My Sister's Keeper By Jodi Picoult

by Kaitlin
(Illinois)

If your child was dying, how far would you go to save their life? In the novel My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult this is the question the author poses. Kate is dying of a rare cancer, so her parents, Sarah and Brian decide to have a genetically matched child in attempts to cure her. The result of this is a ‘perfect match’ daughter named Anna. By the time Anna is thirteen years old she has already had surgeries trying to help Kate. When a bone marrow procedure is pushed upon Anna, who has no choice whether she does these surgeries or not she makes a difficult decision. Even though she has a close relationship with her sister, she wants to get a law suit against her parents for rights to her own body.
By just reading the back cover of the book I knew I was very interested in this topic. It really is something to think about, what would be the stopping point? Before reading the book I had my preconceptions about who was right and wrong, but one of the things I love about Jodi Picoult books are that each chapter is from a different character’s point of view. This book was very intriguing, emotional, and heart wrenching and left me speechless at parts.
This book would most interest teenage girls and also women of any age because of the characters. I felt I could somewhat relate to Anna, Being forgotten or ignored at times happens to many teenage girls with other siblings. And many older women or mothers would like to read this because they would be able to relate to the mother, Sarah. She tries to do everything for Kate, while leaving Anna out in the cold. Both audiences’ would love to read this novel to realize all the amazing things in their life.
All in all, this book was amazing. It had everything, the sad, heartbreaking moments as well as the inspirational, uplifting moments.