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My Sister's Keeper

2009 | Fiction & Poetry

"New York Times" bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

"My Sister's Keeper" examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in "My Sister's Keeper, " Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.



Published by Pocket Books

Edition Unknown
ISBN 9781439157268
Language English
Edition Paperback
ISBN 9780743454537
Language English
Edition Paperback
ISBN 9781439157381
Language English
Edition Paperback
ISBN 9780340835463
Language English
Edition Unknown
ISBN 9780340918623
Language English
Edition Paperback
ISBN 9780340918616
Language English

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Taylor

Added this item on Oct 17, 2017

My Sister's Keeper Reviews & Ratings (52)
9-10
44.2% (23)
7-8
30.8% (16)
5-6
17.3% (9)
3-4
3.8% (2)
1-2
3.8% (2)

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My Sister's Keeper reviews from people you don't follow
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Sammeh Lowry (15 KP) rated

Jul 13, 2019  
My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
I loved this book even if it made me cry constantly i loved every characters relationships and how angry i got at some and then sad and then understanding.This book had me go on a roller-coaster of emotions and i absolutely loved it it is well worth a read i couldn't put it down
(1)   
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Leah Lopez (7 KP) rated

Nov 6, 2019  
My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have read the majority of Jodi Picoult books. She knows how to write a good controversial book, making you see both sides to the story. The characters, in their own rights, are very likeable. My sister's keeper is a very powerful write, and it makes you realise just how fragile life can be. The film with Cameron Diaz was a bit poor, and there was a lot that was missing, and added that was not in the book.
  
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gayga (2128 KP) rated

Jun 21, 2019  
My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
The ending, OMG!!! (0 more)
It takes a while to pick up (0 more)
Wow!
Contains spoilers, click to show
When Kate Fitzgerald is discovered to have leukaemia her parents aren’t a match for platelets and a kidney. So they have a “designer baby” to help Kate. But what happens when Anna decides she doesn’t want to help anymore.

I’d heard of the book and the film but hadn’t read/seen either. I sat up all last night to finish the book and spent 20 mins crying once I was done.

If you expect it to be mushy, it’s not really. It took a little time to get into but it was well worth it! I don’t know if the film is anything like the book, but it does make me inclined to see it (when I recover from the book. Definitely a book I’ll keep to read again!!!
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated

Dec 7, 2018  
My Sister's Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
“If you use one of your children to save the life of another, are you being a good mother or a very bad one?”

<i>My Sister’s Keeper </i>was the first Jodi Picoult novel I read. (I have since read all Picoult’s books to date) I was not expecting much when I first picked it up, especially as I was reading it for a medical ethics module at college. Yet this book rekindled my love of reading and suddenly, after only reading one story, I was asking for Jodi Picoult books for my birthday.

Many people may be familiar with the storyline, even if they have not read the book, as <i>My Sister’s Keeper</i> shot to fame when the film version hit the cinemas. Thirteen-year-old Anna Fitzgerald was Rhode Islands first genetically engineered baby, created with the purpose of providing her older sister Kate with the means to survive acute promyelocytic leukemia. However over the next few years Kate relapses resulting in Anna going under numerous procedures, such as bone marrow extraction, in order to save Kate’s life. Now things have got so bad that Kate will die unless Anna gives up one of her kidneys, yet unwilling to do this Anna hires a lawyer, Campbell Alexander, to sue her parents for the rights of her own body.

From reading a synopsis the reader can already see that <i>My Sister’s Keeper</i> is going to be an emotional story, but what was it that made me love the author so much?

The story was told from six points of view: Anna, Jesse (older brother), Sara (mother), Brian (father), Campbell and Julie (guardian ad litem). Notice that Kate was not one of the narrators, which leads us to speculate from the very start that Anna wins the case and Kate dies. Despite the six main characters there is no antagonist – unless you count cancer – and in all of them the reader can find something relatable.

In one of the chapters, Jesse pronounces that Kate is the martyr, Anna the peacekeeper and himself the lost cause. With Anna we can recognize the struggle to follow the decisions laid down for us by other people – a time when we have no choice of our own. Jesse represents the times when we have been ignored and forgotten because of bigger or more important events, thus resulting in attention seeking behaviour. Brian, the firefighter, the man who wants to save everyone, cannot put out the metaphorical fire that is his family. Sara, whose narrative starts in the past rather than present day, shows us how easy it is to get wrapped up in one problem (or daughter), ignoring everything (or everyone) else.

One thing that is great about all Picoult’s novels is that they are not focused on one storyline. Granted this book is focused on the trial and Kate’s illness, but the inclusion of Campbell and Julia’s voices provide an interesting subplot. Julia is not exactly thrilled to discover that she will be working alongside Campbell, a person she knew from school that she had a difficult past with. Since then Julia has found herself unlucky in love and blames Campbell for this. Campbell on the other hand has been having trouble of his own and now needs a service dog with him at all times. Yet he is self conscious about people knowing the true reason behind this and often comes up with creative lies to stop people from asking questions. “Maybe if God gives you a handicap, he makes sure you’ve got a few extra doses of humor to take the edge off.”

Another reason Picoult’s books are so great is that the reader learns something every time. <i>My Sister’s Keeper</i> is full of medical and legal jargon, which may go over some people’s heads, but it is also bursting with random bits of knowledge, for example the way a fire should be treated, facts about astronomy and many other interesting details that the characters use as metaphors to describe their experiences.

Without taking into account Picoult’s novels and writing style as a whole, <i>My Sister’s Keeper</i> is a story that will stay in people’s hearts and minds for a long time. It is never revealed who the narrator of the prologue was, but we immediately assume that it is Anna and that she wants Kate to die. By the end, we are still unsure who the character was but if it was Anna we see it in a completely different light. This is not a book about whether it is ethical for Anna to be Kate’s donor; it is not a story about cancer. Instead it is a message about the right for each person to have choices in regards to their lives.

A warning to potential readers: this book could break your heart, shock you or leave you in tears. <i>My Sister’s Keeper</i> is full of irony. Some of that makes up part of the story line, for instance Jesse’s experimentation with arson – fires that are then put out by his father. But the biggest sense of irony, the biggest shock is the ending (FYI this is the complete opposite to the film ending). After everything that has been achieved, devastating circumstances result in the same conclusion that it would have had Anna sat back and done nothing. Yet this does not make it a pointless story, despite Anna’s actions almost tearing the family apart, it also wakes them from the stupor that Kate’s illness has put them in and makes them realise how precious everything else in their life is too.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, and if you have not read a Jodi Picoult novel before I strongly suggest you begin with this one. It is suitable for adult and adolescent readers, especially those who like to think about hypothetical, moral questions. <i>My Sister’s Keeper</i> definitely gets you questioning your own choices and actions within your own life and may even make you view the world slightly differently.
  
My Sister's Keeper reviews from people you don't follow
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Smoorgan (8 KP) rated

Oct 20, 2018  
My Sister&#039;s Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
Emotionally gripping (1 more)
Hard to put down
This book had me gripped to the story cover to cover. I struggled to put it down and felt emotionally connected to the characters throughout.
  
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Louise (64 KP) rated

Jul 2, 2018  
My Sister&#039;s Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
6
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wasn't the best book i have read... was a bit disappointed. didn't cry like everyone else maybe i have a heart of stone!! I will definitely watch the film now i have read the book.
  
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Lindsay (1760 KP) rated

Feb 15, 2018  
My Sister&#039;s Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
The story will make your heartbroken. I know there a movie called the same thing but the ending has changed from the books ending. If you watched the movie before reading this book your are going to get surprise ending either way but especially by the book ending.

Anna doe go to court hearing to get a medical emancipation from her parents. You see how each member of the family is suffering from her older sister Kate illness. It is something you should have tissures around for it a bit sad. You also start to understand the movie a bit but I really like the book better then the movie. Though I was shock to see what sister dies in book.
  
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Kai (5 KP) rated

Nov 29, 2017  
My Sister&#039;s Keeper
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.1 (52 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oh my giddy aunt. This book was amazing! I was so shocked by the ending but it was perfect in another way. Not sure about the lack of info around what happened (don't want to give spoilers) but bloody hell. 10/10 would recommend.