Jodi Picoult Archives | RomanceDevoured

Jodi Picoult New Book – Mad Honey Out Now!

Jasmine Edwards — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 09:00:00 +0000

We’ve been counting down the days for Jodi Picoult‘s new book and now it’s finally here! Mad Honey is a soul stirring novel about what we choose to keep from the past and what we choose to leave behind. The ... Click Here To Read More

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The Book Of Two Ways By Jodi Picoult – Our Review

Jasmine Edwards — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

A powerful novel about the choices that alter the course of our lives, The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult has been a book we’ve been wanting to read since it came out! Check out our review on this ... Click Here To Read More

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Our Review Of Wish You Were Here Jodi Picoult

Jasmine Edwards — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Wish You Were Here Jodi Picoult is a “powerfully evocative story of resilience and the triumph of the human spirit”. And with the rights sold to Netflix for adaptation as a feature film, there’s no better time to read it ... Click Here To Read More

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Jodi Picoult Books – All Her Bestselling Novels

Jasmine Edwards — Mon, 30 May 2022 09:00:00 +0000

Jodi Picoult books are about family, relationships, love and so much more. Table of Contents [CLICK HERE TO OPEN] About Jodi Picoult List Of Books By Jodi Picoult Frequently Asked Questions What is Jodi Picoult most popular book? What order ... Click Here To Read More

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The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult: Our Review

Jasmine Edwards — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0000

A story about redemption and forgiveness by the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult. The Storyteller Jodi Picoult is about a baker who suffers with grief after her mother’s death and finds an unlikely friendship with someone else plagued by grief. Another must-read novel from the author that Huffman post described as an “amazingly talented writer” . So, check it out now!

The Storyteller

Some stories live forever…

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape her loneliness, bad memories and her mother’s death. When Josef Weber begins to stop by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. They see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t.

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The Storyteller Jodi Picoult: Detailed Description

The book is told from varying viewpoints, inter-spaced with vignettes of another story. In the vignettes we hear from a young adult named Amina, who lives in the past. She struggles to survive after her father dies and she takes on his bakery to be able to live. To make matters worse there is some kind of monster terrorising the village where she lives.

In the present we are introduced to Sage Summer. Sage is a young woman who tries to hide after she suffered facially disfiguring scars in an accident which we are initially not told the cause of. Sage’s parents both died within a few years of each other and she is estranged from her sisters. She works as a baker at night for a local bakery run by an ex-nun Mary. Sage likes the job because it enables her to avoid facing people and when she does she wears her long hair over her face to hide her scars.

We find that Sage is also having an affair with the local married mortician. Which she continues despite realising deep inside that it is wrong because she believes that she doesn’t deserve any better. Sage is a member of a grief group, a support group for people who are struggling to cope after losing someone in their lives.

An elderly man and his dog often come in into the cafe area of the bakery late in the day when Sage arrives for her shift. She recognises him from the grief group, he is a German man called Josef Weber. Sage finds herself striking up a conversation with the man. This is out of character for her as she usually avoids people. Despite the vast differences in the two, they strike up an unlikely friendship and begin to spend more time together. Sage visits Josef at his home. The two connect by talking, sharing their grief (Josef recently lost his wife of 51 years) and playing chess.

As the two draw closer Josef confides a terrible secret to Sage. He then asks for her help for him to find redemption and forgiveness. But Sage is appalled by the truth about Josef. And her first is reaction is that he deserves to be punished for his past.

After Josef admits to being a German officer in Autstvich, Sage finds it hard to correlate this gentle 95 year old man with the monster that he must once have been. Josef is seeking forgiveness for his past sins. The reason that he is seeking this from Sage is because although she herself is an self confessed Atheist, she is of Jewish descent. Therefore he believes that she can offer him the redemption that he seeks.

Sage is appalled by the truth about Josef and this is where Department of Justice agent Leo (who is Jewish himself) becomes involved. Leo’s job involves him being responsible for bringing people who have committed war crimes to justice. Together Leo and Sage seek to find the truth about Josef’s past but to do this they will need the help of Sage’s grandmother. Minka is a holocaust survivor that does not like to talk about the past and the horrors that she suffered.

Which brings us to by far the most important voice in the narrative which becomes Minka, Sage’s grandmother whose story proves to be the most important of them all.

Our review – ★★★★★

The Storyteller definitely confirms Jodi Picoult’s talent as a writer. Especially when it it comes to the difficult topics. In Part One of the story we are introduced to Sage. It is a little hard to feel much sympathy for Sage initially, she has clearly suffered a lot in her life but the way she views the wife and children of the married man she is having an affair with makes her come across as selfish and having little remorse for the people she is hurting. Another character who also garners little sympathy is Josef, even though like Sage finds, it is hard to believe that this gentle 95 year old man who shares his food with his dog and does so much work for the community is actually capable of the atrocities of his past.

It is in part two of this book that it really becomes engrossing. Minka opens up and tells Sage of everything she suffered as a young woman from Poland at the beginning and then throughout the rest of World War 2. The details and horrors of the concentration camps are starkly painted and everything that Minka went through is laid bare. It certainly isn’t an easy read but the writing is impeccable and everything seems horrifically believable. One of the main questions this book raises is are monsters born or raised. And are monsters capable of true remorse, and if redemption and forgiveness for the past really is possible when the past is so horrific.

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Small Great Things By Jodi Picoult – Our Review

Jasmine Edwards — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 07:18:23 +0000

Since there’s a movie starring Viola Davis and Julia Roberts coming out at some point, we thought it would be a great time to read Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. Small Great Things tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion, which Picoult does with ‘incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor‘. So we just had to give it a read! Check out our thoughts now.

Small Great Things

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to find that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. But then the baby goes into cardiac distress whilst Ruth is alone in the nursery.

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Detailed Description

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery (L&D) nurse. And she has been for twenty years. Initially, we are told the story of many other patients that Ruth helped to deliver their children, showing just what a great nurse she is. She is also a mother to Edison, who made the Highest Honors list for every semester of his high school career.

We are also introduced to Ruth’s past. Her mother worked as a maid for a rich, white family – The Hallowells. Ms Mina gave birth unexpectedly at home and Ruth’s mother was there to help her deliver. The children watching – Christina (Mina’s daughter), Adisa (Ruth’s sister who at the time went by the name Rachel before she legally changed it), and Ruth – were each affected differently by this event. Christina had her baby via surrogate, Adisa had five children and Ruth became a L&D nurse.

Back to the present, and a new couple come into the hospital where Ruth works. The mother Brittany gave birth the night before with a different nurse and Ruth is sent to assess the baby in the morning. Ruth does her job, finding that the baby has a heart murmur, which she notes to refer to the paediatrician. Once Ruth has finished her examination she finds that there is a problem – the parents of little Davis (named after the last president of the confederacy) are extremely racist white supremacists and have a problem with Ruth touching their child.

So, after Ruth’s assessment, they make a complaint. Afterwards Ruth is instructed by her superior to not touch the baby again. And a note to this effect is put on the baby’s file, that no African American personnel are to care for the child. Understandably Ruth is devastated both by the actions of the racist parents and her supervisor for allowing them to make this discriminatory decision without being challenged. But Ruth has no choice but to continue doing her job and obey the order.

Then, on a busy day, Ruth is left to keep an eye on Davis after his routine circumcision when the nurse in charge of him gets called into an emergency birth and there are no other nurses available. Which is when he goes into cardiac distress. Ruth hesitates before helping – should she disobey orders or should she help? Her first nursing instincts are to help and she begins to check the baby’s vitals but when she hears someone coming she steps back and pretends that she did nothing. Ruth’s supervisor Marnie bursts in and tells Ruth to help as they try to perform CPR. Soon the room is filled with activity as the doctors rush in and everyone tries to save the baby’s life. But it is to no avail and tragically the baby Davis cannot be saved.

Davis’ parents look for someone to blame and of course the target of their prejudiced hate is Ruth. Now Ruth is being charged with murder and she needs to rely on public defender Kennedy McQuarrie to prove her innocence.

Review – ★★★★★

Picoult’s writing never fails to impress us. She keeps us hooked all the way to the end, it’s almost impossible to put any of her books down. The very same applies to Small Great Things.

Small Great Things is told from the perspective of Ruth, Kennedy and the despicable Turk Bauer. All of the characters are very well written, even Turk. Picoult gives a detailed reason for the way he is, but it is not given as a way to excuse to behaviour. Turk is an angry racist, homophobic man with offensive tattoos. He regularly launches physical attacks on gay people or people of colour just as an outlet of his anger. His wife, Brittany is equally as abhorrent, often encouraging and joining in with the violence, she is also abusive to animals.

Ruth has worked hard all her life to get to where she is as a respected nurse. She is bringing up her son alone after her husband was killed in service. Edison is an exemplary young man, who does well in school and is in the process of applying to colleges. The two are very close and despite the struggles they face they are doing well until the court case blows up and threatens to send Edison off the rails.

Kennedy McQuarrie is a public defender who is married with a small child. Ruth’s case is her first murder trial and one which she is determined to win. Kennedy is convinced that she herself is not racist at all. From the off she tells Ruth that the case can’t be made about race as they will never win if they go down that route. Ruth reluctantly agrees because more than anything she wants to be there for her son.

But as the trial goes on Ruth shows Kennedy what it’s like to walk in her shoes. What exactly life is like for an African American living in America. Slowly Kennedy’s eyes are opened to the passive racism that occurs every day.

This is an excellently written book and it becomes engrossing as the trial continues towards it’s verdict. We wonder how many eyes will be opened and is there even redemption available for some of the worst characters in this book or do they even deserve it? This is a book that certainly makes you think, question yourself and it stays with you long after you have finished it.

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

What did you think of Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult? Let us know!

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