My sister’s keeper is a story of a child that sues her parents for the right to her own body. Anna was conceived to be a donor to her sister Kate after she was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. It is set over a time of one and a half weeks and documents the journey of the Fitzgerald family as Anna decides she’s had enough and refuses to donate her kidney to her sister.
The narrative of the story alternates each chapter between different characters, this was a very interesting and captivating technique used by the author and made the novel unique. I liked the way we got to see the story from the point of view of many different people and seeing how they were affected by the events that unfolded
There were many different characters in the novel, however I felt the one that I connected with the most was Anna Fitzgerald. She stands out as the most conflicted character of the novel, and the plotline surrounds her struggle as she refuses to undergo any more medical procedures for the benefit of her sister. She wants to be the best sister she can to Kate, however she is tired of hiding behind her sister and wants to be independent, and although she feels awful about the decision she thinks it is the right thing to do.
The character of Sara Fitzgerald was also very interesting; throughout the novel she is motivated by her duty as a mother to keep Kate alive. This however hinders her relationship with her other two children, Jesse acts out by starting fires and Anna rebels by sueing her parents. Sara’s whole world revolves around Kate’s recovery and she becomes stressed and frustrated due to this.
The novel also had many interesting themes; one of the strongest of these is Love. Love between siblings, parents and children, spouses, boyfriend and girlfriend and even extended family members. The love that stands out the most however is the love between mother and daughter, Sara loves her daughter dearly and could not cope with the thought of her dying, she does everything she can for Kate. We also see love between Anna and Kate, Anna has undergone many operations and medical procedures to try to save her sisters life, and when a dramatic twist occurs in the novel we see that even though what Anna is doing to her sister may kill her, she is keeping her sisters best interests at heart.
The ending of the book was very shocking and effective, I felt that it was a huge climax in the novel and that it left us on edge until the very end.
My sister’s keeper is a very well written book about a very striking issue. Jodi Picoult envisaged the emotions of the characters very well and made the story flow very well. I really enjoyed reading it and would highly recommend it. It is now one of my favourite books and it much much better and more poignant than the film
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