My Sister's Keeper

by Jodi Picoult

book data

63,316 ratings, 4.08 average rating, 10,989 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		41%
4		34%
3		17%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

February 1st 2005 (first published 2004) by Washington Square Press

binding

Paperback, 423 pages

setting

The United States

isbn

0743454537 (isbn13: 9780743454537)

description

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, ...more

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08/14/07

Lindsay rated it:

bookshelves: misc

recommends it for: Jodi Picoult fans, chick lit fans

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Have you ever read a book that really pissed you off? Pissed you off so much all you could do was rant about it until everyone told you to just shut up? This is that book for me.
Picoult's dialogue is excellent, but her characters annoy me and the ending of this book was such a cop-out I almost wrote her an angry letter about it, but decided against it, as she'd never read it anyway.
Basically, "My Sister's Keeper" is about a family with three kids - I forget their real nam...more Have you ever read a book that really pissed you off? Pissed you off so much all you could do was rant about it until everyone told you to just shut up? This is that book for me.
Picoult's dialogue is excellent, but her characters annoy me and the ending of this book was such a cop-out I almost wrote her an angry letter about it, but decided against it, as she'd never read it anyway.
Basically, "My Sister's Keeper" is about a family with three kids - I forget their real names, so I'm giving them fake ones: Token Boy Child, Leukemia, and Spare Parts. Mom and Dad find out about Leukemia's unfortunate diagnosis when she's just two, so they decide to have another baby - not to replace Leukemia when she inevitably bites it, but to provide Leukemia with spare parts for organ transplants. Spare Parts gets tired of being held back by her sister's needs - and in turn, Leukemia gets tired of holding her sister back; Spare Parts isn't allowed to go to overnight camp and is being forced to quit playing her favorite sport because Leukemia needs a new kidney. Spare Parts goes to a lawyer in an attempt to get medical emancipation from her parents. She winds up winning it, but dies in a car crash. Mom pulls the plug immediately, Leukemia gets a new kidney, and - even better - Leukemia is magically cured of her illness altogether. Also, there was a stupid subplot about the lawyer and social worker falling in love.
The mother character annoyed me the most here; she didn't love her daughters equally, and it showed. It really showed. She loved Leukemia the way you love a child. She loved Spare Parts the way you love that child's trust fund or college savings. She played favorites and made no attempt to hide it.
This whole book infuriated me - the very idea of having another kid just so your sick child can have her own personal organ bank sickens me. It really does. You're supposed to have a child because you will love that child, not to fill the needs of another child.(less)

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35 comments

05/28/07

Lisa rated it:

Read in May, 2007

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...more

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11 comments

06/22/07

Lobeck rated it:

(review of isbn 0743454529)

bookshelves: least-favorite-of-all-time

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: people who like trash pop fiction

this book is a shameless and unskillful manipulation of human emotions. i felt dirty when i was done with it. the story is on par with cheap natural disaster movies like deep impact that are formulated to tug at your heartstrings in very predictable ways. the author painfully over uses the dramatic blackout technique where she writes a line that's trying too hard to be clever or profound and then fades to black - aka, leaves extra space before the next paragraph or ends a chapter - sometimes ...more

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03/22/08

Nola rated it:

bookshelves: fiction---drama

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: parents, christians,

I hate novels where parenting is questioned, simply because I too often find myself thinking, “Well I would never do THAT.” I then have to do the whole knock-on-wood routine and hope that I didn’t just invite divine retribution for being too judgmental. So it was with Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper. After reading the summary of the novel, I knew that I would never make the choices that the parents shown did. After reading the novel, I found myself questioning what I might rea...more I hate novels where parenting is questioned, simply because I too often find myself thinking, “Well I would never do THAT.” I then have to do the whole knock-on-wood routine and hope that I didn’t just invite divine retribution for being too judgmental. So it was with Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper. After reading the summary of the novel, I knew that I would never make the choices that the parents shown did. After reading the novel, I found myself questioning what I might really do if my child was facing death.

In case you missed the summary, My Sister’s Keeper is the story of Anna, a thirteen year old girl genetically conceived to be a match for her leukemia-positive sister. Within minutes of her birth, she was a donor for Kate, sharing her cord blood to save her sister’s life. By the time she is thirteen, when the novel takes place, she has been in the hospital almost as much as Kate, donating things such as blood and bone marrow. After being asked to donate a kidney, she seeks legal emancipation from her parents. And so the story begins.

One of the things that bugged me was the chapter-by-chapter switch of the point of view. It was very well handled and, once I got past the irritation stage, I had to admit that it helped the story along. And so we skip through the minds of Anna, her lawyer, her court-appointed guardian ad litem, her brother, her father, and her mother – in short, everyone close to Anna except her sister. Each of these perspectives is given in the present, with the notable exception of her mother. Instead, we trace the mother’s path of learning that her daughter has leukemia, and what decisions led her (and Anna) to the current moment. This, too, was initially annoying, but proved well-chosen; I’m not sure the same impact would have been made if we simply had the mom looking back. It would have been far easier to judge her at that point than it was to see her experiencing her pain.

In fact, it was from Sara’s perspective that I learned the most, and that I questioned myself. If my young daughter, the light of my life, was threatened with death, how far would I go to save her? I don’t think that I honestly would have even thought up the idea of conceiving a child specifically for that purpose, but what do you do once the idea has been planted? Furthermore, it is clear that Sara loves and cherishes Anna, even as she worries incessantly over Katie. True, she neglects her, but she also neglects her son, who had been born prior to the diagnosis, turning most of her attention to her sick child. And though this also made me pass judgement, it also made me wonder – would I be able to balance my attention on all my children if one were struggling through a life-long illness? How easy would it be to make small decisions that hurt the others to save the one?

In short, I hated this well-written, well-developed, well-plotted book because it made me think. The moral and religious side of me rejects the notion of a test-tube baby conceived for a specific purpose, but the mother in me wonders. If my child were starving, how easy would it be to remain true to my moral perspectives and not steal (assuming, of course, the government weren’t around to save me)? If someone threatened my child, how far would I go to protect them? In short, when it comes down to crunch time, how true would I stay?

To fall asleep, I have to assure myself that I would, of course, be perfect in all things. And then knock soundly on the nearest wood, and pray I never have to find out.
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05/29/07

Sammy rated it:

bookshelves: the-best

Read in January, 2005

This book was stunning. In writing, in style, in plot, in character! It truly is one of those books that you really can't stop reading. Especially for me, because in a way it took me back to my Lurlene McDaniel days. Did anyone ever read her? She was always writing books about different teenagers and young children with terminal illnesses. I was addicted to those books. So it was no surprise when the young reader in me sort of jumped up when I saw a friend of mine reading this book and she descr...more This book was stunning. In writing, in style, in plot, in character! It truly is one of those books that you really can't stop reading. Especially for me, because in a way it took me back to my Lurlene McDaniel days. Did anyone ever read her? She was always writing books about different teenagers and young children with terminal illnesses. I was addicted to those books. So it was no surprise when the young reader in me sort of jumped up when I saw a friend of mine reading this book and she described it to me.

Boy was it a book well chosen. Picoult writes from the views of a few different key characters, allowing the reader to get an extremely well-rounded look at the story. At first the jumping from character to character is a little jarring and you have to keep reminding yourself that it's a new character, but eventually you get into the vibe of the book and wouldn't have it written any other way. The one thing Picoult does perfectly is make you torn. You really don't know who to support in a case like this. At times you find yourself leaning towards Anna, and other times wanting desperately to shout your support for Sara, the poor mother in this situation.

With the readers information of other characters points of views and knowledge, the whole case is a lot more difficult to have a desired verdict towards. In the end a decision is made, a decision that, while reading the book, I was constantly wondering what Picoult was going to do, because either way one fully supported side was going to lose. But the way she really ends the book puts results to rest in a solid, yet emotionally unsatisfying ending. The ending it by no means bad, quite the contrary it was beautiful and settling, but at the same time you don't know whether to be relieved that there was an extremely closed ending without debate, or to cry. I won't tell you why, and I may have said too much already. But this book is just incredible and I highly advise you try to read it as soon as possible.(less)

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7 comments

09/17/07

Sharon added it

bookshelves: sofarin2007

Read in January, 2007

recommends it for: no one, really

it would be impossible for me to overstate how much i hated this book. I hated, hated, hated this book. I guessed the end 5 pages into it, but read it through anyway (why?)(probably because everyone else in nursing school was reading it and wanted to tell me how good it was. Never trust nurses). Interesting for the medical information, and if it convinced one person to become an organ donor it served its purpose in the world, but man, was it hard to read. It was trite and simplistic and written ...more

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02/04/09

Lynn rated it:

Read in February, 2009

**If you're planning on reading this book, don't read my review. I give away the horribly disappointing ending. On second thought, don't read this book, read my review.**

I know several people who have read this book, so I decided to give it a go. I was immediately intrigued by the subject of the book. The Fitzgerald family has one daughter, Kate, dying of kidney failure. The kidney failure is a result of her weary body's 14 year battle with a rare form of leukemia. Their other...more

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11 comments

08/01/07

Bex rated it:

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: No one.

Ugh- I've read some of these reviews and people keep saying great story- the end sucked... 4 stars! Okay- the ending sucking is a bit of an understatement. It was probably the worst ending to anything I've ever read or seen in my whole life- and I've watched UltraViolet and Sunshine and read some pretty terrible books.

Picoult rambles- and rambles. She takes a family, smacks them with the most typical "dysfunctional family" stereotypes and then add a topic that *should* be i...more

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12/26/08

Peregrinn rated it:

bookshelves: by-women, novels

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: cheesy drama lovers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

i originally picked up this book at my boyfriend's house (his mom had read it) because i read the back and the basic premise? fascinating. also, i needed something to do while my boyfriend was hogging the x-box.

and the premise is fascinating. and something about the plot kept me reading to the end. but her god awful treatment of it made me so mad, so if i could rewrite the book, this is what i'd do:

1. cut out all the weird little subplots that stray too far afield fro...more i originally picked up this book at my boyfriend's house (his mom had read it) because i read the back and the basic premise? fascinating. also, i needed something to do while my boyfriend was hogging the x-box.

and the premise is fascinating. and something about the plot kept me reading to the end. but her god awful treatment of it made me so mad, so if i could rewrite the book, this is what i'd do:

1. cut out all the weird little subplots that stray too far afield from the basic theme of the book: anna's coming of age, and how kate's leukemia affected her family. cramming in irrelevant subplots does not make your book deeper. it makes it confused. i would axe the romance between the lawyer and the guidance counselor. i would axe the guidance counselor's artsy twin sister. i would axe the "conflict" between the mother and her career-woman sister. i would axe the lawyer's service dog. all this manages to do is clutter the book and distract from what's actually happening. i mean, what is the point of the seizure during the courtroom scene? it's like she didn't actually want to deal with the central questions and just wanted to pile on melodrama.

2. characterization does not happen when you tack on internal suffering to every single character. even the bit characters--you must know about their deep, internal struggle. i'm not saying you shouldn't give your minor players depth, but this is not the way to do it. it just comes off as cheesy.

3. speaking of cheesy, she kept making these metaphors (both actually good and kind of played out) and then totally spoil them by all but declaring to the reader, "hey! i made a metaphor! and this is what it symbolizes!" cut. that. shit. out. this was especially frustrating because there was a lot of rare but really well-written bits.

4. make the hard choices. send that delinquent brother to jail. kill off kate and let anna grow up. the back of the book said this was a coming-of-age story, but it can't be if anna dies in a car crash before your main conflict is resolved! resolve it properly! there is not enough bolding in the world to properly emphasize how strongly i feel about that statement. she continually shied away from making the right choices for the plot. cancer girl needs to die. she said she wanted to die. the miracle healing was not uplifting, it was just plain weird.

god, this book could have been a really cool examination of the effects of a serious illness on this family, and a really awesome coming of age yarn, but instead it's a pile of cheesy schlock, which i find really disappointing.(less)

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11/03/08

Rita rated it:

bookshelves: hated, most-recent

Read in November, 2008

Spoiler Alert. This review contains spoilers.

I hated this book so much. I only kept reading it because I had to find out why Campbell, the lawyer, had a service dog, since he kept that such a secret.

I hated the clichés (Julia chose just that moment to crash through the door… Anna chose that precise moment to speak up… Rita chose this moment to gag on bad writing…).

I hated the overwrought melodrama. Everything was just so saturated with heavy-hande...more Spoiler Alert. This review contains spoilers.

I hated this book so much. I only kept reading it because I had to find out why Campbell, the lawyer, had a service dog, since he kept that such a secret.

I hated the clichés (Julia chose just that moment to crash through the door… Anna chose that precise moment to speak up… Rita chose this moment to gag on bad writing…).

I hated the overwrought melodrama. Everything was just so saturated with heavy-handed tear-jerking prose that the book was soggy and just about dripping. About halfway through the book, I started skimming it, looking for dialogue relevant to the plot. Brian’s metaphors about fire and Sara’s reminiscing about the kids’ childhoods and Campbell’s backflashes about Julia and Julia being pathetic in every possible way and Anna’s cluelessness just got so very dull. If I was ever to find out why Campbell had that dog, then I needed to get through the material faster. Putting the book down to groan out loud every few paragraphs was taking too long.

The characters were two-dimensional and irritating. They really were just like paper dolls, given name tags, dressed up in stereotypes and given lines to say (and melodramatic thoughts to spill out). It was like, This is the mom and she’s a big martyr who puts her children first all the time… she’s a GOOD mother, she just got blinded by trying to be too good, so she seems kind of bad now. But we’ll be on her side in the end because of her deep insight. Waggle mom paper doll and have her blah, blah, blah and then Over here is the Big Bad Lawyer doll… ooooh, he’s a ruthless go-getter with a hazy past, but he’ll have some secrets to pull out at the end so we’ll realize he’s a decent, stand up guy after all. Waggle lawyer paper doll and have him blah blah blah, and so on.

The plot was all right through all of that until the big Law and Order courtroom twist at the end. That was just a convenient trick to get out of actually trying to find a solution for such a dilemma. She worked it up to such a point that there was no way out that would sit well with an audience, there was no good way to wrap it up, so she pulled a rabbit out of a hat. Then she went a step further and did something that I guess some might find bold, but it just made me shout a stream of obscenities and then made me thankful that I had just skimmed the second half of the book and didn’t really invest in it at all. Otherwise, I would have been furious with such an ending.

This is the second Jodi Picoult book I’ve tried to read. I didn’t like the other one either (Vanishing Acts), so I guess I won’t be reading anything else by this author.

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04/11/08

April rated it:

Read in April, 2008

recommended to April by: A book club I have chosen not to join
recommends it for: Overly emotional chick-lit addicts to whom meaning must be spoonfed

I read this for a book club I was going to join before I found a better one that meets at the library across the street. The subject and basic premise were interesting enough to keep me reading, but my god the writing was awful. AWFUL. Everytime one character asked another a question, the answer was some corny, overly-symbolic story from the past. The whole book was one clichéd analogy after another...she even put analogies WITHIN analogies. For example:

"About five years ago a ...more

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01/11/09

Mitabird rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2009

My Sister's Keeper was one of the most heart wrenching stories I've ever read. Anna's sister, Kate, is dying of a rare form of leukemia. She was conceived as a genetic match to help save her sister's life. It was supposed to be a one-time deal, but over the course of her 13 years, Anna has donated multiple times. Her sister is in need of a kidney and Anna's decided she's had enough of being told how to use her body. She decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation and refuses to give up h...more

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03/21/08

Marissa Noe rated it:

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone unless you absolutely hate sad stories

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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 be...more 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 form of Leukemia. Although it is apparent that Anna was a well-loved girl in her family, everyone feels like their lives revolve around Kate. All decisions made in the family are based upon Kate's wellness. After numerous treatments, Kate's body is starting to fail her and she would need a kidney transplant to give her even a fighting chance to live longer. This is when Anna decides to sue her own parents for the right to make medical decisions on her own, and 'hires' Campbell to represent her. (He actually represents her for virtually free... partly selfish reasons in the beginning)

The lawyer, Campbell, owns a service dog and each time someone asks him what it's for (because he's not blind) he makes up some funny reason, and it keeps you wondering throughout the whole book what the real reason is. It was actually quite funny. I guess I could have figured it out if I thought really hard, but the answer ended up surprising me in the end.

One of the reasons I love this book is because it really illustrates the kind of love we can have for our sisters. Because my sisters are my best friends, I could really relate to the characters in the book. It was kind of funny because although Anna is suing for the right to her own body so she won't have to donate a kidney to her dying sister, the love she has for her sister is undeniable and you really wonder what her motives are. Toward the end I did start to figure it out, but not until I was about to find out the real reason she did it anyway. I was not surprised when I found out the real reason, only because by that time it is only obvious that Anna would do such a thing.

If there was anything I DIDN'T like about it it would be some of the language written in there. The F word is in there a few times, and that is my least favorite word in the English Language.

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06/18/08

Amy rated it:

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This novel had moments when it just broke my heart, as well as other moments that were so cheesy I felt like I was reading a Hallmark card. Apart from the overuse of clichés, the fire and star metaphors got old, and I found myself skimming over those sections.

The ending was very powerful and nearly brought me to tears. However powerful it was, I was disappointed that Anna died; the entire novel was her struggle for the right to choose what she does with her body, but that power of...more This novel had moments when it just broke my heart, as well as other moments that were so cheesy I felt like I was reading a Hallmark card. Apart from the overuse of clichés, the fire and star metaphors got old, and I found myself skimming over those sections.

The ending was very powerful and nearly brought me to tears. However powerful it was, I was disappointed that Anna died; the entire novel was her struggle for the right to choose what she does with her body, but that power of decision was ultimately taken out of her hands. The ending was perhaps a cheap attempt to neatly tie things together when in reality no good ending would have been possible. I would have instead liked to see Anna make a decision one way or another, and then for her as well as Sara to face whatever consequences came of that decision.

Other than the ending, the other most moving section of the novel was Kate’s brief romance with Taylor. Could it get much sadder?

I know there are mixed reviews on this, but I liked how the chapters alternated between the perspectives of different characters. This allowed the reader to really understand all sides of the controversy. I found myself at times sympathizing with Anna, while at other times thinking her selfish for even questioning the act of donating a kidney to her dying sister. Evoking these opposing feelings in the reader was probably Picoult’s main purpose of writing this book, and she did a good job of that. However, why Picoult did not include any chapter written from Kate’s perspective until the very end is a mystery to me. One would think that a book centered around a cancer patient would include chapters written by the patient herself, but I guess not.

Campbell with his sidekick dog Judge was the quirkiest and funniest character of the bunch, which definitely added some much-needed humor to a very depressing subject. However the whole subplot about his newly reinvigorated romance with guardian ad litem Julia was completely unnecessary, and bore no relation or relevance to main theme of the novel. I would even go so far as to say that Julia’s presence at all in the novel was more of a distraction than a necessity. And the whole section about Campbell as the popular rich jock who falls for the dorky outsider in high school? Gosh, I felt like I was reading The Breakfast Club. Another weakness I found with the novel was the wording of Anna’s perspective and dialogue. I know kids these days are smarter and more precocious than ever, but much of the dialogue and insight (and swears!) that came from 13-year-old Anna were not believable at all.

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01/04/08

Leila rated it:

Read in December, 2007

It’s impossible to talk about this book without discussing the ending but I promise to give warning before I do so it won't be spoiled for those who haven't read the book yet.

I had two main concerns going into this book. The first was that it would be nothing more than a political commentary on stem cell and embryo research. While it does touch on these issues, the book does not take a stand or attempt to pontificate a political stance to the reader. While I am sure the author ha...more It’s impossible to talk about this book without discussing the ending but I promise to give warning before I do so it won't be spoiled for those who haven't read the book yet.

I had two main concerns going into this book. The first was that it would be nothing more than a political commentary on stem cell and embryo research. While it does touch on these issues, the book does not take a stand or attempt to pontificate a political stance to the reader. While I am sure the author has her own beliefs, she does an excellent job of not pushing them through the story of this family. Ultimately, that there is no “winning” scenario.

The second concern that I had was that the story would not be believable. I couldn’t help but ask myself how a mother could possibly love one daughter so much that she would give up any semblance of a life to be by her side at all times, yet completely disregard the life of her other daughter; born specifically to save the first daughter. This seemed beyond belief to me, and this disbelief would surly make it difficult to develop a connection to the characters. The first few chapters were a little difficult due to this initial impression of the situation. Then the author uses a prior time line, starting with the discovery of leukemia in her 2-year-old daughter that intermingles with the current time line to help with the character and plot development. This alternate time line, combined with memories described by the characters in the current time line lead to a very compelling and believable train of events that lead up to the decision.

The story is also told from the view point of the 6 people who are closely involved in the court case; Anna, Kate, their mother, their father, their brother, the attorney, the court appointed guardian ad-litum. The different view points also help the ready understand the complexities in the situation as all of the characters struggle internally with what the right decision is. This also helps to understand the mothers motives, which on the surface can seem selfish and even cruel.

The only complaint I have about the characters is that there are certain characteristics that are the same for all of the characters. It smacks you in the face at times and reminds you that this is just a story and that is unfortunate. The main instance of this is the dry, cynical, sarcastic sense of humor that is shared, not only by every main character, but even by the extras. The sister relationships (there are 3 of them) also show too many similarities.

**SLIGHT SPOILER**

The biggest complaint I have about this book is the ending. After such a believable start and such great plot development, the ending comes completely out of left field. It serves as nothing more than a way for the author to avoid having to make a decision regarding the girl’s life. I sincerely hope that the ending was not the original but was forced on the author by the publisher. There are more than 3 endings that could have made this a 5 star book; the one published was not one of them.

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07/18/07

Kathryn rated it:

Read in August, 2007

This book was an extremely difficult read for me. I had to force myself to continue reading, as I didn’t want to feel as though I had wasted $14.00 by not completing it. It took about a month for me to finish the book and that is an unusual amount of time for me as I generally finish books in less than two weeks. I actually found myself scanning the pages and only reading the dialogue so I could move along towards the end.

What I really didn’t care for was that the story moved ...more This book was an extremely difficult read for me. I had to force myself to continue reading, as I didn’t want to feel as though I had wasted $14.00 by not completing it. It took about a month for me to finish the book and that is an unusual amount of time for me as I generally finish books in less than two weeks. I actually found myself scanning the pages and only reading the dialogue so I could move along towards the end.

What I really didn’t care for was that the story moved as slow as molasses and the subplot of the relationship between Campbell and Julia was completely unnecessary.

Furthermore, the author chose too many narrators for the story. There are a total of seven and the switching from one to another became annoying.

Basically, the story is this: Anna is a young girl that was genetically created at her parent’s request to help save her sister Kate’s life as she has acute promyelocytic leukemia. Anna gets an attorney so that she can become medically emancipated and no longer have to participate in any more medical procedures. Later, we find out that Anna doesn’t have a problem with helping her sister. Rather, it’s Kate who doesn’t wish to go on living in agony anymore. She wants to be allowed to die and she has asked her sister to not donate one of her kidneys to her. Anna becomes medically emancipated and then ends up in a car accident where she becomes brain dead. One of her kidneys is taken from her and Kate goes into remission and Anna dies. That’s the story and could easily have been told in under 200 pages instead of 423.

I must add that this book does serve as a catalyst for a great discussion on many levels and topics. Some of which are extremely controversial such as: (1) Is it morally and ethically alright to genetically create a child for the sole purpose of being able to harvest bodily fluids and organs from them in order to save or prolong someone else’s life? (2) At what age does a child have the right to say “NO” to undergoing medical procedures? (3) At what lengths do we go to in order to save another human beings life? (4) When does the legal system have the right to interfere in the dynamics of the family?

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07/07/07

Madeline rated it:

The conflict alone is what makes this book fascinating - the story focuses on two sisters, Anna and Kate. The older sister, Kate, was diagnosed with leukemia when she was four. Knowing that their daughter would need blood donations, bone marrow, and possibly organ donations in the future, Kate's parents had another child whose sole purpose would be to provide a blood match for Kate. Thirteen years later, Anna gets tired of spending almost all her time in hospitals, giving bone marrow and blood t...more

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05/11/09

Annalisa rated it:

bookshelves: chick-lit, psychology

Read in May, 2009

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 especia...more 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.

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.

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.

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.(less)

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04/22/08

Kate rated it:

bookshelves: 01-regular-fiction

Read in April, 2008

*reviewer note: I discuss in some detail my issues with this novel, although I do not give away any relevant events that transpire in the novel.*

Anna was born to save her sister. She was created as a perfect genetic match in order to become a perfect donor match for her sister, Kate, who has been battling leukemia since nearly infancy. Anna is now 13, and after several proceedures and operations for donation to her sister and a kidney donation for her sister now on the horizon, she...more *reviewer note: I discuss in some detail my issues with this novel, although I do not give away any relevant events that transpire in the novel.*

Anna was born to save her sister. She was created as a perfect genetic match in order to become a perfect donor match for her sister, Kate, who has been battling leukemia since nearly infancy. Anna is now 13, and after several proceedures and operations for donation to her sister and a kidney donation for her sister now on the horizon, she is tired of feeling like she has no choice in any medical decisions that affect her. She has decided to sue her parents for medical emancipation in order to gain control over what happens to her body. What comes next threatens to tear her family apart.

My Sister's Keeper was not afraid to investigate moral and ethical issues that arise from continuing science and medical research. The way the novel handled the difference between ethics and morality was its strength.

Unfortunately, there were too many detractions for me that led to my disappointment rather than my enjoyment of the novel.

First, I felt that the strong language the novel was peppered with was completely unnecessary. I do not buy into the belief that even 13 year old children use such profanity as the author of this novel suggests. There are circumstances that stretch our limits, but the use of profanity is a weak way to demonstrate how severly tried a character is. Instead what came to mind as I read this book is a quote I heard many years ago: 'profanity is a weak mind trying to express itself forcefully'. I do not think that any author wants to think that her words, her work, her novel is weak, but when she uses such language in *all* her characters at one point or another, it only makes her writing come across as feeble.

Second, many of the characters were beautifully written, full of life and feeling, even if I did not like them. The strength of this story is what was concentrated around the events of Anna and her family. Unfortunately, the author widened the story-telling to involve the personal lives of Anna's attorney and the guardian ad litem assigned to her. And coincidentally, these two characters have a past relationship, which the reader is then forced to relive through these character's angsty and self-pitying memories. These characters' flat, cliche, and stereotypical past has no direct bearing on Anna's situation and only serves as a tangent to the main story, a tangent I could have done without.

Finally, the ending was more than a disappointment. Without going into detail, I felt it betrayed the spirit of what this novel was trying to present in regards to the ethical and moral medical decisions that these characters had to make.

This story could have been so much more; it had the potential to be so much more. The concept was original and timely, but the delivery fell short. Not recommended.(less)

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12/29/08

Melanie rated it:

Read in April, 2009

recommended to Melanie by: Kjersti

I am torn as I write the review for this book. I am amazed at how masterfully Picoult is able to tell a story from viewpoints of half a dozen people, and really pull it off. There is no stereotypical heroine/villain in this book. As I read each chapter from a different character's viewpoint, I developed compassion for each one in an amazing way. I downright bawled my eyes out at the end and felt I had truly gained something from the read. I considered it a great shame to have to sift throug...more

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