A Spark of Light

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I get that Picoult is trying to look at the issue of abortion from all different angles, and I think it is an important topic to consider from different lights, because it is a complicated issue. But I don't like the format of going backwards--it created a lot of repetition and some time line difficulties. Also, it was hard to remember how everything ended up for everybody by the end of the book. It diffused any sense of propulsion and I found it hard to motivate myself to keep reading. I also think there were too many characters. I get there are a lot of perspectives on this subject but the sheer number of characters kept us from really deep diving into any of them, and they all remained surface characters. Maybe that is why I didn't like any of these characters. I also felt that all anti-abortionists in this book were judgmental and absolute, while the pro-choice characters were willing to be understanding and tolerant. I think both sets of characteristics can be found in both sides. It's a good book to start a conversation and I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion in our book club, but as a book to just read, it didn't work for me.

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But there were those who believed if you do not name a thing, it ceases to exist, and so its title was amputated, like a war injury.

Were some betrayals kinder than others?

Did you have to be missed to exist?

A rush of calcium at the moment caused zinc to be released from the egg.  As the zinc burst out, it attached itself to small, fluorescent molecules: the spark that was picked up by camera microscopes.