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Max G.'s Reviews > Small Great Things
Small Great Things
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I actually find this book a bit offensive. I get what Jodi Picoult is trying to do here but this story is rife with offensive stereotypes - angry Black sister, long-serving servant mama, flamboyant pastor, sassy transgender prostitute. All the same tired tropes I could find literally anywhere else.
But even worse is the thread of respectability in Ruth's story. She's the classic palatable Black person; light skinned, educated, inoffensive, widow of a veteran, doesn't colour all white people with the same brush. Of course we should feel sorry for her! Of course she's being wrongly persecuted!
The problem is that what happened would be just as wrong if Ruth were a crackhead with a criminal record. That should be the point - that racism is real and it's wrong, period. No matter whom it's happening to.
But in trying to tell a story that would be relatable to her "mainstream" audience, she does the cause a huge disservice. Huge.
I read that she wrote this because it's a story that needed to be told. I agree, but I'm not sure she's the one who should be telling it. If she really wanted to support an oppressed community she should have put her considerable influence behind a writer of colour - God knows there are enough of them - who could have told this story with the complexity and nuance that she missed.
But even worse is the thread of respectability in Ruth's story. She's the classic palatable Black person; light skinned, educated, inoffensive, widow of a veteran, doesn't colour all white people with the same brush. Of course we should feel sorry for her! Of course she's being wrongly persecuted!
The problem is that what happened would be just as wrong if Ruth were a crackhead with a criminal record. That should be the point - that racism is real and it's wrong, period. No matter whom it's happening to.
But in trying to tell a story that would be relatable to her "mainstream" audience, she does the cause a huge disservice. Huge.
I read that she wrote this because it's a story that needed to be told. I agree, but I'm not sure she's the one who should be telling it. If she really wanted to support an oppressed community she should have put her considerable influence behind a writer of colour - God knows there are enough of them - who could have told this story with the complexity and nuance that she missed.
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Coral Rose
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Dec 12, 2016 05:16PM
Exactly this.
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Interesting take! I loved the book, but love discussing and appreciating different/opposing viewpoints even more.
My understanding is it is based on an actual sequence of events. I thought she did a great job of telling it. Yes, maybe it was someone else's story to tell -- did anyone else? Would love to read theirs if so.
Totally agree with your review. I felt very similar.
Perhaps Yvonne their story didn't get published.
@yvonne people of colour tell their stories every day. They just tend not to get as much shine and fame as their counterparts do. So yes the solution is to seek out writers of colour if you're seeking to understand racism, not reading it through a filter of privilege and bias.
@dusky I haven't read Roxane Gay's review but I'm going to check it out - thanks!
Let’s just all face it, shall we? Elements of this story have been told many times by writers of color. How many of those stories are best sellers that everyone is talking about? The whole point is that for many good reasons, this story needed to be told by a white woman. A white woman writing from a black woman’s perspective may help other white people put themselves into a position of empathy and “listening�. It seems that hearing black people talk about the experience of racism makes white people feel uncomfortable, judged, and defensive. I commend Jodi for trying to, literally, put a white person in a black person’s shoes. Sometimes the messenger matters almost as much as the message. Illuminating the historical and daily white privileges, and insidious biases, that affect us all is an important story to tell. I’m just glad Jodi had the guts and the platform to tell it.
I also took exception to the callous welfare worker and the sleazy human resources rep (who would not have been speaking to a client's attorney anyway).
@maggie Right? Just so many overused and unhelpful stereotypes!
" . . . I'm not sure she's the one who should be telling it. If she really wanted to support an oppressed community she should have put her considerable influence behind a writer of colour - God knows there are enough of them - who could have told this story with the complexity and nuance that she missed."Yes.
Picoult's signature is to write these very current, "issues" stories that I just think comes off as trying way too hard, like she's always searching for the latest big social issue to dramatize.
Utter twaddle. Only black people should write books about racism? Only rape victims could write about rape? You believe that we should censor writers, obviously. Writers have to be free to create what is in their mind and should not be confined by petty racism and censorship. Yes, racism because only ceratin types can write about certain subject. Frightening prospect.
Maybe you should be more offended by the fact that light skinned black people *are* more palatable for white society than darker skinned black people. Sorry Ruth and Adisa's experiences as black women, one light skinned and one dark skinned, tends to be true in our country.
Interesting that a lot of honkies are offended by this book. That should tell you a lot about yourselves - rather than the quality of the book. First take the beam out of your own eye... As someone who had a white racist father - the whote characters were very real to me.
Sorry, but who was the sassy transgender in this novel?
Ugh! I am currently hate reading this book and came to the reviews to find some like-minded readers. I came to this author after enjoying Mad Honey who she had the consideration to co-write with someone who could do the subject matter justice. But SGTs is just like a caricature of Black America tropes. I think The NY Times put it best in declaring Ruth the most unbelievable character in the book, with the author playing Black Bingo throughout, checking off every single micro and macro aggression in a single persons week…from colorism to Skinheads this book has it all. And there is NO WAY a 40 yr old healthcare professional with a masters degree and life experience in metropolitan areas (ie she isn’t living somewhere in a hole) is not immediately saying“lawyer!� when charged with a crime and she certainly isn’t spouting the nonsense rebuttal of “but some of my best friends are white!� Ugh cliche’s and perpetuation of the same cruddy stories told time and time again abound in this text. I’m so irritated that I have to keep reading just to validate my disgust 😩
i think you missed the point of the book, Max. It's about education for white people who don't see many of the points that the book has made. and, judging from some of the comments, the point was made...at least to some.
I suspect an African American writer would have created more nuanced black characters. But I think so would a better white writer.
Sounds like you missed the entire point of the book
