A Spark of Light

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Fiction
2018 Ballantine Books
Finished on May 14, 2019
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center, a women’s reproductive health services clinic, its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

Jodi Picoult, one of the most fearless writers of our time, tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.

Jodi Picoult has written more than two dozen novels and I have read 15, all of which I loved with the exception of just a couple. While A Spark of Light follows Picoult's typical fashion of writing about a timely (and highly controversial) real life issue, it does not follow her usual style, which includes a courtroom drama, nor does it follow a traditional narrative structure, but rather a reverse chronology, unfolding backward one hour at a time. My book club selected this novel for our May read and the majority of the group did not care for this unusual format. I went into the book knowing that this is how it was written, so it didn't bother me--too much. I would have preferred the "normal" style of writing, or even one with alternating points-of-view, but you have to admit it was creative. I suspect Picoult will hear enough negativity toward that aspect of the book and (hopefully) not try it again in the future. 

But with regards to the actual plot and characters, it is classic Picoult: Multiple (10!) points-of-view; a well-researched subject; first person narrative; an uncomfortable, ethical subject that is both enlightening and sparks debate; and, of course, a big twist at the end of the book.

I wish I could say that I loved it as much as Small Great Things, Leaving Time, The Storyteller, Sing You Home, and Change of Heart, but I didn't. I thought it was a very good read, but I believe the momentum suffered due to the clumsy narrative structure, which is nothing more than a distraction from the story. Of the eight of us at book club (a smaller group due to vacations), I was the only member who said they liked the book. The others disliked the format so much that they couldn't appreciate the novel and probably won't read more by Picoult. What a shame that this was the first book by her for so many of them.

As I write this review, the Alabama Senate has just passed a near-total ban on abortion. A Spark of Light couldn't be more timely, but it's more than likely not going to change anyone's stance on this polarizing topic.