If you haven't read the book it's about a girl (Kate) with leukemia whose parents had a second genetically matched child (Anna) to help with blood and bone marrow to save their first daughter. As the girls grow up, more and more is required of Anna until she's had enough of being nothing but an organ donor. There are a lot of interesting points in the book, like what do you do when you have to pick one child over another, how do you balance your time and love between children especially when one requires more from you, and at what age can you be responsible enough to make choices about your own body instead of letting your parents word go as law. Even at a young age, a child's sense of self and decision making should always be respected. Even a three-year-old should be asked, not even such catastrophic questions as do you want to donate blood, but would you like to give your teddy bear away. If a child even considers emancipation, then you have crossed the line. Use your persuasion skills with children, not force or games. When you read a second book by an author it's easier to pay attention to the writing style and not get so carried away with the story. Her techniques were a distraction from the story. Picoult is very good at doing research to get statistics on paper, but that's all her characters feel like it. None of these characters had a real breathing personality. They were just stereotypes of what she wanted to portray and therefore not very deep. Even the little memories of the girl's childhood felt like stock photographs set to these vague lives. Throw in a politically correct tendency to add variety to your characters with random stereotypes and I enjoyed the story more for the case study it could be then the story it was. The character I enjoyed the most in the book was Jesse, the older brother who had fallen off the deep end in an attempt to get his parent's attention and still went unnoticed. I liked the quiet things he set about doing to help his sisters. Although I did not find him very well developed, I liked the father, Brian, too. I think he truly did love both his daughters and wanted to set out to do good by both of them. Even though Sara kept saying she loved both her daughters, I failed to find the evidence. All I got was a brazen woman who bullied everyone, especially Anna, into saving the only daughter she did care about. I found her completely unsympathetic, even the chapters written in her perspective, especially then. When she told Anna she couldn't go to hockey camp because she had to be around in case Kate when into relapse, I was disgusted. Yes a sick child would take up more time and emotion, but not to the exclusion of other children. How hard is it to yank Anna out of camp if necessary? Picoult wanted to show a woman who loved both her daughters but had to make tough decisions in order to keep both of them alive, but it fell flat. She tried to credit her with too many contradictory emotions and never fully justified her behavior. I wasn't satisfied with the family dynamics. I found the emotional neglect completely at odds with the scenes of a loving huggy family Picoult threw in to convince us that it was a good family with good intentions. Sara and Anna constantly saying they loved each other just didn't jive with the way Sara treated Anna. I could not picture this child on the verge of growing up wrapped up in her mother's arms when she's being scolded and manipulated by that very woman. But if I found Sara a hard character to pin down, I found Anna even more elusive. Again, too many contradictory motives that just didn't make sense. I got why Anna and Kate loved each other, but I didn't get why the rest of the family did. I think the idea of the story was a good concept, but I think it was under developed. Spoiler:I found the twist at the end unnecessary. I keep asking myself it is the most tragically beautiful ending and I'm not sure it is. Even though I get the point of it, I think I would have rather had a resolution that required a decision, a choice. I liked what Kate said at the end that Anna took her place and how it showed how much of a shadow she was, but it felt a little like a cop out. I want to know what Anna would have done and how her parents would have reacted if she said no or how belittled she would have felt had she said yes.
Edit 2/29/12: THE MOVIE VERSION IS SO MUCH BETTER!!!! Seriously, go watch it. I DARE you to not cry.The gist of the book is this: the Fitzgerald have a daughter, Kate, who's extremely fucking unlucky and her whole life basically revolves around getting disease after sickness after cancers. She almost dies when she's two, and her bro Jesse ain't a donor match, so her parents decide to have a genetically designed baby according to Kate's needs, who will eventually turn into spare parts machine for Kate, who like I mentioned before, gets fatally sick a lot.Aaaand that's basically how Anna is born. Now she’s turned thirteen and has to give a kidney to Kate if she wants to keep her alive (as usual), but she’s not willing to. She’s sued her parents for the rights to her own body.Dude, that is a killer premise. Unfortunately, the execution...not so much.This was moi first Jodi Picoult novel, and I’ve heard of this novel being called a ‘quick’ read, but I don't agree with that. I mean, I’ve kind of been reading it since mid-December till mid-January. Or that might just be because I kept switching books, since My Sister’s Keeper absolutely failed to keep my interest. Either way, I just didn’t connect to it that much.Like all Jodi Picoult's books, every central character in this book has their own POV, and the narrative jumps around between them. Let me just say: DISCONCERTING MUCH?! All the characters sound the effing same. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP TRACK OF WHO'S NARRATING? The only character who stood out was Jesse, Kate's younger (or was it older?) bro who says the word fuck a lot. Angsty teen and all, ya know? Repetitively angsty, actually.See, so much of this book keeps coming back to this one major point: All the characters' lives have been disrupted as hell thanks to Kate. It's not that they don't love her, but damn does she cause problems, even if they're not intended. Like Jesse recounts a billion episodes where he was neglected because his parents were too busy making sure Kate didn't die. ALL THOSE RUDDY FLASHBACKS! Mrawwwrr. Me no likey, nuh-uh. There are so many scenes depicting this, it sort of dulled the impact for me. Murdered, in fact.Some of the characters also bored the bajeezus outta me. Brian, the dad of family, seemed to have no flaws at all. Riiiight. Also, his whole obsession with space-gazing and mythology--didn't get the point, and more importantly did not care for it. Sara, the mum, oh God. Lots of people failed to identify with her, but I did. I’m not a Mom (kudos to you for guessing, ha. I'm eighteen, hey), but her situation—one kid dying and other being used to keep her alive), it made sense to me. Not saying it's right, mind you, but GOTTA KEEP THE KID ALIVE!!!!, know what I mean? The most annoying aspect of the novel was the romantic subplot between Anna’s ad litem Julia Romano and Anna’s lawyer Campbell Alexander. I have absolutely no idea what this subplot contributed to the novel. Neither characters were really captivating, and their romance/chemistry didn’t quite send sparks shooting off. I could so have done without it.So, in the end, I’m going to have to say this novel really disappointed me. It’s not a bad novel, exactly—the last 100 pages were pretty gripping. That’s when the story finally falls into place through the trial over Anna’s request for medical emancipation. That’s when we get to the real debate over whether designer babies are ethical or not, which is sort of the whole point of the novel. But the three hundred pages before them could definitely have been tightened.And of course, I have to mention the darned ending. I got three words for it:WHAT. THE. FUCK?
What do You think about My Sister's Keeper (2005)?
I read this book for the book club that I belong to. I don't really know how to write a good book review, but I can say that this book is very well written. She ties the characters together really well, and you easily come to know them. The end is REALLY REALLY sad... I cried like crazy... but I still thought it was wonderful. I didn't find it predictable at all. The book is about a 13 year old girl, Anna, who was genetically engineered to help her sister Kate who has been suffering from a rare
—Marissa Noe
Instead of reading this book, I decided to read the synopsis on Wikipedia. To me, the ending of the book rendered the entire thing pointless. Why have this girl go through so much trouble so that she can have control over her body, if she's just going to die, and her sister's going to get her kidney anyways? Sorry if this annoyed you, but this thing just ticked me off.
—Wendy Darling
As I said before: I'm still reading this book but I'm not sure why. My mom lent me the book and she loved it, everyone tells me they loved it and I'm sort of hating it while I read. I just want to finish it and move on. Maybe I'll change my tune when it's over.Well... I hate it less, but I'm still not in love with it. I think I know the problem, though. It's Jodi Picoult. My mom loves her, my sister loves her, everyone I know loves her and I can't stand her. She just writes in this odd way that gets on my nerves. What drove me nuts reading this one was the way that every chapter, almost every paragraph either ended with some sort of cliché or some profound statement that was supposed to be so meaningful. She made not so subtle comparisons to the stars and the lonely people on earth, to a fire and a disease, a firefighter and a mother who wants to save her dying daughter. Gag. I couldn't take it. But I know it's just me and that other people are going to love this story. I thought I knew how it was going to end but when it ended differently that I expected, my thought was "Oh yeah, I should have figured that one out. Much sappier than my prediction."It's terrible, my Picoult-aversion. I have the same feelings toward Alice Hoffman and Anita Shreve. I once found an Anita Shreve book in the basement of the house I moved into, crammed under the oil tank. Never one to pass up a book, I gave it a read, got two chapters in and wanted to throw it back under the oil tank myself. I think these authors try too hard and that's what irritates me.But don't let me stop you. Go ahead, swallow your sentimental nausea, put on your cliché repellant and I'm sure you'll enjoy the story of a family in turmoil, told in the fashion I usually enjoy where each chapter is from a different character's perspective. Just don't say I didn't warn you.
—Lisa
