Book review: My Sisters Keeper.

My Sisters Keeper.

I have read the novel ‘My Sisters Keeper’ which was written by Jodi Picoult. My Sisters Keeper tells the story of thirteen year old Anna Fitzgerald who wants to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. Anna a child who was conceived purely for her genetic makeup so that she can save her older sister Kate who is sick with a rare type of leukaemia called promyelocytic leukemia which is cancer of the blood and bone marrow.  Anna was only supposed to be used once to help her sister and this was when she was born, when they used blood from Anna’s umbilical cord.  But as the years went on Kate went in and out of remission and every time she relapsed Anna would be used to donate blood and bone marrow. But now she is thirteen her sister has kidney failure and her parents have asked her to donate one of her kidneys to once again save her sister’s life. Anna decides she doesn’t want to donate her kidney and go through another painful procedure she just wants it to end and her decision of ending it all as she knows might mean ending her sister’s life also. Anna decides to hire a lawyer Cambell Alexander who will represent her in court when she files to be medically emancipated from her parents, this will mean her parents cannot make medical decisions for her. Over the years Kate’s illness has caused huge strain on the Fitzgerald family causing devastating effects, Jesse Anna’s older brother has gone completely of the rails and tries to get attention from his mother and father by drinking, smoking, taking drugs and setting things on fire. While Anna believes that by suing her parents they will listen to her more. The trail also put a huge strain on Anna and her mother’s relationship throughout the book and Anna moves out of the family home and moves in with her father at the fire station where he works.

The book is told over the course of two weeks leading up to and after the trail, during the book you are brought right back to the beginning before Anna was even born. It is narrated in each chapter by a different character so you get the views of Anna, her mother Sara, her father Brain, her brother Jesse, her laywer Cambell Alexander and her guardian ad litem Julia. I found this way of writing the book very interesting as you got the view from each angle. I taught the most interesting narrator was Sara Fitzgerald, she loves both her daughters equally and wants Kate to live but this means putting her other daughter through painful medical procedures. In some ways I feel she was being selfish but I can also see that she loves Kate and cant bare to see her die when she knows that Anna can keep her alive for a little while longer. But I believe that donating a kidney is just a bit too much, blood and bone marrow is a renewable source but a kidney isn’t and in later life could cause big problems for her daughter.

The novel deals with themes such as love, conflict, sorrow and regret. The novel ends with a dramatic climax that in my view made it an amazing read. I also learned a lot while reading this book about the illness itself but also the strain the illness put on a family which in my view could either make or break one. I would recommend this book to anyone it was a great read.

I would give this novel a four out of five because at times when you’re changing between characters it can get a bit confusing as they tended to have flash backs which were sometimes hard to follow.