Jodi Picoult is a prolific novelist. She has written over 25 novels in a span of 24 years, many of which I have read. Her writing is not high literature by any means, the kind that would win prestigious awards, but her books are very entertaining, absorbing, and well-written, making her a highly successful writer whose books are extremely popular. She also typically touches upon some weighty issues in each of her novels, such as organ transplant (Change of Heart), a school shooting (Nineteen Minutes), religious belief (Keeping Faith), autism (House Rules), genetic engineering (My Sister’s Keeper, a riveting book that was also made into a movie), and many others.

In her new novel, Small Great Things, she takes on the hot-button issue of racism, which has emerged to the forefront in the U.S. in the last couple of years, with the shootings of black men, the Black Lives Matter movement, and of course, the 2016 Presidential election (which, at the time of writing this, is still 11 days away). The title of the novel comes from this quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Almost all of Picoult’s novels revolve around a lengthy court case, where the issue at the heart of the novel is taken to court and ultimately settled—usually favorably—after the requisite back and forth between the prosecution and the defense, and Small Great Things is no different in this regard.

The story revolves around Ruth, a black woman (albeit lighter-skinned than the average African-American), who is a nurse in a the maternity ward of a hospital and has been doing this devotedly for 20 years—she is very good at her job and is widely respected as being the best there is. Her world turns upside down when a hate-filled white supremacist couple comes in to have a baby, and then after the baby is born, specifically ask that Ruth be taken off her nursing duties for their baby because she is black. The baby dies after a complication and Ruth was present in the room when the death happened, and before she knows it, she is slapped with a lawsuit by the parents accusing her of murdering their baby. If it seems preposterous, it really is, and I thought the weakest aspect of this book was in its premise—a white couple suing a black nurse for killing their baby. Really?

Once you get past this issue, however, the book is as well-crafted as any of Picoult’s other books. She has mastered the art of writing books with a certain style, and Great Small Things is no different. It is substantial, and comprises equally of internal dialog and external action. The story is told from the points of views of three different narrators—another quintessential Picoult approach. And as with her other books, a large part of this one takes place in court with witnesses, testimonies, cross-examinations, opening and closing statements, and other legal paraphernalia. There is also a twist at the end, which again usually happens in all Picoult’s novels. Thus, Small Great Things is quite formulaic, coming unmistakably from Picoult’s oeuvre. I would have known she had written it even if was published anonymously!

Where this book is different is that it does not just highlight racism—similar to how her other novels highlight different issues—but that it also digs a lot deeper and exposes the difference between overt racism—of the kind blatantly exhibited by white supremacists­—and implicit bias—which most white people have but are not aware of it. They take their place in the world for granted, the opportunities that they have, how they fit right into society, the common courtesies they receive, the professionalism they encounter in most places, and so on, without even being aware that it is different for black people, even if they are just like them in all other respects. The public defender who takes on Ruth’s case is a white woman, who would never think she was racist in any way; however, it is in the very act of not wanting to be racist, or not seeming to be racist, where the implicit bias comes in—the fact that you are conscious that the person is different so you need to behave in a certain way, be extra nice, or be extra polite. You would never feel like this if the person has the same skin color as you.

Picoult explains in an Afterword that she realized she had the same experience being a white woman and wanted to write about racism and bring this issue to the forefront. I think she has accomplished this very well. While the plot of the story in Small Great Things is far-fetched, the exploration of racism, both explicit and implicit, is very well done. In particular, the implicit bias will hit everyone hard because it applies to most people. To a certain extent, it is human nature to take your own privilege for granted, especially if it does not seem like one and most people around you are just like you. But it’s important to be reminded of it, as usually it is so subtle that we’re not even conscious about it. If not for anything else, Small Great Things should be read just for this.

Small Great Things
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: October 2016

Contributor: Lachmi Khemlani runs a technology publication in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I came upon this book at a second-hand bookstore when I growing up in India, at a time when I pretty much devoured any kind of book that seemed remotely interesting. While most of the books I read during that phase were eminently forgettable, I really liked Temporary Answers and have held on to my copy of it all these years. Given that the book was originally priced at Rs. 4 and I bought it second-hand for Rs. 2, and that I have held on it all these years, and the fact that it is no longer even available—it seems like an unprecedented bargain! Family members and friends who read the book on my recommendation also really liked it, and I recently read it again to re-discover what was it about this unknown book by a relatively unknown author that had made me hold on to it and actually bring it with me to the US when I moved here from India.

Temporary Answers is very much an Indian story with Indian sensibilities written by an Indian author. It tells the story of Vineeta, a woman in her late twenties, who comes back to live with her parents after the sudden death of her husband, as per the custom at that time—the story is set in the 1960s, when women were not as financially and emotionally independent as they are now. Yet, Vineeta is far from a docile widow and soon breaks free from the claustrophobic confines of her childhood home to get her own place and start on a career as a pediatrician, for which she was trained but never practiced while she was married. The book charts her gradual independence as she navigates her way through tricky situations and complicated relationships. Her mother is a non-nonsense, working woman, but she tends to be somewhat autocratic and also very traditional in the sense that she cares deeply about what society thinks; her father is non-confrontational but also quite spineless; her younger sister is not just uncommunicative, but seems to actively dislike her; her U.S.-returned childhood male friend, who had a crush on her when they were kids, would now like to marry her, giving her an easy way out; and she is strongly attracted to an older man, a professor and playwright, and gets involved with him, but he has his own demons to deal with. Along the way, there are also lots of issues stemming from her fledgling pediatric practice and her work in a non-profit for poor kids.

None of these problems really go away or are neatly resolved; what changes is Vineeta’s gradual realization that there are no permanent answers to her existential crisis—she first has to come to terms with her own feelings of insecurity and “find herself” before she can find comfort and support through others.

What I really liked about Temporary Answers is how authentic it is. All the characters, including the protagonist, are flawed human beings, like we all are, so we can readily identify with them. Vineeta herself is far from a conventional heroine—she often says or does the wrong things and is propelled by her baser instincts, by feelings that are far from elevated. At the same time, she is very introspective and we get a chance to step inside her mind and witness the conflicting feelings she has about so many things, her ruminations on marriage and love, the difficulties of being a doctor including not just the helplessness but also the guilt for not always feeling the sympathy and empathy people expect doctors to have. Not only is this internal dialogue in the protagonist’s head so fascinating, Temporary Answers also has a lot of philosophical discussions between its characters about the meaning of life and death, which is something you don’t find that often in books. In essence, this is really a cerebral book, focused more on what the protagonist feels rather than on what she does.

Given that the book is set in India—in the city of Pune, or Poona as it was called then—in the 60s, I found it surprisingly contemporary, with Vineeta eventually living by herself and being visited often by the man she is in a relationship with, who often spends the night. And while she does not flaunt the relationship, she makes no attempt to hide it either, which would not have been easy in those conservative times. Also, while Temporary Answers is, by and large, a serious book, I did appreciate some occasional bits of tongue-in-cheek humor, usually as part of a conversation between characters. For instance, when Vineeta asks her mother—who all but manages the family and holds the reins of the household—if her husband (Vineeta’s father) had ever beat or mistreated her, her mother replied, “He wouldn’t have had the nerve.” In the book, Vineeta burst out laughing, and when I read that, so did I.

Temporary Answers
Author: Jai Nimbkar
Publisher: Sangam Books (A Division of Orient Longman Ltd)
Publication Date: 1974

Contributor: Lachmi Khemlani runs a technology publication in the San Francisco Bay Area.