| Product: |
My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult |
| Date: |
22.02.06 (391 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Emotional gripping read, well written
Disadvantages: Made me cry!
Every now and again you read a book that really gets to you. That touches deep to the core and leaves you thinking about it long after you have finished reading it. Well for me this was one of those books.
In the last few months I had read several book reviews about Jodie Picoult and they were all really positive. I had never read any of her books but just before Christmas I was ordering Christmas presents from The Book People and saw a set of three of her books for only £5.99, unable to resist a bargain and intrigued to try them out for myself I bought them. This is a review of the first book that I read which is "My Sisters Keeper".
The Plot
Anna is a 13 year old girl, a very special 13 year old girl. This is because she was conceived specially for her genetic make-up in order to save her sister Kate who has leukaemia. Initially the only thing she was to give was the blood from the umbilical cord but as the years have gone by and Kate has kept having relapses Anna has had to go through several painful operations and transfusions to provide blood and bone marrow to keep her sister alive.
Anna decides she doesn't want to do this anymore she wants to be a person in her own right and not just the one that people come to when they need something for Kate. So she takes matters into her own hands, approaches a lawyer and takes her parents to court to fight for the right to make decisions about the medical interventions, the rights to her own body.
This decision has far-reaching consequences for her relationship with her parents and her relationship with her sister. But far more importantly her sister's life hangs in the balance if she decides she does not want to undergo any more medical intervention.
The story examines the emotions of main characters and how they react to the situation they are faced. It also examines their past experiences and gives us more of an understanding of what they have been through and why they feel the way they do.
The Characters
I am not going to go into the characters in a lot of detail as you get to know them all well in the book. However the main characters are Anna and her sister Kate. They also have a brother Jesse who has gone off the rails and their parents don't know what he is up to. Sara and Brian are the parents. Sara spends all her time looking after the children, mainly dealing with Kate's health problems and ferrying her back and forward from the hospital. Brian is a fire-fighter and although feel in control when fighting fires feels out of control at home.
Campbell is the lawyer that Anna hires, a mysterious complex character who has a "service dog" but won't divulge what is wrong with him. Finally Julia is the person appointed by the court to try to work out what they think is in Anna's best interests. She knows Campbell from the past and they appear to have had some history.
My Thoughts
As you can probably tell from the short description above this is an emotional book. The author has chosen a very emotive subject but also one which is very topical in today's society with more so called "designer babies" being conceived. For many parents it will strike a chord making them ask to what extremes would they be willing to go to, to save their child. Would they put the health and wellbeing of one child at risk because if they don't the other will die? You can't read this book without asking yourself, what would I do in those circumstances.
I liked the style that the author chose to write this book. The story is told first-hand but the narrator changes with each chapter. This works well giving us a deeper understanding of what the characters are feeling and lets the reader really feel they are getting to know the character and can empathise with them.
It is obvious that Jodi Picoult carried out a lot of research in order to write this novel. In the acknowledgement page at the start of the novel she thanks various people for their help in both the medical terminology and the fire information. The fact she has carried out this research helps the reader to feel that what they are reading about is or could be actually happening, it's very realistic. However I feel that in some places she goes into far too much detail about the medical ins and outs of leukaemia, in these places in the book I don't think the excess detail adds anything to the story its almost as if she is trying a little too hard.
The novel has a gradual build up in tension and anticipation working towards the court case. You start reading this book and you can't put it down. There wasn't anywhere in the book that I felt the story dragged, the pace is good throughout.
I won't give any clues to the ending of the book but will say that my husband came back into the lounge and asked me if I had finished reading the book and I just burst into tears! I cry quite easily but this book certainly did get to me. Towards the end of the book you are trying to guess how it will finish but you just don't know. Jodi Picoult has said that her son read the book himself and at the end she found him crying on the sofa and he stormed up to his room unable to speak to her because he was that angry at her!
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a gripping read about people, emotions and relationships. It's well written and will keep you reading to find out what happens. All I recommend is that you have a box of tissues ready because it's a book that gets you.
The Author
Jodi Picoult is 38 and has already written 11 novels including The Pact and Salem Falls. She was born in Long Island and now lives in New Hampshire with her husband and 3 children. She writes novels about family and the tangle of relationships. The political and scientific discussions over cloning and DNA were what sparked the inspiration for "My Sisters Keeper" but Jodi Picoult wanted to look at the dilemma from a personal level. As she so perfectly puts it "If you use one of your children to save the life of another, are you being a good mother… or a very bad one?"
Other Information
When I looked at Jodi Picoults website I came across a list of questions suitable for use in book club discussions which I thought were quite interesting. One was something I hadn't noticed before and got me thinking, the question is "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?" If you have read this book go back and read the prologue the bit where the person is reflecting back to their earliest memories and you will see what I mean.
At the end of the book she includes the first chapter of The Pact another of her novels. So I am off to read that next.
ISBN 0-340-83546-X
Pages - 407
RRP £6.99 for paperback but £3.99 in Amazon or £5.99 for three of her books from The Book People
Summary: Excellent book about a girl who takes her parents to court for the rights to her body
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