My Sister's Keeper

Ladies,

I was thoroughly engrossed in My Sister's Keeper from the first page to the last. However, I was totally furious after I got to page 413 and Brian got the emergency call to go to the scene of the accident. When I realized what was going down, I threw a fit and stopped reading for awhile. I was angry beyond belief. I found it interesting that in the interview with Jodi Picoult at the end of my copy, she says that her son reacted the same way. He refused to talk to her for days after he finished the book. She then explains why she felt it had to end the way it did.

I guess I am an incurable romantic, but I was a little calmer when I realized that Campbell didn't die, too. I felt that Julia deserved some happiness and frankly, I didn't want any more suffering! I just felt so defeated that Anna was fighting so hard to prove her value as an individual, and then she dies and becomes an organ donor, losing her individual identity again. I know it is noble of her to save the lives of others, but I wanted her to live a full life herself!!

I realize that Picoult was exploring medical ethics and it was a nice "bookend" approach to have Anna's life begin and end providing life for Kate, but . . . what about Anna? I wondered if an understanding of the eternal nature of life and family would have made a difference in Sara's unrelenting effort to prolong Kate's life. Is the kind of impact described in the book (especially on Jesse and Anna) typical of LDS families with terminally ill children?

Anyway, this is a book that I will remember for a long, long time and will recommend it to others. (In fact, my daughter-in-law is reading it right now.)

--Karen

My Sister's Keeper

Thanks to Laurenda for being first this time. ;-)

I didn't read the end of the book first. And I didn't see the end coming, which is very unusual for me.

For me, the book evoked many different STRONG emotions:

I had some time to kill in Orem before another appointment, and didn't want to drive all the way home and back again, so I stopped into Barnes & Noble to finish the book. So, I'm in the reading area of B&N crying my guts out at the end of the book. I found the ending very interesting... Anna WON her case, and yet still saved her sister's life. It seemed a little coincidental, maybe even forced, but interesting.

I did not like Sara (the mom). I can't even imaging bringing a child into the world simply to benefit another child - I'm sure the feelings are more complex than that, and granted, I don't have a dying child, but it seems very preferential. There's a line on page 100, "I have thought of this daughter only in terms of what she will be able to do for the daughter I already have." Sara hadn't even picked out names for Anna, yet.

I did like the side story of Campbell (lawyer) and Julia, even though I hate story lines where a person leaves or breaks up with another because "oh, I'm sick and I don't want to burden you with my illness" without giving the other person a say in the matter. I've always hated that.

The relationship between Sara (mom) and Brian (dad) seemed fairly true to life. I've often heard that parents of sick or handicapped children often find that, later in life, they have nothing more in common than the illness of the child. And, unfortunately, these relationships end in divorce.

I liked the writing style. Jodi Picoult had some interesting imagery ("silence has a sound"), and I liked the story from the different perspectives.

Of all the children, I think I felt most sorry for Jesse. I found his story heartbreaking. He resorted to drastic actions to get noticed. As Kate said, "...imagine [if] you were a squirrel living in the elephant cage at the zoo. Does anyone ever go there and say, 'Hey, check out that squirrel?' No, because there's something much bigger you notice first."

Were the conclusions a little pat? Yes. But I enjoyed the read, and enjoyed meeting the different characters. Thanks, Michelle!!