Book Review: "My Sister's Keeper"

When I first retired from teaching six years ago, I looked forward to reading for pleasure--not just to keep up with the titles I required my AP English students to read. And I have managed to read a great deal in that time. I am always on the lookout for a new author and an interesting story. I recently read all of Philippa Gregory's historical fiction works about the Tudors and enjoyed them very much. I was pleased that my intellectual curiosity was still intact when I found myself searching online to verify certain events or characters in the novels.

However, I was at a loss as what to read next after I finished these stories. Since I volunteer at our local county library, (what else would a former English teacher do?) I get the opportunity to browse many titles while shelving the books. One day as I was working in the PIC fiction section, I noticed an intriguing cover and title. It was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and had a lovely photo of two young girls posed back-to-back in ballet outfits. I knew that Jodi Picoult was a popular author but I had yet to read any of her works. Since I had practically raised my youngest sister, this title appealed to me. I checked it out and then read the blurb on the back cover only to discover this was not anywhere near the story of the Simpson sisters of West Texas.

This was a story "ripped from the headlines" as they say. It dealt with stem cells and "designer babies," the ethics of politicians and the emotions of a family in a very strange turmoil. I almost didn't read it, but I am so glad I didn't let the blurb discourage me. Far from the checkout counter tabloid reading I imagined, this was a poignant page-turner that left me with a lot of questions and no easy answers.

Picoult paints a heart-wrenching portrait of a family dealing with a dying child. Each chapter is devoted to a different character's point of view on the matter of Kate's impending death. This style of prose enhances the overall perspective of the story. Over the course of the novel you discover what makes these people the way they are and why they respond as they do to their terrible situation. As a reader you can also see that the adults and children actually learn from each other, a seeming rarity in today's literature.

This isn't just a chronicle of a family waiting for the death of a child; it goes so much deeper. We are immersed in a justice system that isn't prepared for the advanced medical technology of today. We are also forced to take a hard look at the medical ethics and morality involved in putting one human being in pain or danger for the well being of another.

The main plot deals with a young girl who was conceived and born to save her older sister by being a "donor." This young girl has over the years saved her sister through numerous medical procedures. However, Anna is now seeking medical emancipation even though her sister will surely die without her continued help. This is just the beginning of the complexity of sibling rivalry, parental angst, and medical/judicial melodrama.

If it all sounds cut and dried, it isn't by any means. We meet a family entangled in a truly horrible situation. Unfortunately, not all the characters are finely drawn. Sara, the mother, is perhaps the most poorly developed character. You wonder how she really feels about BOTH her daughters, not just the dying Kate. Her feelings are often not believable and she isn't always a sympathetic character. On the other hand, her husband is a firefighter in both the literal and figurative sense. He tries to maintain balance in the family while keeping Jesse, his pyromaniac son, from acting out what the rest of the family feels.The dying daughter, Kate, is resigned to her fate and does not judge her sister for wanting to be free of her biological burden. You cannot hate Anna who is tired of doing "What's right" and making the sacrifices she was bred for. She is a remarkably delineated character and the reader is captured by her plight. Adding to this tragic family is a guardian ad litem appointed by the court and a consulting doctor who have a past relationship. This relationship provides a very interesting and thought-provoking subplot for the novel. It's one of those "I didn't see it coming" twists in the plot. Not only do the doctor and his dog provide much needed humor, but also evoke questions of ethics and morality.

I love mysteries but can usually figure out "who dunnit?" before the actual denouement. This book isn't a mystery, but it has a wallop of an ending that I doubt you'll see coming. The ending may seem overly melodramatic; however, it raises some haunting questions of spirituality and morality. I thought about this book and its resolution for days. It is formulated from many layers that the reader isn't aware of until the final page. For this reason it's a great selection for a book discussion group and will no doubt be argued on many levels. I have read several of the author's other novels, but in my opinion, they don't measure up to the experience that is My Sister's Keeper.