Sunday, November 27, 2011

Book Review: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult


I heard about this novel for the first time in the summer of 2009. That was my first summer at BYU and my roommate had read and loved this book. The movie came out that summer, and I went to see it with her. The movie was phenomenal, touching, and very thought-provoking. My roommate told me the ending was completely different from the book's ending, so I've known the book ending since then. I found the novel My Sister's Keeper for $3.00 a few weeks ago, and had to buy it.

This novel is tough. It's a tough subject to read about, and Picoult does a fantastic job of making you feel. Basically, Anna was a genetically engineered baby so that she would be a perfect match - the ultimate donor - for her older sister, Kate, who has been fighting cancer since she was a toddler. At age 13, Anna decides she is done; she is tired of going through surgeries and procedures that have the potential to harm her. So she sues her parents for the rights to her own body.

Picoult is a fantastic author. She did her research very well - she knows her medical and legal terms. The story is told from different points of view, and she writes in a unique voice for each character. The character's each heave their own individual story that gets wrapped up in the whole, and she does a wonderful job of wrapping up all the story lines.

I really liked this novel, and I do recommend it. It was not completely clean; probably PG-13. And if you're looking for a warm fuzzies sort of book, this is not it. This one pulls at your heart and makes you really think.
Let me know your opinion.

1 comment:

Canada said...

I actually really enjoyed the book (even with the rather clunky writing and unsubtle characterizations), and then the ending comes and I start screaming "What? You've gotta be kidding me!" It betrayed the entire premise of the book. It betrayed the characters. It certainly betrayed the reader. I will never read another book by this purveyor of pulp, and I refuse to go see the movie unless I am assured beforehand that they have re-written the ending so it makes sense with the rest of the story.