Ponder Post: Small Great Things

Ruth Jefferson has been a labor and delivery nurse for twenty years. She is black. When a white supremacist couple come into the hospital to give birth to their first child they instruct the hospital that the black nurse is not to touch their baby. The hospital administration instructs Ruth to abide by the wishes of the parents. But when an emergency situation arises, Ruth is alone with the baby. Does she intervene to help the child against orders, or refrain from touching the baby so she does not lose her job due to disobedience? The nurses' equivalent to the Hippocratic oath of doctors is based on the Nightingale Pledge. One line stresses the importance of following orders, "To co-operate faithfully with the other members of the nursing team and to carry out faithfully and to the best of my ability the instructions of the physician or the nurse who may be assigned to supervise my work". Does Ruth follow her instinct or her pledge? Either path may cost her her livelihood.

Ruth's actions catapult her into a high profile court case. Lawyers are trained to follow the commonly accepted and advised practice of avoiding the mention of race in a trial. But the proverbial elephant in this court room is extremely difficult to ignore. How can the accusation of a white supremacist couple against a black nurse not have racial undercurrents? Jodi Picoult, author of the novel Small Great Things ©2016, modeled the title after a quote often attributed to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way."

The chapters in this novel are titled and told in the voice of the main characters: RUTH, the nurse on trial, KENNEDY, her female white lawyer, TURK the white supremacist father of the baby. I almost set this book aside about a quarter of the way into it because the chapters by Turk were so harsh, so violent, so revolting, so vile, so blatantly ignorant and manipulative, that it disgusted and disturbed me to read them. I was however intrigued enough with the Ruth and Kennedy chapters that I forged ahead and I am glad I did. This is a book well worth reading. It promotes an awareness in the reader that prejudice and racism are not one and the same. Just because someone does not pre-judge does not mean he is not racist. Racism can be manifested in failing to realize and acknowledge that the benefits and successes one does have can be attributed, in a large part, to the the color of his skin, and not only to his own efforts and hard work.

There is a dialogue where Kennedy tells Ruth that she, the black woman, needs equity, not equality. As Ruth tries to correct her Kennedy insists. "No, I mean equity. Equality is treating everyone the same. But equity is taking differences into account, so everyone has a chance to succeed. The first one sounds fair, the second one is fair." Beware, the review cited below has spoilers, but I credit this image to https://shereenawrites.com/tag/small-great-things/

Jodi Picoult is sometimes an uneven author in my opinion but this particular novel was very thought provoking and a winner for me. I read this book in one fell swoop, taking only one necessary break to sleep at night but getting right back into it the next morning. I think I may even give it 5 stars except that the Turk chapters are such a turn-off. If you do choose to read this book, do not stop at the story's conclusion but continue to read on through the Author's Note at the end. Some good nuggets of information are included there.

Patriotic Pause (Paws?)

Wima is ready for the Memorial Day weekend. She had her leg cast changed this past Monday, May 22nd, and rather than her usual shocking pink, we asked the vet if they had red or blue to be patriotic. They were apologetic that they did not, but this is what they came up with.

They did find a bit of dark blue and accented it with white. Then the staff lovingly drew each of those itty bitty red stars on by hand.

Wima has had her cast changed at least every two weeks since she broke her leg February 7th. One time she got stuck under the bed and partially pulled the cast down and out of position. This exploit required her to be recast before expiration of the two-week interval. On June 5th, one day shy of 17 weeks, she is scheduled to have it x-rayed again. Hopefully then the cast can be removed. We were cautioned that she will be stiff and may need physical therapy afterward. I have no idea what form PT takes for an 18 year old cat. Sigh ...

Ponder Post: Lavender Island Duo

Reading a little bit of light romance is fun and a good stress reliever.  Within the past week I read two novels by Lauren Christopher. The Kiss on Castle Road ©2016 (A Lavender Island Novel Book 1) and Love on Lavender Island ©2016 (A Lavender Island Novel Book 2)

I have previously read, enjoyed and reviewed this author's first two books The Red Bikini (1/5/15) and Ten Good Reasons (5/17/15) both of which had seaside settings in California. 

The setting of the Lavender Island novels reminded me very much of Catalina Island off the coast of California about 30 miles from Long Beach. It was probably the model for this novel. I was only on Catalina Island for a few hours in January 2014 as one port of call on a Carnival cruise. There were only a few streets in a crescent shaped waterside downtown but it was scenic, quaint, artsy, and great for browsing. We learned locals got around via golf carts since car permits were few and far between. The interior is mountainous. I imagined Lavender Island from the stories to be much like Catalina Island pictured in the following photo. The fact that the characters in the novel also zipped around in golf carts was a charmingly coincidental image. I would like to go back to Catalina Island some day and these novels pseudo took me there.

The Kiss on Castle Road was set near the coastline of Lavender Island and the male love interest was a nerdy marine micro-biologist investigating illness in sea lions. Perhaps because of the nerdy scientist aspect, I preferred the first book to the second. In Love on Lavender Island the male love interest was a cowboy type and the novel is set in the center of the island where there is a ranch and a bison conservancy. After reading this and researching a bit I learned that there is also a bison conservancy on Catalina Island. I knew nothing about the interior of the island during our brief time there 2½ years ago so I am curious to return and explore more.

Unlike many man-bashing romance novels where the male lead is an a** hole who is tamed by the female lead, the guys in both these books managed to be gentlemanly without sacrificing the ability to exude an air of considerate but firm male dominance. They came across as strong without being too gruff and very respective of the woman they were attracted to. The requisite sex scenes were spicy and explicit but not gross; they were descriptive enough to be intriguing, but not written in the genre of X-rated blatant disclosure. 

Both these books were a fun read; predictable, yes, in where the two main characters would end up, but teasing enough to keep the reader wondering how the couple would get there. The novels were not very meaty, but then doesn't everyone love a few frosted cupcakes now and then? I will watch for other books by this author. She has the right recipe for me to snack on.

Ponder Post: The Language of Flowers

This image came in a text message from my daughter-in-law with the brief, simple statement, "Must read!!"

I checked the hardcover version out of my local library and she was so right! The Language of Flowers ©2011 by Vanessa Diffenbaugh is truly engaging and I read it in a couple days' time. The story opens on Victoria Jones' eighteenth birthday when she is released from the foster care system as an adult to make her own way in the world. The morning of her departure, as she awaits the arrival of her social worker, she acquires a cluster of a particular flower from a local florist and leaves a stem of each beneath the door of each of her housemates. There are no notes. The flower itself is meant to be the message to the girls left behind based on its symbolism. Victoria appears to be well versed in the meaning of each of these flowers.

In Victorian times, a gentlemen conveyed his feelings about the lady he was courting by the choice of flowers in the bouquet he presented to her. Each bloom had its own interpretation. Pansies... think of me. Cyclamen... timid hope. How did Victoria get her education about this floral code? Who taught her? Was she self-taught? This knowledge of an elegant subject seems contradictory to the somewhat dire environment in which she was raised, moving all too often from foster home to foster home and eventually to a pre-transition hostel. How did she come to be so versed in the romance of flowers?

The author draws on her own experiences as a foster mother to portray the hardships and disappointments children in the foster care system have to endure and the odds that they face in being able to become productive members of society. The novel gives the reader glimpses into some of the harsh treatment Victoria gets in some foster homes. The role that a less intuitive social worker can inadvertently play in a child's placement and acceptance and confidence is portrayed very well. Victoria is emancipated from the system that morning of her eighteenth birthday (the exact date of her birth is no more than an estimate) with no job and limited means to feed and clothe herself. She sleeps in a public park and plants a small garden of her own there. She slips into restaurants and survives on food that diners have left behind on their plates. The front flap of the book jacket reveals, "Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them."

The book see-saws between two main time periods – the present and a fleetingly-brief, good-placement portion of her childhood. A substantial portion of the suspense in the novel is created by piecing together her path from one life situation to another while navigating the extremes of the emotions that motivate her – low confidence, guilt, forgiveness, and love – as she plods through her adolescent years toward adulthood. The Language of Flowers was a real page turner but with a much softer approach than the usual literary vehicle for suspense. There is no threat of violence or a fast-paced chase scene. There is a constant undertone of love and basic human kindness in several characters that supports a belief in the inherent goodness of humanity. Can Victoria find a self-supporting, fulfilling place in society? Since I liked this book one can guess yes, she does find her niche; but how she gets there is a spell binding tale. What role do flowers play in her journey? 

The definition and interpretation of the meaning behind different species of flowers was enlightening and captivating. I enjoyed the depth they added to the novel. Read The Language of Flowers with a branch of Forsythia by your side. Forsythia means anticipation and you can look forward to a great read from this novel.