Posted on September 30th, 2009 at 10:23 pm by nicoleiv and
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Summer is a very hectic time for many people. While teens do not have to wake up for school and are not overwhelmed by homework, they are always on the move. Whether it is heading off to sports, hanging out with friends, or even just relaxing, people are always “busy”. I happen to fall under this category and even though I am busy I still make time to read. Sometimes it is optional and sometimes it is required but no matter the reason, I have discovered books that I will never forget.
Many people don’t realize how truly gifted they are. They go about living their lives day to day constantly complaining about how they have no friends, or how they hate their body, and sometimes even go to extremes over petty issues. They don’t realize how good they have it until they hear about a family like the Fitzgeralds, who are the main characters in My Sister’s Keeper. Kate is the Fitzgerald’s oldest child and has battled leukemia for practically her whole life. However, the storyline does not stop there, but continues to show how it affects the family as a whole, taking a heavy toll on Kate’s younger sister Anna, her younger brother, Jesse, and the relationship between all of them and their parents.
Anna is equally as important as Kate and is the perfect definition of a “designer baby”, but not for any ordinary reason. She was created to save her sister. Her parents designed her to be a genetic match donor for Kate. Ever since the moment she was born, Anna has given components of her body to her sister to save her. These include cord blood, bone marrow, white blood cells, etc. Now she is being asked to give a kidney but refuses and instead files a lawsuit against her own parents. Meanwhile, Jesse is overwhelmed and neglected and heads down the wrong path of drugs, alcohol, and crime. He has always struggled with numerous aspects of life such as school and took his anger out by setting objects on fire, usually buildings. In addition to all of this, as expected, Anna’s parents have different reactions to this lawsuit which causes hostility between them. On more than one occasion, these devastating and simultaneous events causes the family to teeter on the edge of meltdown and ultimate disaster.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who reads. However, I will put up a sign of caution because this book is an emotional rollercoaster. It will have you crying and laughing, and then will have you scared for the characters and even your own life. It will also have you wondering why in the world you ever complained about your own life when you could actually be much, much worse off. Even if this book isn’t the type of book you normally read, I still suggest you do because it is a great eye-opener and can teach you many things. It discusses medical and law issues for science or political people and definitely incorporates the emotional and dramatic side for the more sentimental person. This book is very versatile and definitely worthwhile.
In conclusion, My Sister’s Keeper is a spectacular book and I am very glad to have come across it. In addition to being a very memorable and influential book on its own, it relates to other books that I have read such as Angela’s Ashes and Kite Runner in which the characters have had to rise up and take on a challenge in a bad situation. My Sister’s Keeper has anything any person would want from a movie, book, or magazine all packed into its pages and is also a quick-read because you will never put the book down. It has the average amount of pages a normal book would, but because the reader gets roped into its every loophole the book will unfortunately go by quickly and seem rather short. Once again, I encourage you to read My Sister’s Keeper and other books by Jodi Picoult because they are captivating, educational, emotional, and most important, inspiring to any person who hears that “crack” as theyopen to the very first page.
