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