My Sister’s Keeper is about thirteen year old, Anna Fitzgerald and her fight for medical emancipation from her parents. Anna’s parents tell her she was born so she could help her sixteen year old sister, Kate survive. Kate was diagnosed with a rare, but serious form of leukemia [acute promyelocytic leukemia] when she was only two years old. Both Kate’s’ parents and brother, Jesse’s bone marrow and blood type did not match Kate’s, so Anna was born for the sole purpose of being a donor for her sister. Anna is forced to go through many surgeries, blood transfusions, and bone marrow transplants to help her sister, but the one thing Kate needs now is a new kidney, and the only person who can help her is Anna—however, this transplant will harm Anna, but save Kate. Kate doesn’t want her sister to die and we later find out that Kate doesn’t want to live so Anna hires an attorney, Campbell Alexander, to represent her in court and sue her parents for the rights to her own body. If Anna and Campbell Alexander win the lawsuit, Anna will have the choice of whether or not she will donate her kidney to Kate.
The novel is set in a small, urban town (we are not given the town or state). There are three main locations where the majority of the plot takes place: Provincial Hospital, the hospital every surgery and transplant is done at, the courthouse, where the case for medical emancipation is presented, and the fire station, where Anna’s dad works. The book has many flashbacks and time changes thrown in which makes reading confusing at times but also very interesting.
One question I asked myself throughout the novel was, “Why would any parent sacrifice one child’s life to save another?” I still haven’t quite figured out the answer to this question but I believe part of the answer may be that Anna’s parents did not realize the danger they were putting Anna through. I don’t think they took into consideration that they were hurting Anna, both physically, and mentally because she felt they didn’t love her as much as Kate. Anna’s parents were too busy with Kate and her chemotherapy and surgeries that they didn’t take the time to really ask Anna what she wanted.
My Sister’s Keeper is a novel that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next. There are many twists in the plot and the ending will have the reader in complete shock. I would highly recommend this book to mature readers. The novel contains very explicit language and uses very graphic images. My Sister’s Keeper is an extremely sad novel, and the content is written for both mature and emotional readers. In order to really understand the novel, you have to really put yourself into Anna, Kate, and their parents’ positions and try to feel what they are going through. I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down. Anybody who likes books that keep you on the edge of your seat and books that tell stories of events you never thought could never happen would enjoy My Sister’s Keeper.
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I have never actually read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, but I have read Picture Perfect by the same author. Jodi Picoult is an exceptional writer in how she portrays others’ emotions and situations. Just from reading this post, I am very interested in reading My Sister’s Keeper, for it sounds like an intriguing story that I won’t want to put down. I can’t necessarily say that I would recommend reading this story, because I have not actually read it myself. I do, however, definitely plan on reading it, and if you find this description of the novel interesting, you might like to read it as well.
ReplyDeleteWow…I’m basically speechless on the topic of this book. I do say it intrigues me because I feel I have to know what happens with the case, attorney and Kate, but HOW in the WORLD could a parent do that??! I saw something like this on CSI and I couldn’t believe it. The parents would be destroying the child born to save their sibling by tearing their body apart without their permission for the sake of another. Don’t they see that it will probably end up killing BOTH children!!?? I made me outraged to hear that the parents in the book would even CONSIDER taking Anna’s kidney but without permission seems insane. I pray that this doesn’t happen in real life because if so, someone needs to stand up against it. Talk about child abuse!
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