book review of my sister's keeper

My Sister’s Keeper

Jodi picoult.

423 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2004

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“In the English language there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parents who lose a child.”

"An oncology ward is a battlefield, and there are definite hierarchies of command. The patients, they're the ones doing the tour of duty. The doctors breeze in and out like conquering heroes, but they need to read your child's chart to remember where they've left off from the previous visit. It is the nurses who are the seasoned sergeants -- the ones who are there when your baby is shaking with such a high fever she needs to be bathed in ice, the ones who can teach you how to flush a central venous catheter, or suggest which patient floor might still have Popsicles left to be stolen, or tell you which dry cleaners know how to remove the stains of blood and chemotherapies from clothing. The nurses know the name of your daughter's stuffed walrus and show her how to make tissue paper flowers to twine around her IV stand. The doctors may be mapping out the war games, but it is the nurses who make the conflict bearable."

"If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?"

"I have a sister, so I know-that relationship, it's all about fairness: you want your sibling to have exactly what you have the same amount of toys, the same number of meatballs on your spaghetti, the same share of love. But being a mother is completely different. You want your child to have more than you ever did. You want to build a fire underneath her and watch her soar. It's bigger than words."

“You're not a bad person because you want to be yourself.”

“Seeing her sitting there unresponsive makes me realize that silence has a sound.”

“A jewel's just a rock put under enourmous heat and pressure. Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look.”

"I learn from my own daughter that you don't have to be awake to cry."

"I ...understand how a parent might hit a child- it's because you can look into their eyes and see a reflection of yourself that you wish you hadn't."

"Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them."

“The answer is that there is no good answer. So as parents, as doctors, as judges, and as a society, we fumble through and make decisions that allow us to sleep at night--because morals are more important than ethics, and love is more important than law."

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MY SISTER’S KEEPER

by Jodi Picoult ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2004

Despite overplotting, then, a telling portrait of a profoundly stressed family.

Picoult’s latest chronicle of family travail ( Second Glance, 2003, etc.) highlights the consequences of deliberately conceiving a child genetically compatible with a mortally ill sibling.

The author vividly evokes the physical and psychic toll a desperately sick child imposes on a family, even a close and loving one like the Fitzgeralds. Picoult’s plotting, though, is less sure, as an inherently somber tale morphs into a melodrama with a too-neat twist. Anna Fitzgerald, the 13-year-old who begins the story, was conceived in vitro, and her embryo’s genetic makeup closely matched that of her sister Kate. Now 16, Kate was diagnosed at 2 with acute promyelocytic leukemia. In the years that followed she has suffered numerous relapses, despite the infusion of Anna’s platelets and bone marrow, even stem cells from her sister’s umbilical cord. Their parents, Sara and Brian, now want Anna to give Kate one of her kidneys; compromised by her drastic treatments, Kate’s organs are shutting down. Instead, Anna contacts attorney Campbell Alexander and asks him to represent her; she wants her parents to stop using her body to help Kate. Like elder brother Jesse, who’s turned his angst into arson and general bad-boy behavior, she has spent her life in the shadow of her sister’s illness—one year Kate had to be hospitalized on every holiday. Sara, who has made keeping Kate alive her life’s mission, is very angry, but Brian initially takes Anna’s side, feeling too much has been asked of her. A hearing is scheduled, though Anna is torn between her affection for Kate and what she feels must be done. As the hearing begins Kate is hospitalized, Jesse’s arson is discovered, and Anna initially refuses to testify. There can be no easy outcomes in a tale about individual autonomy clashing with a sibling’s right to life, but Picoult thwarts our expectations in unexpected ways.

Pub Date: April 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-7434-5452-9

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2004

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

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by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan

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SEEN & HEARD

THE NIGHTINGALE

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 3, 2015

Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner.

Hannah’s new novel is an homage to the extraordinary courage and endurance of Frenchwomen during World War II.

In 1995, an elderly unnamed widow is moving into an Oregon nursing home on the urging of her controlling son, Julien, a surgeon. This trajectory is interrupted when she receives an invitation to return to France to attend a ceremony honoring  passeurs : people who aided the escape of others during the war. Cut to spring, 1940: Viann has said goodbye to husband Antoine, who's off to hold the Maginot line against invading Germans. She returns to tending her small farm, Le Jardin, in the Loire Valley, teaching at the local school and coping with daughter Sophie’s adolescent rebellion. Soon, that world is upended: The Germans march into Paris and refugees flee south, overrunning Viann’s land. Her long-estranged younger sister, Isabelle, who has been kicked out of multiple convent schools, is sent to Le Jardin by Julien, their father in Paris, a drunken, decidedly unpaternal Great War veteran. As the depredations increase in the occupied zone—food rationing, systematic looting, and the billeting of a German officer, Capt. Beck, at Le Jardin—Isabelle’s outspokenness is a liability. She joins the Resistance, volunteering for dangerous duty: shepherding downed Allied airmen across the  Pyrenees to Spain. Code-named the Nightingale, Isabelle will rescue many before she's captured. Meanwhile, Viann’s journey from passive to active resistance is less dramatic but no less wrenching. Hannah vividly demonstrates how the Nazis, through starvation, intimidation and barbarity both casual and calculated, demoralized the French, engineering a community collapse that enabled the deportations and deaths of more than 70,000 Jews. Hannah’s proven storytelling skills are ideally suited to depicting such cataclysmic events, but her tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale.

Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-312-57722-3

Page Count: 448

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014

HISTORICAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

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by Kristin Hannah

BOOK TO SCREEN

THEN SHE WAS GONE

by Lisa Jewell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2018

Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.

Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.

Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s ( I Found You , 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.

Pub Date: April 24, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5

Page Count: 368

Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE

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by Lisa Jewell

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Book Review: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Author:  Jodi Picoult

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Genre: Contemporary fiction

First Publication: 2004

Language:  English

Major Characters:  Anna Fitzgerald, Sara Fitzgerald, Kate Fitzgerald, Brian Fitzgerald, Jesse Fitzgerald, Campbell Alexander, Julia Romana

Setting Place:  Rhode Island

Theme:  The Ambiguous Line Between Right and Wrong, The Bonds of Sisterhood, The Contrast Between Appearance and Reality

Narrator:  First person, alternating between Anna, Jesse, Kate, Brian, and Sara Fitzgerald, Campbell Alexander, and Julia Romano.

Book Summary: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

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, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate—a life and a role that she has never challenged… until now.

Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister’s Keeper is the story of one family’s struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning parable for all time.

The book, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, is also available on Audible. It’s narrated by Richard Poe, Julia Gibson, Barbara McCulloh, Tom Stechschulte, Carol Monda, Jennifer Ikeda, Andy Paris.

When Sara Fitzgerald discovers that her daughter Kate suffers from leukaemia , she decides that she will fight for her child’s life at all cost. Even if that cost is someone else’s life. And this is how Anna is born. The girl who has never belonged to herself, whose light has been smothered before having even touched the surface of her existence.

I believe it is everyone’s duty and right to help others. I believe it is everyone’s duty and right to help themselves. As a former lawyer, Sara sometimes doubts her decision to give up her career in the name of the family. She struggles with it. She does not have doubts whatsoever where her two daughters are concerned and about the role each of them needs to play in the other’s life. But when doubts go away, do we stop fighting?

Sara keeps struggling. Even though she is confident in her choice. Does pain go away along with doubts?

“You don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not.”

Not always. Sometimes it is exactly when we know that we are right that the pain is the strongest. When Anna files a lawsuit against her parents, wanting a medical emancipation, she has no doubt that her daughter is in the wrong, that she wants to escape her responsibility to keep the family together by keeping her sister alive.

When we cannot save those we are responsible for, do we have the right to bestow this responsibility on someone else and expect them to act as we would? Even Anna herself cannot give us the response. She is not confident in her choices, because, really, she is faced with an impossible situation.

She does not accept being her sister’s guardian and not having a life of her own, she does not accept being independent and thus dooming her sister to death. Sometimes there is no right choice, there is not a happy ending, there are no heroes and villains. Only doubts. There is no right path for Anna. No matter what she chooses, she cannot live with it, she cannot be happy, she cannot forgive herself. Dying physically is only one form of dying.

“Maybe who we are isn’t so much about what we do, but rather what we’re capable of when we least expect it.”

Some of us die constantly, through the choices we –and others – get or don’t get to make. Through the many ifs and maybes and missed or wrongly chosen opportunities we face. Anna’s life is not her own, regardless of what choice she makes. For her it is over before having even begun. I know next to nothing about genetic engineering, but Anna’s story shows me that there is only so much we have the right to ask of another person.

There is only so much we have the right to create. I do believe in the noble motives of Sara Fitzgerald, but I do not believe in the validity of her choice. She decides to create a child with the intent to sacrifice it for the other one’s sake. All her love and care for Anna do not make up for that. Anna does not know where her place is, she feels like there isn’t really a place for her. And the universe seems to agree with her. She never gets to make the choice she so dreads of.

“Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look.”

At the time she finally receives her much craved freedom, she leaves this world. The child that never had to exist stops existing. There is no more struggle, no more dilemmas. It is over.

Through what Kate receives from her body after Anna is gone, a medical miracle happens and she seems to have gotten recovered from her disease. There are no more relapses. Doctors cannot explain it, but Kate believes that it is because Anna’s death makes up for her own. But what life will Kate have from now on? Will she be able to handle the cost at which she has it?

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My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult | Book Review

[Possible spoilers ahead.]

I had never heard of Jodi Picoult until about 2 years ago. And since the first time her name came to my cognizance, I’ve heard nothing but good things about her writing. Especially My Sister’s Keeper . When I found the book at a relatively cheap price, I was beyond excited. Way beyond excited. I obviously wanted to find out for myself if the story was worth all the hype it was getting. It still gets a lot of positive press.

However many rave reviews My Sister’s Keeper had, it didn’t become my first Picoult. It was House Rules that took the distinction.

Jodi Picoult is a very thorough author. The amount of research she does for every story shows in the quality of her books. While stories can be pulled through with the outlines, it’s the specifics that form the flesh and blood – the most important part of a book. And that is what Jodi Picoult is all about.

13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald has decided to sue her parents, Sara and Brian, for medical emancipation. Her sister, Kate, was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia and her parents decided to have a genetically programmed baby who could be an organ donor for Kate. Thus Anna is born, and whenever Kate falls sick, Anna has to be hospitalized, too, since she donates her stem cells, lymphocytes, and so on to her sick older sister.

Anna’s decision shocks the parents, but not Anna and Kate’s older brother, Jesse. He understands where Anna is coming from and supports her, despite being on the cusp of being called a juvenile delinquent. But what is a child to do, where is he to go, when all the energies of the parents are concentrated on the well-being of just one of their children?

My Sister’s Keeper , which I expected to be an emotional one, turned out to be exactly that. Only, the emotion that welled up within me was anger. At the parents, more Sara than Brian. Though in the first few pages of the book, I sympathized with Sara, I lost all warmth for her as the story progressed. She says a lot of things to her own children that seem too cruel coming from a mother.

For example, she finds it hard to feel sorry for Jesse, her own son. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if she had concentrated on all of her children instead of one. I agree, Kate is sick, she needs most attention. But that doesn’t mean she treated her other kids as dispensable. And when Anna files the lawsuit (which in my opinion was a good thing), she asks her, “What have we done to you to deserve this?” If a mother has to ask this of her child, she doesn’t understand her at all. And that is the saddest thing to ever happen to a child.

My biggest problem with Sara Fitzgerald is not what I’ve mentioned earlier. It is that she thinks about Anna and talks about her in terms of blood, stem cells, and tissue. She only really turns to her when Kate needs something, when she is sick. My God, I dislike her character so much I’d send her hate mail every day of the week.

Given, the author herself has said that Sara will invite criticism but that we should cut her some slack. But isn’t parenting all about balancing life and attention? Why have children if you cannot give them the attention they deserve? That’s exactly what happened with Jesse, didn’t it? It’s not about choosing between her two girls, she says. It’s about wanting both. But does this condone her earlier behavior?

To create a child just to keep another child alive is okay. I’m sympathetic with that much. But to not pay attention to that child unless the first is in a situation and needs the second is absolutely cruel. And when the other kids, apart from the sick one, want some childish attention, the parents expecting them to behave like grownups is also cruel.

Coming to Anna. That poor child, torn between wanting someone to notice her and not hurting her parents. And when someone asks her stupid questions about her family, she shows a righteous anger that so many people out there cannot justify. Every sentence that comes out of her has a meaning and it makes it easy for the reader to understand everything she says and does. I feel bad, I feel like crying, just thinking about the situation Anna has been put in.

A good book makes you unsure of where you stand, giving you balanced views of both sides. My Sister’s Keeper is one such book. Sometimes, you think, what is a parent to do? And then at other times, you think, why would the parents do something like this to their children? There’s a see-saw effect every time this happens, though I prefer to sit back and throw my weight down once the latter happens.

To make its point, the book has some hard-hitting quotes, every one of which is relevant to Anna’s action that set the ball rolling. I’m not even kidding. The analogies that Picoult has used in the book are heartbreaking. Take this quote for example:

If you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.

And through quotes like these, every character in the story gets to tell their perspective. And I’m so glad for it. Otherwise, My Sister’s Keeper wouldn’t be as great a roller-coaster as it is now, making you swing from this opinion to that.

There has been quite some speculation about how the book ends, saying that it spoils the whole book. And I agree to some extent. It seemed rushed and unnecessary and clichéd. Oh, and convenient after all that happened. Calling it convenient might be rude, but how it happened was ruder.

But there’s another part of my brain that tells me that everything that happens in a fiction novel is anyway convenient. What’s one more?

What’s one more is that though I didn’t feel let down by it, I did think it should have ended another way. One which, if I told you now, would give away the original ending. And I know how it feels to know the ending of a book or TV show beforehand.

So until I read another book to recover from the mighty slap that this book doled out to me, I don’t think I will ever forgive the author for the ending. Though, I probably don’t feel as angry at her as I feel at Sara, though the author is responsible for Sara, too.

[Bumping off half a star for that ending. 😦 ]

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Until next time, keep reading and add melodrama to your life. 🙂

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Going by the deciphering of the book by Sonali one is inclined to feel that the Book can be be put in cold storage for a while.

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Book Review

My sister’s keeper.

• Jodi Picoult
• Coming-of-Age , Contemporary

Readability Age Range

• Washington Square Press, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
• Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award, 2005

Year Published

This book has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

Told from multiple perspectives, My Sister’s Keeper follows the story of 13-year-old Anna Fitzgerald as she sues her parents, Brian and Sara, for medical emancipation.

Anna was conceived as an allogeneic donor for her sister, Kate, who suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Since birth, Anna has donated stem cells, bone marrow and platelets to keep Kate alive. Now Kate is entering the end stages of kidney failure. Receiving one of Anna’s kidneys is her only chance of a prolonged life, but Anna refuses to donate. Knowing her parents won’t listen to her protests, Anna approaches Campbell Alexander, a prominent lawyer with a service dog named Judge. Campbell agrees to work pro bono because of the publicity the case will generate. However, Anna’s determination wavers under intense pressure from her angry mother, who also happens to be a lawyer. So Judge DeSalvo assigns Julia Romano to be Anna’s guardian ad litem . Julia is Campbell’s high school sweetheart. Neither have a serious relationship with anyone else, but they have not spoken to each other in 15 years.

An eventful week precedes the hearing. Campbell and Julia navigate the stormy waters of their once passionate relationship. Jesse, the oldest of the three Fitzgerald children, continues to distill and consume homemade moonshine, take drugs, smoke cigarettes and light fires in abandoned buildings. His firefighter father gets a rude wake-up call when he realizes that his son is the arsonist responsible for many recent blazes. As Sara prepares for the upcoming hearing, she’s torn between caring for Kate, who is dying, and meeting the needs of her spouse and other two children. Anna grapples with the consequences of her actions, unsure of whom she will be without Kate in her life.

Campbell is an epileptic and suffers a grand mal seizure in the courtroom, which is described in detail. After taking a brief recess to compose himself, Campbell asks Anna to testify. Battling an extreme case of nerves, Anna reveals that she was always willing to donate her kidney. Kate was the impetus behind the lawsuit. After several failed suicide attempts, she asked Anna to kill her. Judge DeSalvo verifies the facts with Kate. He will make a final decision the next day.

It’s raining on decision day, and visibility is poor as the various parties make their way to the courthouse. Everyone agrees on one thing: The lawsuit isn’t about a kidney. It’s about Anna’s right to decide what happens to her body. Judge DeSalvo grants Anna’s request for medical emancipation, and Campbell assumes power of attorney for all of Anna’s medical decisions until her 18th birthday. Campbell and Anna leave in the lawyer’s car to complete the necessary paperwork.

Brian is on duty when he is called to the scene of an accident involving a truck and a small BMW. He threads his way through the wreckage. Too late, he realizes the small figure in the front seat is Anna. She’s dead. Campbell is injured but alive. He gives permission for Anna’s organs to be harvested, and Kate receives Anna’s kidney.

Eight years later, Kate is a dance instructor. Her doctor is baffled by her recovery. Jesse becomes a police officer. Campbell and Julia get married. Despite their continued grief, the Fitzgeralds move on with their lives, feeling that Anna is still with them because of all of her contributions to Kate’s life and health.

Christian Beliefs

The book’s title, My Sister’s Keeper , is a reference to Genesis 4:9. When Julia requests information about Anna’s whereabouts, Jesse asks if he is his sister’s keeper. A cancer patient wears a shirt sporting the words: Jesus saves. Chemo scores . The story of Adam and Eve is referred to as a load of crap . Accusing Sara of playing the martyr, Sara’s sister asks if she wants to take her crown of thorns out of her suitcase. Anna wonders what age she will be in heaven. Campbell sues the Diocese of Providence on behalf of a child who is denied controversial treatment on religious grounds. Anna misunderstands a newspaper headline and thinks he sued God. Julia’s parents are Catholic.

Other Belief Systems

Anna believes that if her parents didn’t conceive her for Kate’s benefit, she would still be in heaven waiting for a body. She tells her class that her dad is going to heaven because he would put out all the fires in hell. Confused by her parents’ differing explanations, Anna thinks stars are the nightlights angels use to find their way to the washroom after God’s bad food gives them gas.

Brian is an amateur astronomer. He tells his children the Greek myths associated with the constellations. Different astrological signs are mentioned, as is a Pawnee Indian creation myth.

A teenage Campbell speculates that the Virgin Mary had sex with Joseph and made up the story about the Annunciation to get herself out of trouble. Campbell’s secretary has an aunt who is a psychic. Sara and Brian get a reading done by a psychic at a gas station. Sara talks about a previous life. Karma is mentioned. Pregnant women are compared to Buddhas.

Authority Roles

The Fitzgeralds’ life revolves around Kate. Brian and Sara deeply care for each other and their three children, but Kate’s illness places all of the family members under extreme stress. In particular, Sara has difficulty sympathizing with her two healthy children, as she feels their problems pale in comparison to Kate’s. Jesse suffers most visibly, but even peacekeeper Anna likes to imagine that she has a real family somewhere else. Brian and Sara disagree about how to handle Anna’s lawsuit. Although she is angry at her daughter, Sara makes it clear that she still loves her.

Campbell’s interest in the case is at first purely selfish. He slowly grows to care for Anna, as does Julia. When Brian learns that Jesse is the arsonist, he decides not to inform the authorities. Instead, he holds the repentant Jesse and vows to stop his son’s pyromania.

Profanity & Violence

Profanity is used frequently throughout the book. H— occurs dozens of times. The f-word is also used extensively. The names of Jesus and God are taken in vain often, sometimes coupled with d–n , which is used independently, too. Other objectionable words include a–, a–hole, s—, bulls—, b–ch, b–tard, d–k , and p— . Most are used more than once. Coarse words referring to the female anatomy are also used. Jesse gives the finger to irate drivers.

Brian is a firefighter. His team responds to emergencies that sometimes involve graphic scenes. His colleagues joke about an obese man who is stuck in a chimney, implying that he is a suicide arsonist. Recipes for homemade explosives are included in some of the chapters written from Brian’s perspective.

Kate’s illness affects her family in a number of graphic ways. She vomits blood and hemorrhages from her eyes, nose and rectum. Both Kate and Anna undergo painful medical procedures. She has a catheter in her chest, and her torso is permanently scarred in many places.

Angry at his mother for breaking a promise, Jesse removes his braces with a fork. His mouth bleeds. A teenage Campbell fantasizes about ways he can murder his parents.

Sexual Content

Explicit sexual scenes encompass past and present encounters between Campbell and Julia, including the day Julia loses her virginity in high school. These are detailed sequences revealing the thoughts and physical responses of both partners.

A teenage Julia insinuates that her wealthy schoolmates perform oral sex on their hairdressers. Her schoolmates speculate that Campbell spends time with Julia because she is promiscuous. They fill her locker with condoms as a prank. After renewing her acquaintance with Campbell, Julia expresses the desire to make out in a dark theatre with a man who doesn’t know anything about her. Julia has a sexual encounter in a car after Campbell drops her off.

Julia tells Seven, a straight bartender at a gay bar, the details about one of her lovers’ genitalia. Campbell’s father, a federal judge, regularly cheats on his wife with younger women and is attracted to schoolgirls.

Brian kisses Sara on the forehead. He and Sara make love. He bites her lip so hard it bleeds, then licks off the blood. Kate watches soap operas and speculates that one of the male stars might be gay. She kisses and holds hands with Taylor, a teenage boy who suffers from leukemia. Jesse is aroused by Julia and tries to get her to go on a date with him, even though she is almost twice his age. He watches a scrambled Playboy channel. Anna goes to a movie theater with a boy and notices he has an erection.

Due to the circumstances surrounding her birth, Anna is familiar with the mechanics of conception. Jesse also tells her about sex, but at first she thinks he is misinformed. She is proud that she was born for a specific purpose, not because her parents got drunk, had a failing marriage or didn’t use contraceptives effectively.

Sara’s labor is described in detail. When Anna first approaches Campbell, he assumes she wants access to birth control or an abortion and offers to give her the contact information for Planned Parenthood. She explains that free condoms won’t fix her problem.

Julia realizes she is at a gay bar when the men sitting next to her begin kissing. Men flirt and dance with one another. Julia’s sister is a lesbian and offers to hook Julia up with one of her female friends. A female security officer is compared to Hitler in drag with a bad perm. A secretary is described as having a bra size higher than her IQ.

Discussion Topics

Additional comments.

Euthanasia/Suicide: Jesse considers committing suicide in such a way that his organs could be harvested and used to help others. He also goes outside during storms, hoping to get hit by lightning. Kate tries to commit suicide, but fails. She asks Anna to help her die.

Drugs/Alcohol/Smoking: Jesse uses a plethora of illegal drugs to get high. Characters drink alcohol, often excessively, to escape reality. Some are underage. Anna tries Jesse’s cigarettes, but doesn’t like them. Jesse feigns drunkenness to create a diversion so Anna can sneak into the hospital to see Kate.

Underage misbehavior: Jesse steals hood ornaments from expensive cars, steals entire vehicles and drives recklessly. He shoplifts and has perpetuated an anthrax hoax.

Lying: Anna lies to a pawnshop owner about a necklace she is selling and hides the transaction from her parents. Jesse lies to Brian about quitting smoking. Campbell lies about why he has a service dog.

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My Sister's Keeper

By jodi picoult.

In all thirteen years of Anna's life, her parents have never given her a choice: she was born to be her sister Kate's bone marrow donor and she has always given Kate everything she needs.

But when Anna is told Kate needs a new kidney, she begins to question how much she should be prepared to do to save the older sibling she has always been defined by. So Anna makes a decision that will change their family forever - perhaps even fatally for the sister she loves.

My Sister’s Keeper is about thirteen-year-old Anna was born conceived in order to be a bone marrow donor for her sister Kate.

Anna never says no because she loves her sister but then she is asked to give Kate her kidney and she begins to question how far she is prepared to go to save her sister. So, Anna makes a decision that will change her family forever.

This was the first Jodi Picoult book I read and the first book I had read in split narrative form. I loved the way the reader got to see what each character was thinking and feeling.

I read My Sister’s Keeper many years ago, but I can still remember the impact it had on me and the number of tears I cried reading it.

My Sister’s Keeper was one of those books were the film didn’t live up to expectations. I can remember commenting to whoever I was watching it with that some things just didn’t compare.

Since I first read My Sister’s Keeper, I have read many more books by Jodi Picoult but this is one of my favourites and I love the way they take a seemingly simple issue and make you doubt your perspective.

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• By Any Other Name
• Wish You Were Here
• The Book of Two Ways
• A Spark of Light
• Small Great Things
• Off the Page
• Leaving Time
• The Storyteller
• Between the Lines
• Sing You Home
• Over The Moon
• House Rules
• Handle With Care
• Change of Heart
• Wonder Woman
• Nineteen Minutes
• The Tenth Circle
• Vanishing Acts
• My Sister's Keeper
• Second Glance
• Perfect Match
• Salem Falls
• Plain Truth
• Keeping Faith
• Picture Perfect
• Harvesting the Heart
• Songs of the Humpback Whale

Jodi Picoult

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My Sister’s Keeper

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, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. …more

The author vividly evokes the physical and psychic toll a desperately sick child imposes on a family, even a close and loving one like the Fitzgeralds… there can be no easy outcomes in a tale about individual autonomy clashing with a sibling's right to life, but Picoult thwarts out expectations in unexpected ways… a telling portrait of a profoundly stressed family. Kirkus Reviews

About My Sister’s Keeper

My Sister’s Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, and a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life?

The publisher: Atria Books , 2003; paperback version, Washington Square Press, 2005 (Book 11)

Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?

The Story Behind My Sister’s Keeper

At age 5, Jodi's son Jake came down with cholesteatoma, a benign tumor in his left ear. However, “It can get to the brain and kill you… so you’ve got to get rid of it. We took an experimental approach that required multiple surgeries” — 13 of them. “Had we used a more traditional approach, Jake would have been profoundly deaf.”

  Jodi joins PBS anchor Bob Abernethy on WNET's Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly for a provocative discussion about the difficult ethical issues raised by genetic engineering (video & transcript).

A conversation with Jodi Picoult about My Sister's Keeper

Your novels are incredibly relevant because they deal with topics that are a part of the national dialogue. stem cell research and “designer babies” are issues that the medical community (and the political community) seem to be torn about. why did you choose this subject for my sister's keeper did writing this novel change any of your views in this area.

I came about the idea for this novel through the back door of a previous one, Second Glance . While researching eugenics for that book, I learned that the American Eugenics Society -- the one whose funding dried up in the 1930s when the Nazis began to explore racial hygeine too -- used to be housed in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. Guess who occupies the same space, today? The Human Genome Project… which many consider "today's eugenics". This was just too much of a coincidence for me, and I started to consider the way this massive, cutting edge science we're on the brink of exploding into was similar… and different from… the eugenics programs and sterilization laws in America in the 1930s. Once again, you've got science that is only as ethical as the people who are researching and implementing it -- and once again, in the wake of such intense scientific advancement, what's falling by the wayside are the emotions involved in the case by case scenarios. I heard about a couple in America that successfully conceived a sibling that was a bone marrow match for his older sister, a girl suffering from a rare form of leukemia. His cord blood cells were given to the sister, who is still (several years later) in remission. But I started to wonder… what if she ever, sadly, goes out of remission? Will the boy feel responsible? Will he wonder if the only reason he was born was because his sister was sick? When I started to look more deeply at the family dynamics and how stem cell research might cause an impact, I came up with the story of the Fitzgeralds. I personally am pro stem-cell research - there's too much good it can to do simply dismiss it. However, clearly, it's a slippery slope… and sometimes researchers and political candidates get so bogged down in the ethics behind it and the details of the science that they forget completely we're talking about humans with feelings and emotions and hopes and fears… like Anna and her family. I believe that we're all going to be forced to think about these issues within a few years… so why not first in fiction?

In Jesse, you've done an amazing job of bringing the voice of the "angry young man" alive with irreverent originality. Your ability to transcend gender lines in your writing is seemingly effortless. Is this actually the case, or is writing from a male perspective a difficult thing for you to do?

I have to tell you - writing Jesse is the most fun I've had in a long time. Maybe at heart I've always wanted to be a 17 year old juvenile delinquent… but for whatever reason, it was just an absolute lark to take someone with so much anger and hurt inside him and give him voice. It's always more fun to pretend to be someone you aren't, for whatever reason -- whether that means male, or thirteen, or neurotic, or suicidal, or any of a dozen other first person narrators I've created. Whenever I try on a male voice - like Jesse's or Campbell's or Brian's - it feels like slipping into a big overcoat. It's comfortable there, and easy to get accustomed to wearing… but if I'm not careful, I'll slip and show what I've got on underneath.

On page 190, Jesse observes, while reminiscing on his planned attempt to dig to China, that, "Darkness, you know, is relative." What does this sentiment mean and why did you choose to express it through Jesse, who in some ways is one of the least reflective characters in the novel?

Well, that's exactly why it has to be Jesse who says it! To Jesse, whatever injustices he thinks he's suffered growing up will always pale to the Great Injustice of his sister being sick. He can't win, plain and simple… so he doesn't bother to try. When you read Jesse, you think you see exactly what you're getting: a kid who's gone rotten to the core. But I'd argue that in his case, you're dealing with an onion… someone whose reality is several layers away from what's on the surface. The question isn't whether Jesse's bad… it's what made him that way in the first place… and whether that's really who he is, or just a facade he uses to protect a softer self from greater disappointment.

How did you choose which quotes would go at the beginning of each section? Milton, Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence -- are these some of your favorite authors, or did you have other reasons for choosing them?

I suppose I could say that all I ever read are the Masters… and that these quotes just popped out of my memory… but I'd be lying! The bits I used at the beginning of the sections are ones that I searched for, diligently. I was looking for allusions to fire, flashes, stars -- all imagery that might connect a family which is figuratively burning itself out.

Sisterhood, and siblinghood for that matter, is a central concept in this work. Why did you make Isobel and Julia twins? Does this plot point somehow correspond with the co-dependence between Kate and Anna? What did you hope to reveal about sisterhood through this story?

I think there is a relationship between sisters that is unlike other sibling bonds. It's a combination of competition and fierce loyalty, which is certainly evident in both sets of sisters in this book. The reason Izzy and Julia are twins is because they started out as one embryo, before splitting in utero… and as they grew their differences became more pronounced. Kate and Anna, too, have genetic connections… but unlike Izzy and Julia, aren't able to separate from each other to grow into distinct individuals. I wanted to hold up both examples to the reader, so that they could see the difference between two sisters who started out as one and diverged; and two sisters who started out distinct from each other, and somehow became inextricably tangled.

Anyone who has watched a loved one die (and anyone with a heart in their chest) would be moved by the heartfelt, realistic and moving depiction of sickness and death that is presented in this story. Was it difficult to imagine that scenario? How did you generate the realistic details?

It's always hard to imagine a scenario where a family is dealing with intense grief, because naturally, you can't help but think of your own family going through that sort of hell. When researching the book, I spoke to children who had cancer, as well as their parents -- to better capture what it felt like to live day by day, and maintain a positive attitude in spite of the overwhelming specter of what might be just around the corner. To a lesser extent, I also drew on my own experience, as a parent with a child who faced a series of surgeries: when my middle son Jake was 5, he was diagnosed with bilateral cholesteatomas in his ears -- benign tumors that will eventually burrow into your brain and kill you, if you don't manage to catch them. He had ten surgeries in three years, and he's tumor free now. Clearly, I wasn't facing the same urgent fears that the mom of a cancer patient faces… but it's not hard to remember how trying those hospitalizations were. Every single time I walked beside his gurney into the OR, where I would stay with him while he was anesthetized, I'd think, "Okay, just take my ear; if that keeps him from going through this again." That utter desperation and desire to make him healthy again became the heart of Sara's monologues… and is the reason that I cannot hate her for making the decisions she did.

Sara is a complicated character, and readers will probably both criticize and empathize with her. How do you see her role in the story?

Like Nina Frost in Perfect Match, Sara's going to generate a bit of controversy, I think. And yet, I adore Nina… and I really admire Sara too. I think that she's the easy culprit to blame in this nightmare… and yet I would caution the reader not to rush to judgment. As Sara says at the end of the book, it was never a case of choosing one child over the other - it was a case of wanting BOTH. I don't think she meant for Anna to be at the mercy of her sister… I think she was only intent on doing what had to be done to keep that family intact. Now… that said… I don't think she's a perfect mom. She lets Jesse down - although she certainly was focused on more pressing emergencies, it's hard for me to imagine giving up so completely on a child, no matter what. And she's so busy fixating on Kate's shaky future that she loses sight of her family in the here and now -- an oversight, of course, that she will wind up regretting forever at the end of the book.

The point of view of young people is integral in your novels. In fact, more wisdom, humor and compassion often comes from them than anywhere else. What do you think adults could stand to learn from children? What is it about children that allows them to get to the truth of things so easily?

Kids are the consummate radar devices for screening lies. They instinctively know when someone isn't being honest, or truthful, and one of the really hard parts about growing up is learning the value of a white lie… for them, it's artifice that has to be acquired… remember how upset Holden Caulfield got at all the Phonies? Anna sees things the way they are because mentally she's still a kid - in spite of the fact that she's pretty much lost her childhood. The remarkable thing about adolescents, though, that keeps me coming back to them in fiction… is that even when they're on the brink of realizing that growing up means compromising and letting go of those ideals, they still hold fast to hope. They may not want to admit to it (witness Jesse!) but they've got it tucked into their back pockets, just in case. It's why teens make such great and complicated narrators.

The ending of My Sister's Keeper is surprising and terribly sad. Without giving too much away, can you share why you choose to end the novel this way? Was it your plan from the beginning, or did this develop later on, as you were writing?

My Sister's Keeper is the first book one of my own kids has read. Kyle, who's twelve, picked it up and immediately got engrossed in it. The day he finished the book, I found him weeping on the couch. He pushed me away and went up to his room and told me that he really didn't want to see me or talk to me for a while - he was THAT upset. Eventually, when we did sit down to discuss it, he kept asking, "Why? Why did it have to end like that?" The answer I gave him (and you) is this: because this isn't an easy book, and you know from the first page, that there are no easy answers. Medically, this ending was a realistic scenario for the family -- and thematically, it was the only way to hammer home to all the characters what's truly important in life. Do I wish it could have had a happy ending? You bet -- I even gave a 23rd hour call to a oncology nurse to ask if there was some other way to end the book -- but finally, I came to see that if I wanted to be true to the story, this was the right conclusion.

All of your books to date have garnered wonderful press. In what ways, if any, does this change your writing experience?

Um, are you reading the same reviews that I am?!? I'm kidding - well, a little. I've had overwhelmingly good reviews, but I think the bad reviews always stick with you longer, because they sting so much (no matter how many times I tell myself I'm going to ignore them, I read them anyway). I am fortunate to write commercially marketed books that still manage to get review coverage -- too often in this industry books are divided by what's reviewed and literary, or what's advertised and commercial. It's incredibly fun to have a starred review in a magazine -- photographers come out and take fancy pictures of you, and people are forever seeing your face and a description of your novel when they hang out in doctor's and dentist's waiting rooms. But the best thing about good press is that it makes people who might not otherwise have a clue who you are want to go and pick up your book. I never write a book thinking of reviewers (in fact, if I did, I'd probably just hide under my desk and never type another letter!) but I certainly think about whether it will hold the interest of a reader as well as it's holding my own.

“This beautifully crafted novel will grab readers with its stunning topic…Now go discuss it with your book club.” — PEOPLE magazine

Book club discussion questions for My Sister's Keeper

“MY SISTER’S KEEPER has the emotional tenacity to fuel tears and talk as it becomes a book club must-read.” — New York Daily News

• Reread the prologue to My Sister's Keeper. Who is the speaker? Is it the same person you thought it was the first time you read it?
• What is the metaphorical relevance of Brian's profession as a fire chief?
• Why is Jesse's behavior so aberrant, while until now, Anna has been so compliant?
• What might be a possible reason for Brian's fascination with astronomy?
• On page 98, Kate is being admitted to the hospital in very serious condition. She mouths to Jesse, "tell Anna," but is unable to finish. What do you think she was trying to say?
• On page 122, Julia says, "Even if the law says that no one is responsible for anyone else, helping someone who needs it is the right thing to do." Who understood better how to "help" Kate, Sara or Anna?
• Did Anna do the right thing, honoring Kate's wishes?
• Do you feel it was unfair of Kate to ask Anna to refuse to donate a kidney, even though this seemed to be the only way for her to avoid the lifesaving transplant?
• On page 142, Brian says that when rescuing someone from a fire, that "the safety of the rescuer is of a higher priority than the safety of the victim. Always." How does this apply to his role in his own family?
• On page 144, Brian says, "Like anything that's been confined, fire has a natural instinct to escape." How does this truth apply to Kate? to Brian himself?
• On page 149, Brian is talking to Julia about astronomy and says, "Dark matter has a gravitational effect on other objects. You can't see it, you can't feel it, but you can watch something being pulled in its direction." How is this symbolic of Kate's illness?
• For what reason(s) did Brian offer Anna a place to stay at the firehouse while the legal proceedings were underway?
• How does Anna's decision to pursue medical emancipation parallel Campbell's decision to end his relationship with Julia after his accident?
• Do you agree with Brian's decision not to turn Jesse in to the authorities for setting the fires?
• Do you feel that it's ethical to conceive a child that meets specific genetic requirements?
• If not, do you believe that there should be specific exceptions, such as the purpose of saving another person's life, or is this just a "slippery slope?"

What others are saying about My Sister’s Keeper

Honors and awards.

Winner, The Gold Book Award from Nielsen Bookscan UK

Winner, Best Novel, Spanish or Biligual - 2009 Latino Book Awards

Winner of the 2007 Virginia Readers’ Choice Award

Winner of the 2006-2007 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award in the high school division.

The Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award (2007)

Vermont Green Mountain Book Award Master List (2007)

Winner of the Margaret Alexander Edwards Award (the Alex Award) given by the American Library Association

Best Book of the Year (2005), Bookbrowse.com

Nominated for an IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Shortlisted for the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year in the UK, and nominated for a British Book Award, 2005.

“Expect to be kept up all night by Picoult's latest novel, but it's much more than a page-turner; it's a fascinating character study framed by a complex, gripping story… Told in alternating perspectives by the engaging, fascinating cast of characters, Picoult's novel grabs the reader from the first page and never lets go. This is a beautiful, heartbreaking, controversial, and honest book.” — Starred Review, Booklist “Picoult explores a complex subject with bravado and clarity, and comes up with a heartwrenching, unexpected plot twist at the book’s conclusion.” — Publisher’s Weekly “Expect a powerfully poignant, page-turning read.” — San Antonio Express-News “This new novel is by far her best achievement, and a leap forward in her literary oeuvre.” — Bookreporter.com “MY SISTER’S KEEPER is a thrill to read.” — Chicago Sun-Times “It is difficult to find a book combining a timely moral dilemma with well-drawn characters for whom one cares. Picoult has written such a book.” — The Boston Herald

An excerpt from My Sister’s Keeper

When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn’t how babies were made, but why. The mechanics I understood – my older brother Jesse had filled me in — although at the time I was sure he’d heard half of it wrong. Other kids my age were busy looking up the words penis and vagina in the classroom dictionary when the teacher had her back turned, but I paid attention to different details. Like why some mothers only had one child, while others seemed to multiply before your eyes. Or how the new girl in school, Sedona, told anyone who’d listen that she was named for the place where her parents were vacationing when they made her (“Good thing they weren’t staying in Jersey City,”my father used to say).

Now that I am thirteen, these distinctions are only more complicated: the eighth grader who dropped out of school because she got into trouble; a neighbor who got herself pregnant in the hopes it would keep her husband from filing for divorce. I’m telling you, if aliens landed on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they’d conclude that most people have children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or because birth control isn’t 100%, or for a thousand other reasons that really aren’t very flattering.

On the other hand, I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn’t the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother’s eggs and my father’s sperm and come up with a specific combination of precious genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth; I got more than I bargained for. They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course — but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister Kate. “We loved you even more,”my mother made sure to say,”because we knew what exactly we were getting.”

It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate been healthy. Chances are, I’d still be floating up in Heaven or wherever, waiting to be attached to a body to spend some time on Earth. Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn’t get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it’s gone, so are you.

Pawn shops may be full of junk, but they’re also a breeding ground for stories, if you ask me, not that you did. What happened to make a person trade in the Never Before Used Diamond Solitaire? Who needed money so badly they’d sell a teddy bear missing an eye? As I walk up to the counter, I wonder if someone will look at the locket I’m about to give up, and ask these same questions.

The man at the cash register has a nose the shape of a turnip, and eyes sunk so deep I can’t imagine how he sees well enough to go about his business.”Need something?”he asks.

It’s all I can do to not turn around and walk out the door; pretend I’ve come in by mistake. The only thing that keeps me steady is knowing I am not the first person to stand in front of this counter holding the one item in the world I never thought I’d part with.

“I have something to sell,”I tell him.

“Am I supposed to guess what it is?”

“Oh.” Swallowing, I pull the locket out of the pocket of my jeans. The heart falls on the glass counter in a pool of its own chain.”It’s fourteen– karat gold,”I pitch. “Hardly ever worn.” This is a lie; until this morning, I haven’t taken it off in seven years. My father gave it to me when I was six after the bone marrow harvest, because he said anyone who was giving her sister such a major present deserved one of her own. Seeing it there, on the counter, my neck feels shivery and naked.

The owner puts a loop up to his eye, which makes it seem almost normal size.”I’ll give you twenty.”

“Dollars?”

“No, pesos. What did you think?”

“It’s worth five times that!” I’m guessing.

The owner shrugs.”I’m not the one who needs the money.”

I pick up the locket, resigned to sealing the deal, and the strangest thing happens – my hand, it just clamps shut like the Jaws of Life. My face goes red with the effort to peel apart my fingers. It takes what seems like an hour for that locket to spill into the owner’s outstretched palm. His eyes stay on my face, softer now.”Tell him you lost it,”he offers, advice tossed in for free.

If Mr. Webster had decided to put the word freak in his dictionary, Anna Fitzgerald would be the best definition he could give. It’s more than just the way I look: refugee– skinny with absolutely no chest to speak of, hair the color of dirt, connect– the– dot freckles on my cheeks that, let me tell you, do not fade with lemon juice or sunscreen or even, sadly, sandpaper. No, God was obviously in some kind of mood on my birthday, because he added to this fabulous physical combination the bigger picture; the household into which I was born.

My parents tried to make things normal, but that’s a relative term. The truth is, I was never really a kid. To be honest, neither were Kate and Jesse. I guess maybe my brother had his moment in the sun for the three years he was alive before Kate got diagnosed, but ever since then, we’ve been too busy looking over our shoulders to run headlong into growing up. You know how most little kids think they’re like cartoon characters – if an anvil drops on their heads they can peel themselves off the sidewalk and keep going? Well, I never once believed that. How could I, when we practically set a place for Death at the dinner table?

Kate has acute promyelocytic leukemia. Actually, that’s not quite true – right now she doesn’t have it, but it’s hibernating under her skin like a bear, until it decides to roar again. Molecular relapse and granulocyte and portacath – these words are part of my vocabulary, even though I’ll never find them on any SAT. I’m an allogeneic donor – a perfect sibling match. When Kate needs leukocytes or stem cells or bone marrow to fool her body into thinking it’s healthy, I’m the one who provides them. Nearly every time Kate’s hospitalized, I wind up there too.

None of which means anything, except that you shouldn’t believe what you hear about me, least of all that which I tell you myself.

As I am coming up the stairs, my mother comes out of her room wearing another ball gown.”Ah,”she says, turning her back to me.”Just the girl I wanted to see.”

I zip it up and watch her twirl. My mother could be beautiful, if she were parachuted into someone else’s life. She has long dark hair and the fine collarbones of a princess, but the corners of her mouth turn down, like she’s swallowed bitter news. She doesn’t have much free time, since a calendar is something that can change drastically if my sister develops a bruise or a nosebleed, but what she does have she spends at Bluefly.com, ordering ridiculously fancy evening dresses for places she is never going to go. “What do you think?”she asks.

The gown is all the colors of a sunset, and made out of material that swishes when she moves. It’s strapless, what a star might wear sashaying down a red carpet – totally not the dress code for a suburban house in Upper Darby, RI. My mother twists her hair into a knot and holds it in place. On her bed are three other dresses – one slinky and black, one bugle– beaded, one that looks impossibly small.”You look… “

Tired. The word bubbles right under my lips.

My mother goes perfectly still, and I wonder if I’ve said it without meaning to. She holds up a hand, shushing me, her ear cocked to the open doorway.”Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Kate.”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

But she doesn’t take my word for it, because when it comes to Kate she doesn’t take anybody’s word for it. She marches down the hall and opens up our bedroom door to find my sister hysterical on her bed, and just like that the world collapses again. My father, a closet astronomer, has tried to explain black holes to me, how they are so heavy they absorb everything, even light, right into their center. Moments like this, they’re the same kind of vacuum; no matter what you cling to, you wind up being sucked in.

“Kate!” My mother sinks down to the ground, that stupid skirt a cloud around her.”Kate, honey, what hurts?”

Kate hugs a pillow to her stomach, and tears keep streaming down her face. Her pale hair is stuck to her face in damp streaks, her breathing’s too tight. I stand frozen in the doorway of my own room, waiting for instructions: Call Daddy. Call 911. Call Dr. Chance. My mother goes so far as to shake a better explanation out of Kate, grabbing her shoulders, but Kate only wipes her face and tries to speak. “It’s Preston,”she sobs.”He’s leaving Serena for good.”

That’s when we notice the TV. On the screen, a blond hottie gives a longing look to a woman crying almost as hard as my sister, and then he slams the door.”But what hurts?” my mother asks, surely there has to be more to it than this.

“Oh my God,”Kate says, sniffling.”Do you have any idea how much Serena and Preston have been through? Do you?”

That fist inside me relaxes, now that I know it’s all right. Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed – sometimes it covers you just fine, and other times it leaves you cold and shaking; and worst of all, you never know which of the two it’s going to be. I sit down on the end of Kate’s bed. She’s sixteen, but I’m taller than her and every now and then people mistakenly assume I’m the one who’s older. At different times this summer she has been crazy for Callahan, Wyatt, and Liam, the male leads on this soap. Now, I guess, it’s all about Preston.”There was the kidnapping scare,”I volunteer. I actually followed that story line; Kate made me tape the show during her dialysis sessions.

“And the time she almost married his twin by mistake,” Kate adds.

“Don’t forget when he died in the boat accident. For two months, anyway.” My mother joins the conversation, and I remember that she used to watch this soap too, sitting with Kate in the hospital.

For the first time, Kate seems to notice my mother’s outfit.”What are you wearing?”

“Oh. Something I’m sending back.” She gets up, standing in front of me so that I can undo her zipper again. I wonder if it’s putting on someone else’s skin for a while that my mom likes so much, or if it’s the option of being able to mail back a circumstance that just doesn’t suit you. “You’re sure nothing hurts?”

After my mother leaves, Kate sinks a little. That’s the only way to describe it – how fast color drains from her face, how she disappears against the pillows. As she gets sicker, she fades a little, until I am afraid one day I will wake up and not be able to see her at all.”Move,”Kate orders.”You’re blocking the picture.”

So I go to sit on my own bed.”It’s only the coming attractions.”

“Well, if I die tonight I want to know what I’m missing.”

I fluff my pillows up under my head. Kate, as usual, has swapped so that she has all the funchy ones that don’t feel like rocks under your neck. She’s supposed to deserve this, because she’s three years older than me or because she’s sick or because the moon is in Aquarius – there’s always a reason. I squint at the television, wishing I could flip through the stations, knowing I don’t have a prayer. “Preston looks like he’s made out of plastic.”

“Then why did I hear you whispering his name last night into your pillow?”

“Shut up,”I say.

“You shut up.” Then Kate smiles at me.”He probably is gay, though. Quite a waste, considering the Fitzgerald sisters are – ”Wincing, she breaks off mid– sentence, and I roll toward her.

“Kate?”

She rubs her lower back.”It’s nothing.”

It’s her kidneys.”Want me to get Mom?”

“Not yet.” She reaches between our beds, which are just far enough for us to reach each other if we both try. I hold out my hand too. When we were little we’d make this bridge and try to see how many Barbies we could get to balance on it.

Lately, I have been having nightmares, where I’m cut into so many pieces that there isn’t enough of me to be put back together.

My father says that a fire will burn itself out, unless you open a window and give it fuel. I suppose that’s what I’m doing, when you get right down to it; but then again, my dad also says that when flames are licking at your heels you’ve got to break a wall or two if you want to escape. So when Kate falls asleep from her meds I take the leather binder I keep between my mattress and box spring and go into the bathroom for privacy. I know Kate’s been snooping – I rigged up a red thread between the zipper’s teeth to let me know who was prying into my stuff without my permission, but even though the thread’s been torn there’s nothing missing inside. I turn on the water in the bathtub so it sounds like I’m in there for a reason, and sit down on the floor to count.

If you add in the twenty dollars from the pawn shop, I have $136.87. It’s not going to be enough, but there’s got to be a way around that. Jesse didn’t have $2900 when he bought his beat– up Jeep, and the bank gave him some kind of loan. Of course, my parents had to sign the papers too, and I doubt they’re going to be willing to do that for me, given the circumstances. I count the money a second time, just in case the bills have miraculously reproduced, but math is math and the total stays the same. And then I read the newspaper clippings.

Campbell Alexander. It’s a stupid name, in my opinion. It sounds like a bar drink that costs too much, or a brokerage firm. But you can’t deny the man’s track record.

To reach my brother’s room, you actually have to leave the house, which is exactly the way he likes it. Jesse moved into the attic over the garage three years ago — a perfect arrangement, since he didn’t want my parents to see what he was doing and my parents didn’t really want to see. Blocking the stairs to his place are four snow tires, a small wall of cartons, and an oak desk tipped onto its side. Sometimes I think Jesse sets up these obstacles himself, just to make getting to him more of a challenge.

I crawl over the mess and up the stairs, which vibrate with the bass from Jesse’s stereo. It takes nearly five whole minutes before he hears me knocking.”What?”he snaps, opening the door a crack.

“Can I come in?”

He thinks twice, then steps back to let me enter. The room is a sea of dirty clothes and magazines and leftover Chinese take– out cartons; it smells like the sweaty tongue of a hockey skate. The only neat spot is the shelf where Jesse keeps his special collection – a Jaguar’s silver mascot, a Mercedes symbol, a Mustang’s horse – hood ornaments that he told me he just found lying around, although I’m not dumb enough to believe him.

Don’t get me wrong – it isn’t that my parents don’t care about Jesse or whatever trouble he’s gotten himself mixed up in. It’s just that they don’t really have time to care about it, because it’s a problem somewhere lower on the totem pole.

Jesse ignores me, going back to whatever he was doing on the far side of the mess. My attention is caught by a crock pot – one that disappeared out of the kitchen a few months ago – which now sits on top of Jesse’s TV with a copper tube threaded out of its lid and down through a plastic milk jug filled with ice, emptying into a glass Mason jar. Jesse may be a borderline delinquent, but he’s brilliant. Just as I’m about to touch the contraption, Jesse turns around.”Hey!” He fairly flies over the couch to knock my hand away.”You’ll screw up the condensing coil.”

“Is this what I think it is?”

A nasty grin itches over his face.”Depends on what you think it is.” He jimmies out the Mason jar, so that liquid drips into the carpet.”Have a taste.”

For a still made out of spit and glue, it produces pretty potent whiskey. An inferno races so fast through my belly and legs I fall back onto the couch. I lose my voice again, for nearly a whole minute.”Disgusting,”I gasp.

Jesse laughs and takes a swig, too, although for him it goes down easier.”So what do you want from me?”

“How do you know I want something?”

“Because no one comes up here on a social call,”he says, sitting on the arm of the couch.”And if it was something about Kate, you would’ve already told me.”

“It is about Kate. Sort of.” I stare into my lap. I can still taste the fire.”Remember that time you came home trashed and I dragged you up here? You owe me.”

“Owe you what?”

I press the newspaper clippings into my brother’s hand; they’ll do a better job explaining than I ever could. He scans them, then looks me right in the eye. His are the palest shade of silver, so surprising that sometimes when he stares at you, you can completely forget what you were planning to say.

“Don’t mess with the system, Anna,”he says bitterly. “We’ve all got our scripts downpat. Kate plays the martyr. I’m the Lost Cause. And you, you’re the Peacekeeper.”

He thinks he knows me, but it goes both ways – and when it comes to friction, Jesse is an addict. I look right at him.”Says who?”

Jesse agrees to wait for me in the parking lot. It’s one of the few times I can recall him doing anything I tell him to do. I walk around to the front of the building, which has two gargoyles guarding its entrance.

Campbell Alexander, Esquire’s office is on the third floor. The walls are paneled with wood the color of a chestnut mare’s coat, and the Oriental rug on the floor is so thick my sneakers sink an inch. The secretary is wearing black pumps so shiny I can see my own face in them. I glance down at my cutoffs and the Keds that I tattooed last week with Magic Markers when I was bored.

The secretary has perfect skin and perfect eyebrows and honeybee lips, and she’s using them to scream bloody murder at whoever’s on the other end of the phone.”You cannot expect me to tell a judge that. Just because you don’t want to hear Kleman rant and rave doesn’t mean that I have to… no, actually, that raise was for the exceptional job I do and the crap I put up with on a daily basis, and as a matter of fact while we’re on – ” She holds the phone away from her ear; I can make out the buzz of disconnection. “Bastard,”she mutters, and then seems to realize I’m standing three feet away.”Can I help you?”

She looks me over from head to toe, rating me on a general scale of first impressions, and finding me severely lacking. I lift my chin and pretend to be far more cool than I actually am.”I have an appointment with Mr. Alexander. At four o’clock.”

“Your voice,”she says.”On the phone, you didn’t sound quite so… “

She smiles uncomfortably.”We don’t try juvenile cases, as a rule. If you’d like I can offer you the names of some practicing attorneys who – ”

I take a deep breath.”Actually,”I interrupt,”you’re wrong. Smith v. Whately, Edmunds v. Womens and Infants Hospital, and Jerome v. the Diocese of Providence all involved litigants under the age of eighteen. All three resulted in verdicts for Mr. Alexander’s clients. And those were just in the past year.”

The secretary blinks at me. Then a slow smile toasts her face, as if she’s decided she just might like me after all.”Come to think of it, why don’t you just wait in his office?”she says, and she stands up to show me the way.

Even if I spend every minute of the rest of my life reading, I do not believe that I will ever manage to consume the sheer number of words routed high and low on the walls of Campbell Alexander, Esquire’s office. I do the math – if there are 400 words or so on every page, and each of those legal books are 400 pages, and there are twenty on a shelf and six shelves per bookcase – why, you’re pushing nineteen million words, and that’s only partway across the room.

I’m alone in the office long enough to note that his desk is so neat, you could play Chinese football on the blotter; that there is not a single photo of a wife or a kid or even himself; and that in spite of the fact that the room is spotless, there’s a coffee cup sitting on the floor.

I find myself making up explanations: it’s a swimming pool for an army of ants. It’s some kind of primitive humidifier. It’s a mirage.

I’ve nearly convinced myself about that last one, and am leaning over to touch the cup and see if it’s real, when the door bursts open. I practically fall out of my chair and that puts me eye– to– eye with an incoming German shepherd, which spears me with a look and then marches over to the mug and starts to drink the water inside.

Campbell Alexander comes in too. He’s got black hair and he’s at least as tall as my dad – six feet – with a right– angle jaw and eyes that look frozen over. He shrugs out of a suit jacket and hangs it neatly on the back of the door, then yanks a file out of a cabinet before moving to his desk. He never makes eye contact with me, but he starts talking all the same.”I don’t want any Girl Scout cookies,” Campbell Alexander says.”Although you do get Brownie points for tenacity. Ha.” He smiles at his own joke.

“I’m not selling anything.”

He glances at me curiously, then pushes a button on his phone.”Carrie,”he says when the secretary answers. “What is this doing in my office?”

“I’m here to retain you,”I say.

The lawyer releases the intercom button.”I don’t think so.”

“You don’t even know if I have a case.”

I take a step forward; so does the dog. For the first time I realize it’s wearing one of those vests with a red cross on it, like a St. Bernard that might carry rum up a snowy mountain. I automatically reach out to pet him. “Don’t,”Alexander says.”Judge is a service dog.”

My hand goes back to my side.”But you aren’t blind.”

“Thank you for pointing that out to me.”

“So what’s the matter with you?”

The minute I say it, I want to take it back. Haven’t I watched Kate field this question from hundreds of rude people?

“I have an iron lung,”Campbell Alexander says curtly, “and the dog keeps me from getting too close to magnets. Now, if you’d do me the exalted honor of leaving, my secretary can find you the name of someone who – ”

But I can’t go yet.”Did you really sue God?” I take out all the newspaper clippings; smooth them on the bare desk.

A muscle tics in his cheek, and then he picks up the article lying on top.”I sued the Diocese of Providence, on behalf of a kid in one of their orphanages who needed an experimental treatment involving fetal tissue, which they felt violated Vatican II. However, it makes a much better headline to say that a nine– year– old is suing God for being stuck with the short end of the straw in life.” I just stare at him.”Dylan Jerome,”the lawyer admits,”wanted to sue God for not caring enough about him.”

A rainbow might as well have cracked down the middle of that big mahogany desk.”Mr. Alexander,”I say,”my sister has leukemia.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But even if I were willing to litigate against God again, which I’m not, you can’t bring a lawsuit on someone else’s behalf.”

There is way too much to explain – my own blood seeping into my sister’s veins; the nurses holding me down to stick me for white cells Kate might borrow; the doctor saying they didn’t get enough the first time around. The bruises and the deep bone ache after I gave up my marrow; the shots that sparked more stem cells in me, so that there’d be extra for my sister. The fact that I’m not sick, but I might as well be. The fact that the only reason I was born was as a harvest crop for Kate. The fact that even now, a major decision about me is being made, and no one’s bothered to ask the one person who most deserves it to speak her opinion.

There’s way too much to explain, and so I do the best I can.”It’s not God. Just my parents,”I say.”I want to sue them for the rights to my own body.”

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Review of My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness. 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, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.

I love me some melodrama, absolutely love it. Especially when the melodrama results in gasps, and anger, and tears. My jury is still out on My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult . The plot of My Sister’s Keeper  had such huge potential. We’ve got a 13 year old girl, Anna,  who is basically born as spare parts for her sister, Kate, who has leukemia. Well, Anna does not enjoy being harvested, so she initiates a lawsuit to be medically emancipated from her parents so she won’t be obligated to be spare parts anymore.

Oh, and there’s a lot of subplots in My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult , some which added to the story, some which I questioned the purpose. Anna’s lawyer, Campbell has his own subplot where he romances a social worker and has a service dog. While I like dogs, I felt the plot revolving around the dog was a waste of pages, detracting from the main issue. Oh, and for the other subplot, there is Anna’s father Brian and her pain in the ass brother, Jesse. Brian fights fires, Jesse starts them. Yes, requisite eye roll goes here. Again, the character of Jesse could have been developed beyond his acting out, but really, his parts had me bored.

Anna was the only character I really cared about in My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult . Some of her narration had me reduced to a blubbering mess, however, this means nothing as I also tear up over jewelry commercials, hallmark commercials, and many other sentimental things. I think Anna’s voice was the most developed, she felt the most real, albeit she felt more adult than the adult characters. Go figure. I felt the other points-of-view included were flat. For example here’s Campbell’s plot line “Hey mister why do you have puppy?” “It’s not a puppy, it’s a service dog” “What’s wrong with you?” “Insert witty one-liner pertaining to a disability here.” It was funny the first two times, but after that just became drawn out.

Anna’s mother was a horrible parent. “She’s all pity me, pity me I hate my other kids, leukemia kid is the only one who matters.” Also, you know how My Sister’s Keeper  centers around Anna’s trial? Well, Anna’s mother is a former lawyer so she chooses to represent herself. I may not be a lawyer in real life, but I watch Law & Order, I took a Constitutional Law class, and hah, I can’t believe how horrible of a lawyer she was. Instead of being relevant while questioning witnesses she launches into these irritating stories about her family. And obviously the other lawyer should have objected on the grounds of relevance, but no we get to hear her reminisce with her husband, instead of, yah know, working on the case and using the law/spirit of the law to prove her point.

Jodi Picoult’s  writing isn’t too terrible. I think some of it was complete cliched (Brian/Jesse subplot I am looking at you!). But, I finished My Sister’s Keeper  in two days and did cry a few times while reading it. Granted, I do feel as though my emotions were manipulated. Speaking of manipulation, let me talk about the ending, by dancing around some spoilers. Okay, the end made me want to chuck My Sister’s Keeper  across the room, despite my bawling all the way through it. The book builds up to this one thing, keeps building around Anna’s choice. Then, agh, the end what a huge cop out. Seriously without a doubt the worst ending I have ever read. I know many will disagree with me, which is fine, we don’t need to love/hate the same books. Honestly, though, I thought the ending was just like on a tv show where all this stuff happens to the main character, and you find out it was just a dream, which to me is taking the easy way out. I promptly had to complain to my boyfriend afterward. Yes, yes, it’s super mature to complain about a fictional book, but agh, I just invested so much time and emotions into the characters, and for it to end that way was a huge let down.

I know so many people love Picoult’s books and I can understand. They do make you think. They are fast reads and quite action-packed. However, I’m not sure that I am a fan. I strongly disliked Mercy (another of her books), but didn’t want to give up on her books, so gave My Sister’s Keeper a chance. While I did enjoy My Sister’s Keeper much more than Mercy, it still pissed me off. I’m still not ready to give up on Picoult as a writer, but I just don’t get the mass appeal. This isn’t me being a book snob, I want to like her books, as my sister really enjoys them, so it’d be nice to have that in common with her, but I just can’t make myself love them.

Other reviews of My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult:

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April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Great review! You made me chuckle a few times, knowing what you mean about the ending pissing you off. I've hemmed and hawed about reading this one but it's still down there at the bottom of my list. Thanks for the honest (& humorous) opinion 🙂

I understand how this book could annoy you. I am one of those insane Jodi Picoult fans. I have red all of her books, met her three times (and am going to meet her a fourth this March!) 😀 The main thing I love about her writing is how realistic it is, even if it's annoying and frustrating. Jodi Picoult will always have a place in my heart.

I really liked My Sister's Keeper. It is currently my favorite of Jodi Picoult's books. I guess I can understand how the ending would infuriate you, but I felt it was more effective since it was so unexpected. I'm glad you haven't given up on her though. 🙂

I definitely respect those who enjoy Picoult's writing. My sister is a HUGE fan and she's definitely one of the most awesome people I know, so when she urges me to read something I want to like it. Maybe my expectations were too high.

Robby, how awesome you got to meet one of your favorite authors! I'd love to meet one of my favorites. I wish Picoult was my cup of tea, I really do!

Titiana, I hope the next Picoult I read doesn't leave such a bad taste in my mouth!

Jackie, glad I can crack you up! 🙂

I think I liked it so much partly because it was the first Picoult I read. I read Handle with Care after and didn't really care for it because it was so similar, which almost makes me rethink My Sister's Keeper. I do remember not liking the mother's narrative and wishing she had the opportunity to have an interior monologue in the present. Ultimately, I liked it, even if Picoult didn't write as convincingly from all the character's points of view.

Loved your review! And hey, there's nothing wrong with crying at Hallmark commercials (that one with Daddy's Little Girl still kills me!) or jewelry ads.

I actually liked the ending to this one, although I agree with you about the mom. Jodi is sort of hit and miss for me. Some of her books I really like, others I can't get into.

Thanks for a great review!

I HATED the end of this book, too! The movie changed the ending (and other things) so it was a little nicer to watch. I did like, however, the twist at the end of "Nineteen Minutes." You might want to give that one a try, though maybe after reading some happier books…

I cannot even describe how I felt after I finished this one. The ending literally made me throw the book across the room — so I don't think that complaining to your boyfriend was too out there, haha. Loved your review!

loved your review. But i LOVED the end of the book! not many stories you read that the main character dies moments before the end of the book!

The movie however did not do the book justice. sepratly they are great stories but the book was much much better.

Thanks for a great review.

Thank you! I too have ranted to my boyfriend about the terrible cop out ending. It made me not want to read anything else she’s written because it’s just such a huge betrayal(no joke I get mad every time I see her name on a book cover) not emotionally like oh no how could you kill Anna she’s the only one I actually care about in this story (though she is) but just from a story telling standpoint. Like you said the whole story is about making choices for yourself and then no one actually gets to make their own decisions–not even Kate.

I just watched the movie, grumbling the whole time because I knew what was going to happen and then when that didn’t happen I was like oh wow awesome maybe she realized it was a total BS deus ex machina cop out! But no. I googled it and found that there was all this outrage and got mad again and wondered if I was alone in my hatred of this ending. And then I googled “am I the only one who hated the ending to my sister’s keeper.” And then I found this and I feel better. So thank you!

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BookBrowse Reviews My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

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My Sister's Keeper

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• First Published:
• Apr 1, 2004, 423 pages
• Feb 2005, 448 pages

• Literary Fiction
• Contemporary
• Adult Books From Child's Perspective
• Dealing with Loss
• Adult-YA Crossover Fiction
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emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs

Jodi Picoult is known for taking on controversial subjects such as euthanasia ( Mercy ), teen suicide ( The Pact ) and sterilization laws ( Second Glance ), and her latest book is no exception. 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, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? The reviews are generally positive although there are some comments suggesting that the characters are a little two-dimensional and the plot is a somewhat over done, but all reviewers appear to agree that Picoult does a good job of exploring this controversial subject area. Reviewed February 2005

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Book Review: My Sister’s Keeper

Posted March 12, 2014 by Whitney in Review / 1 Comment

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, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning parable for all time.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. One of the main characters has epilepsy and being epileptic myself I had some problems with the accuracy of Campbell’s seizure activity.

In the novel, Campbell, Anna’s lawyer, has a dog that goes everywhere with him and later the reader learns it is a seizure dog. I have friend who has a seizure dog and had to go through many tests and paperwork to be accepted into the program and must produce this documentation to any future school or employer. I also was surprised that Campbell drove so soon after having a seizure in court as there is usually a waiting period before getting back behind the wheel, and is usually 6 months to a year depending on the state — not 6 hours! Also, Jodi Picoult never clarified what the cause of the accident was. Did Campbell have a seizure behind the wheel, which is not that uncommon, or was it just a freak accident?

I don’t think Jodi Picoult completed her homework in the medical sense; but unfortunately, I think unless you have some connection to the disorder you may not be as quick to catch on. Overall,  I enjoyed My Sister’s Keeper, but that lack of information was a huge negative for me.

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One response to “ Book Review: My Sister’s Keeper ”

I didn't like this novel at all, and it put me completely off Jodi P.

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I'm Still Not Over... the ending switch in My Sister's Keeper

[ SPOILERS follow, although if you've yet to see My Sister's Keeper , you're not missing anything.]

When I first read My Sister's Keeper , I was devastated. The tale, told from multiple points of view, centers on a teenager with leukemia, Kate, and her younger sister, Anna, who was conceived solely to be a possible donor match for her dying big sister. But one summer, following many painful procedures, Anna decides she doesn't want to be part of her sister's medical treatments anymore and sues her parents for medical emancipation. The whole family struggles with the fact that if Anna stops her treatments, Kate will die.

The book grapples with big questions about medical ethics and family responsibilities. It's a gripping, emotional read, especially in the final pages where, after it comes out that Anna is only stopping the treatments at Kate's wishes, a judge emancipates Anna from her parents, allowing the choice to be hers. Shortly after that, readers learn that Anna died in a freak car accident, and her kidney was donated to Kate after all — who now, years later, is healthy but without her sister.

It was a great book, and with a cast of compelling characters, it could have been a phenomenal movie — but instead, the 2009 film, directed by Nick Cassavetes ( The Notebook ) and starring Cameron Diaz as the mom and Abigail Breslin as Anna, was a total hacky mess because someone at the studio had the bright idea to totally change the ending (over complaints from book author Jodi Picoult ). The film has Kate, not Anna, die in the shocking final moments, thereby changing the entire trajectory of the story. Any theme about the fragility and randomness of life one could read into the tale was totally shot — or at least misdirected.

I'm not someone who gets hung up on small book-to-movie changes; I get that it's a different medium, and it's often impossible to keep everything the same. Plenty of changes to the movie — like aging down Anna and changing the gender of Judge De Salvo — I didn't love but took as operating costs to make a better film. But drastically changing the ending of a story is beyond the pale. The overly manipulative movie wasn't well-reviewed (it got a 48 percent on Rotten Tomatoes ) and didn't fare particularly well at the box office, likely because the emotional impact of the story is totally lost when the girl you expected to die the whole time dies at the end.

Just think if this becomes commonplace. What if studio heads thought they knew best about everything (Ha!), and regularly changed beloved book plot points that they thought would be hard to sell? What if Lisbeth Salander became more upbeat? What if Dumbledore didn't die in the Harry Potter films because everyone really liked him? What if in Dear John , John and Savannah had a Hollywood ending and would up together after all? ( Oh, wait. )

My Sister's Keeper is always my go-to example for a book that I loved that the film version totally ruined. I bring this up now because — while thankfully there has been no evidence to support this— I'm very afraid that a movie studio will mess with the ending of another beloved book that has its fair share of tragic death: The Fault in Our Stars , coming to theaters next June. I get that it can be tempting to want to make a movie version of a story "your own" and not want to just copy the book. But studios need to realize they aren't being creative, they're just pissing off their most eager customers. Learn from the My Sister's Keeper disaster. In cases of big endings, stick to the damn book .

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‘My Sister’s Keeper’ Author Jodi Picoult Had a ‘Really Terrible Experience’ With the Cameron Diaz-Starring Movie: My Book Is the ‘Story That I Intended’

In an interview with People magazine about her new book “By Any Other Name,” author Jodi Picoult revealed her inspiration for the novel came from the “terrible experience” she had with the 2009 film adaptation of “My Sister’s Keeper.”

“It kind of goes back to when I had a really terrible experience turning ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ into a film,” Picoult said. “It took me a long time to kind of wrap my head around the fact that they didn’t ruin my book. My book is still there. And anyone who reads my book is still getting the story that I intended.”

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“My Sister’s Keeper,” starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin, sits at a 47% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. However, former Variety film critic Justin Chang gave a glowing review upon its release in 2009 , writing, “Unsubtle, uneven and undeniably effective, this take-no-prisoners cancer weepie poses a fascinating moral quandary — a girl fighting her parents for the right to control her body while her older sister wastes away from leukemia — as a mere pretext for a full-scale assault on the viewer’s tear ducts.”

The film, directed by Nick Cassavetes, follows Anna Fitzgerald (Breslin), who sues her parents for medical emancipation volunteering her kidney without content to her sister who is dying of leukemia. Made on a budget of $30 million, the film squeaked to profitability scoring just under $50 million at the domestic box office.

Picoult’s latest novel, “By Any Other Name,” tells the story of two female authors. One is Emilia Bassano, based on a real woman who historians think may have been behind some of Shakespeare’s most acclaimed works. The second is Melina Green, a modern day playwright who gains recognition after her play is submitted to a festival under her Blake friend’s name.

Other films adapted from Picoult’s novels include “Salem Falls,” “The Tenth,” “Plain Truth” and “The Pact.”

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Jodi Picoult's new book inspired by 'terrible experience' with 'My Sister's Keeper' film adaptation

Picoult has had other novels adapted into films, including "Salem Falls," "The Tenth," "Plain Truth," and "The Pact."

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult revealed that her new novel, "By Any Other Name," was born out of the "terrible experience" she had with the 2009 film adaptation of her book "My Sister's Keeper."

Picoult admitted to PEOPLE that it took her a long time to come to terms with the film's changes. “It kind of goes back to when I had a really terrible experience turning ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ into a film,” Picoult said. “It took me a long time to kind of wrap my head around the fact that they didn’t ruin my book. My book is still there. And anyone who reads my book is still getting the story that I intended.”

While "My Sister's Keeper," starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin, received mixed reviews, it did achieve moderate box office success.   

Picoult's latest novel, "By Any Other Name," explores the stories of two female authors: Emilia Bassano, a historical figure potentially behind Shakespeare's works, and Melina Green, a modern playwright gaining recognition under a false identity. The story of Melina Green draws inspiration from Picoult's experiences with adaptations of her work.   

Picoult has had several other novels adapted into films, including "Salem Falls," "The Tenth," "Plain Truth," and "The Pact."

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Jodi Picoult Has Admitted That “My Sister’s Keeper” Being Turned Into A Movie Was “A Really Terrible Experience” As She Reflected On The Director’s Controversial Decision To Change The Ending

Jodi previously said that she was “really upset” by director Nick Cassavetes’s decision to change the story’s ending, but was thrown off the movie’s set when she voiced her concerns.

BuzzFeed Staff

Warning: This article contains spoilers for My Sister's Keeper.

In 2004, Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper became an immediate bestseller, with the book becoming particularly renowned for its tragic ending — securing Jodi’s spot as one of the most popular authors in the US.

If you need reminding, My Sister’s Keeper tells the story of a 13-year-old girl named Anna who was born as a savior sister after her older sister Kate was diagnosed with leukemia. 

Kate and Anna’s parents had Anna so that she could save Kate’s life through the donation of her umbilical cord blood, but as Kate’s cancer continues throughout her life, Anna is forced to donate whatever else her sister needs to survive. 

When she turns 13, Anna is told that she must donate one of her kidneys to Kate, but Anna decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation instead. After the judge rules in her favor, Anna suggests that she is planning on donating her kidney anyway because she wants her sister to live.

However, as Anna’s lawyer drives her home after the trial, they are T-boned by a truck, and Anna is left brain-dead. Anna’s kidney is donated to Kate, whose life is saved while Anna dies.  

The book ends with Kate reflecting on the tragedy and opening up about the guilt that she feels over what happened to her younger sister. 

Five years after My Sister’s Keeper was released, it was adapted into a movie starring Cameron Diaz , Abigail Breslin , and Alec Baldwin .

And while fans of the book were initially excited to watch the big screen adaptation, they were left horrified by a huge change in the story’s ending. 

In the film, Anna breaks down during a cross-examination in the courtroom and confesses that she only filed for medical emancipation because Kate asked her to. It is revealed that Kate is unwilling to undergo another operation as she is struggling to endure her and her family’s endless suffering, and has made her peace with dying. 

In a huge contrast to the book, Kate dies in her sleep, and the movie ends with Anna and the rest of the family moving on with their lives. 

It has been 15 years since the movie was released, and it is still widely regarded as one of the worst book-to-screen adaptations due to the director Nick Cassavetes’s decision to change the ending — and the book’s author has been one of his most vocal critics.

Just last year, Jodi publicly answered the age-old question of why the ending was changed in a TikTok video, and she admitted at the time that she wasn’t at all happy with the decision.

@jodipicoult The answer you’ve been waiting for…why did they change the ending to the My Sister’s Keeper movie??? #jodipicoult #jodipicoultbooks #movieadaptations #movieadaptation #mysisterskeeper ♬ original sound - Jodi Picoult

“The director, who was also the writer of the script, told me he was going to keep the ending because that was, honestly, what made most of you throw the book at someone else and say: ‘You gotta read this,’” Jodi explained. “Then I found out through a casting director that he actually changed the ending of the script that he’d shown me, and it did not match the one in the book.”

“I was really upset, so I flew to the movie set, and I went to talk to him, and he pretty much threw me off the set,” she went on. “I went to the production company, and I said: ‘You’re making a really big mistake, I have a lot of readers who loved the ending of this book,’ they said: ‘We really trust him, we think he knows what he’s doing.’”

“The movie came out and many of you didn’t want to see it, or said that you liked the book’s ending better, and for that I will always be very, very grateful,” Jodi concluded. “Because the book is always better than the movie — especially when we’re talking about My Sister’s Keeper .”

And in a recent interview with People , Jodi opened up some more about the “really terrible experience” of My Sister’s Keeper being turned into a movie as she admitted that she initially felt as though the director ruined her book.

“I had a really terrible experience turning My Sister's Keeper into a film," Jodi told the publication. "It took me a long time to kind of wrap my head around the fact that they didn't ruin my book.”

“My book is still there,” she added. “And anyone who reads my book is still getting the story that I intended."

Discussing Jodi’s comments on a Reddit forum, many sided with the author.

One person pointed out: “I think the ending to the book is great. Everyone treats one sister like an expendable because she's got her whole life anyway, then a reminder that tomorrow is promised to no one.”

“I preferred the book ending. Had a really great message. I know her books over do it with the twists but this was one I really enjoyed,” somebody else agreed.

Another wrote: “Agree 100%. The movie changed the ending and destroyed the most meaningful part of the book. Hugely disappointing movie, brilliant book. It really should be remade true to the book.”

While somebody else mused: “I haven’t read the book or watched the movie. But I can imagine how awful it must be for a writer to pour their everything into a book, then trust a production company to do it justice only to see it butchered.”

Jodi only had one other book adapted into a film after her experience with My Sister’s Keeper , with her 2001 novel Salem Falls being turned into a Lifetime Original Movie in 2011.

Topics in this article

• My Sister's Keeper

New Zealand’s Keely O’Grady wins Rose of Tralee 2024: ‘I can’t really put it into words. I’m shaking so much’

Television: ‘what i’m most looking forward to is doing this for my country as an international rose. we’ve only had two new zealand roses. it means a lot to me’.

Amid tears, cheers and waggling eyebrows from its host Dáithí Ó Sé, New Zealand’s Keely O’Grady has been named the 2024 International Rose of Tralee at the end of this year’s Rose of Tralee festival in Co Kerry.

“I can’t really put it into words. I’m shaking so much right now,” says O’Grady, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at the University of Canterbury, who is taking a degree in speech and language therapy. “What I’m most looking forward to is doing this for my country as an International Rose. We’ve only had two New Zealand Roses. It means a lot to me.”

It has been a memorable festival, with highlights including bagpipes, a rowing-machine contest featuring Ó Sé ’s fellow host Kathryn Thomas , and Ó Sé himself waving cheerleader pompoms at a shocked audience. There is more where that came from (aside from the pompoms) as the second half of the contest (RTÉ One, Tuesday, 8pm) gets under way.

[  The Rose of Tralee 2024 first night review: Card tricks, harp-playing and The Proclaimers parped out on the bagpipes Opens in new window  ]

First up on night two is the Donegal Rose, Niamh Shevlin, an Irish dancer who has appeared in Michael Flatley ’s Lord of the Dance and entered the contest as a tribute to her late aunt. She is followed by the Sligo Rose, Megan McCormack, a primary teacher and intercounty footballer from Gurteen, and then the London Rose, Glenna Mannion.

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Mannion’s interaction with Ó Sé is one of the more memorable in a generally dull opening half. It leads to an anecdote about Mannion’s sister meeting Pope Francis when he visited Ireland, in 2018, with viewers treated to a snap of said sibling kissing the pontiff on each cheek.

“Did she try to shift the pope?” Ó Sé wonders before Mannion reads the leaves from the mug of tea the MC has been chugging – and tips him as a future Late Late Show host. Either David Lynch has got back into film-making or it’s peak Rose of Tralee.

Later comes the New York Rose, Billie Cooper, who is originally from Cavan but lived in Singapore and China before her family moved to the United States. She tries to teach Ó Sé Chinese, with what might be described as middling results.

[  Patrick Freyne: I ooh as one Rose plays the spoons, aah as another risks ripping a hole in the space-time continuum Opens in new window  ]

The Roscommon Rose, Rachel Hastings, is first up after the break for the news – and talks about her budding career as an education influencer on Instagram. The Yorkshire Rose, Clídna Bailey-Doyle talks about the importance of her Irish identity and confirms she would cheer Ireland over England in soccer. Later the Westmeath Rose, Grace O’Connor, recites a moving poem dedicated to her late brother, Ryan.

As we await the verdict there is an unusual musical interlude featuring Sharon Shannon collaborating with the TikTok star Garron Noone – which culminates with everyone on stage shouting “diddly-doo” simultaneously, followed by Thomas presenting Shannon with a cut-out Ó Sé. (It’s tempting to crack a joke about it having the same cardboard content as the real thing.)

You could cut the tension with Ó Sé’s quiff as the winner is announced. As they wait, the only thing viewers can do is strap in and soak up the excitement, the pompoms and Ó Sé trying to say Tralee in Chinese and almost causing an international incident along the way.

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