran husband who died fighting for America. She's contrasted with her mother, who spent her whole life as a domestic servant but was also very 'respectable', and her sister, who speaks in ebonics and generally doesn't try to be respectable. It was a bit on the nose, and not great to imply that someone who tried less hard to assimilate into white society would have been less innocent, but I can see why she did it: to show that when you're black, no matter how perfect you are, you're still distrusted by white society - followed around shops, thrown in jail on a suspicion, discriminated against at work.
Re Turk: It was hard to believe anyone like that could exist - he had a swastika tattooed on his head, beat up his own dad for being gay, ran a white nationalist hate site, went to white nationalist festivals, and just generally obsessed over racism all the time. There were sweet moments, like his marriage to his wife, Britt, whom he adores. I guess Picoult was trying to make him seem more human, because those parts are indeed cute - but jesus, did he have to marry her at a white nationalist festival? Maybe these people do exist, I don't know, but if so what a sad existence.
Society
It was very America-centric, which is reasonable because that's where it's set, but I think there's a bit of a different racial experience in Ireland. I'm not saying there's no racism here or something, but it's different and doesn't have the same historical bases.
Kennedy, the public defender, was pretty heroic in the book, but it did upset me to see how the court case really wasn't about figuring out the truth at all but was just each lawyer saying whatever would make their side win.
The point the book laid out very clearly was that while Turk Bauer was obviously a racist, so was everyone else, just to lesser degrees.
__________________________________________________________________
Overall, I'm not certain what I think about the book. It was a page-turner and I cared about the main character and felt immersed, so it was certainly an enjoyable read (apart from the tenseness) but that can be said about most Picoult books, and the race aspect wasn't really new and the black reviewers I've seen commenting on it haven't really been fans, so I'd probably recommend another one instead.
On another bookish note, I went to Greystones library recently and checked out 8 books, which I'll make a start on once I'm finished with Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, which I bought for Kindle. Here they are:
No comments:
Post a Comment