A Spark of Light – Jodi Picoult

When I finished this book, I was sitting at a gate in an airport crying my eyes out.

This book is about abortion. The Center is the last clinic in Mississippi that offers all services to everyone who walks through the doors looking for help. Wren, just fifteen years old and in a new relationship, goes to her aunt and asks her to take her to the clinic so she can get on the pill. Then a man walks into the clinic with a gun. Hugh, the hostage negotiator for the situation, is Wren’s father. What led each person into the clinic? How have the laws and regulations around abortion negatively, or positively, impacted them?

This book lives in shades of gray. I adore stories like this.

With a topic such as abortion, you can’t meet in the middle. There is no compromise here. If you believe that the government is robbing you of your rights, then you’re going to be angry. If you believe the government is allowing innocent babies to be slaughtered, then you’re going to be angry. Abortion is polarizing. I know I just said this book lives in shades of grey. How can it if it is about abortion?

The reason I said this book lives in shades of grey is because there are no monsters. No one is a murderer for getting an abortion, or for performing one. Picoult went to great lengths to make sure that no one was painted as cruel or less than human for their beliefs.

That being said, this book can be a lot to go into. Not just because of the topic, but because there are ten characters. Ten POVS. Each and every single one of them is necessary and they flow naturally throughout the book. I wasn’t overwhelmed at any point by the amount of characters. I was emotionally overwhelmed by how many aspects of one issue I was reading about, but not mentally overwhelmed with the sheer number of characters. I’m not going to get into every single character, but here’s an example of how complex the characters can be.

Dr. Louie Ward.

The christian man who performs abortions because he feels it is his duty on earth to be compassionate rather than judgmental. He is also a black doctor performing abortions in Mississippi. The controversy there runs deeper than Roe v. Wade.

He’s one of my favorites.

The number of characters doesn’t water down the development of each character. They have depth.

I want to take a moment to highlight the reverse chronological method of story-telling. I loved feeling pieces fall into place as I was reading this book. You’ll read about something on page thirty and wonder why it’s like that, and then figure it out forty pages later from a different character’s POV. It feels satisfying.

All of that being said, I will say the book felt a little dry at times. This book is necessary! But sometimes it feels a little preachy. It feels a little in your face about it. That’s fine! Be in my face about this topic; it’s crucial. However, it takes a little depth away from the plot. I also found that some moments of heightened emotion felt cheapened because of the preachy aspect. It felt a little less like story telling and a little more like a pamphlet on abortion at times.

I also know that a lot of people find the preachy aspect of this book and the reverse chronological timeline to be incredibly detrimental. I didn’t find it to be that bad. I really enjoyed this book. You can tell that the author really took her time and did her research before writing it. It has left a lasting impression on me.

4/5.

Shoutout to “You’ll Be in My Heart” by Phil Collins for playing while I was finishing this book in the airport. It made me look like a crazy, crying lady.

“Laws are black and white. The lives of women are a thousand of shades of gray.”

Jodi Picoult, A Spark of Light