If you haven't read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, I highly recommend you do so. And you might not want to read the rest of what I have to say, because it might spoil the whole thing for you.
The book focuses on a family in Rhode Island trying to keep its oldest daughter, who has acute promyelocytic leukemia. In fact, the parents went so far as to practically design their youngest child, Anna, to be a perfect genetic match so that she could donate blood, bone marrow or even a kidney to her older sister. She never had the choice - that is, until she turned 13 years old.
Anna spends most of the book trying to become medically emancipated from her parents so that she can make her own decisions in regards to donating to Kate. The only problem is that it seems as if Anna doesn't quite know what she wants at all. But she takes her parents to court, nonetheless.
At first, it is so easy not to like Sara, the girls' mother. It is as if she only cares for one thing in the entire world: Kate. Sure, she has two other children, but sometimes she doesn't even appear to acknowledge them. Well, unless she needs something Anna can give through tubes or surgery. Sara fights so hard to hold on to Kate, but the whole time she is losing Anna and Jesse (the brother and oldest sibling) and drifting from her husband, as well.
It is really hard to choose sides throughout the whole story. On one hand, I wanted Anna to be able to make her own decisions, especially because she is almost treated as if she is invisible at times. But at the exact same time, you want Kate to get the kidney donation so that she can live. And you want Anna to be the one to make the choice to give it to her. It's clear during the whole novel that Anna loves her sister, but it's also quite apparent that she wants to be free of her in a way, as well.
At the end of the book, you learn it was Kate who pressured Anna not to give her a kidney. Kate was in so much pain and felt guilty for being a burden to everyone else around her that she just wants to give up the fight. Anna doesn't want her sister to die, but she knows that if she follows through with Kate's wish, she will have a lot more freedom.
Anna ends up winning her lawsuit against her parents after all truths are revealed in the courtroom. If you wonder what Anna's choice was, you will have to keep pondering that one. The reader never actually finds out. It's pretty clear that she wants to make the donation, anyway, but she doesn't get the chance to do so voluntarily.
Anna dies after a car crash on the way to the hospital. Her lawyer makes the call to give her organ to her older sister, and Kate goes on to live longer than anyone ever expected. Anna ended up saving her sister after all, but she didn't get to be there to see it.
It is such a sad story, but it is definitely a great read. I love the way Picoult wrote it. Every chapter is told from a different character's perspective, so it really gives you a feel for how and why each person is dealing with the situation at hand. You don't read anything from Kate's point of view until the very end, but it's the most poignant. If you cry easily, I would suggest you get a box of Kleenex before you read that entry. I don't cry much, and I didn't at this point, but I would have if my tear ducts worked.
Picoult took an issue that could be a hot topic for debate and turned it into a story that digs straight to your heart and really gets you involved in all of the characters' worlds, which ultimately crash into one world of chaos and hope.
1 comment:
i LOVED this book! so much that i have bought it for 4 other people hoping they would read it! ive read several of her other books and none touch this one. I totally knwo what you mean about the mother and really all the characters. Picoult does such an amazing job of pulling you into their way of thinking and rooting for them. :)
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