My Sister’s Keeper
Jami Lemon
March 20, 2014
Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, is a fictional story that follows a family struggling with one daughters fight to beat leukemia, and the journey of her other sister to keep her alive. The eldest daughter Kate, has leukemia and the youngest sister Anna was created to be a perfect genetic match, to donate blood and other parts of her necessary to keep her sister alive. The novel discusses the hard choices that a family suffering from the disease must endure, as well as the “typical” family activities that are missed out when dealing with the disease. The book is written beautifully to get to truly see how each family member feels about the situation, and this way it becomes clear that even though one person may have a disease, it affects the people around them greatly as well. The novel is told from the perspectives of Anna, her father, her brother Jesse, the attorney helping her and her mother, with one last section written by her sister Kate.
The novel is a story that covers a week and a half, starting on a Monday morning and ending on a Thursday. The book starts off with Anna’s perspective, she talks about her sisters leukemia, and how she was created to be a perfect genetic match for any donations needed to keep her sister alive. She also touches on some of her family members, and how her mother, Sara, shops online excessively because Anna believes it gives her control to return a situation she does not like. Anna’s brother Jesse has been the family delinquent for years to try and get attention from parents he believes do not have time to care about him. Lastly she talks about her father, a firefighter who is always the one who saves the day and is constantly putting out fires at work, and at home. Anna’s story is because Kate needs a kidney transplant that Anna is not willing to give up because this procedure will have life long affects for herself where as other procedures did not affect her health.
In the same day Anna goes to a pawn shop to try and sell a necklace to have enough money to pay a lawyer to get medical emancipation. A lawyer named Campbell Alexander agrees to take her on as a client probono as he does not think there is a way that any judge would not agree that a child should not donate a kidney unwillingly. Later that night at dinner Sara is upset by a t-shirt that Kate is wearing that has a crab on it and has “cancer” written on it, and Jesse comes into the house smelling like smoke, and Anna sits quietly without speaking. When Sara and the father, Brian, talk later about dinner, Sara is only able to talk about Kate and how she looked and acted, where as Brain is only concerned by Anna’s lack of appetite and attitude, showing the clear divide between the parents.
The next day while at the hospital, Sara, Kate and Anna talk about the upcoming kidney donation, during the conversation her mother is served the papers from the attorney stating that Anna is suing her parents. On the Thursday Campbell serves Sara papers for a restraining order from Anna, to avoid Sara persuading her into changing her mind about the lawsuit. After much confusion about where Anna should live, Brian decides that Anna and him should live in the fire station until the trial is over.
One important flashback is when Kate needed the bone marrow transplant and their insurance would not cover it, and even though Sara’s sister offers to pay, Brian says that firefighters from across the country have raised enough money to cover the surgery. It is only after the surgery that Brian admits he took some money out of Kate’s college fund, because he admits she will not be needing the money.
During the trial it is unclear as to why Anna filed the law suit as she does not seem to want to go through with it, and both parents struggle with the decision of which child to keep healthy and alive. On the Wednesday Anna reveals to the court that the reason she filed the law suit was not because she did not want to help her sister, but that her sister was done taking from her, and was ready to die. She simply did not want Anna to give up any more of her life, and she knew that her life was almost over, so she urged Anna to find a way to make her parents understand that Anna would not donate a kidney. On the last day of the trial, and the novel, Anna is granted medical emancipation, with the assistance of Campbell to make major decisions. However on the way to the hospital to visit Kate, Campbell and Anna are hit by an oncoming vehicle and Anna is taken to the hospital in critical condition, and once there is found to be brain dead. Due to the very recent ruling, Campbell is responsible for medical choices regarding Anna, so he decides that Kate will get Anna’s kidney, as this will save her life, which was the reason Anna was brought into the world. The last perspective in the book is from Kate, she talks about how her sister saved her life and that she is cancer free, and that she “took her place” because one of them had to die, but Anna was always the one saving her.
While reading this novel, I was overcome with how much a disease, that is physically only affecting one person, can shape and change the lives of people around them. If it were not for the leukemia, Anna may never have been born, Jesse may not rebel for attention, and the family could have gone on as a “normal” family instead of one that sued each other just to be heard. The novel talked briefly about the girls schooling, and how neither of them had many friends as they were often absent for medical procedures, or were seen as “the girl who is dying.” It made me realize how hard it would be to a child with a life threatening disease, or even her sister, and have people not want to be close to you, or just pity you. There was also a flash back of the family playing football, and Jesse tackled Kate and the whole family froze in anticipation of her being injured, and they were surprised when she sat up smiling. Kate was just excited that Jesse forgot for a moment that she was sick and fragile, which is such a sad moment when all a child wants is to be treated like everyone else but can not be. I think one of the bigger struggles would be wanting you’re child to grow up as normal as possible, even though that may not be an option. As someone with siblings I could not imagine having to make the choice to help my sister die, and knowing that I, or anyone could save her possibly. Having a life threatening disease would consume the whole family, and nothing would seem to matter except helping them get better. Throughout the book I continuously noticed the division between Sara and Brian, as it seemed Sara’s biggest concern was to keep Kate alive at any expense, not that she did not care for Anna, but that she was needed to keep her sister alive. Brian showed more compassion towards Anna’s situation and understood it was unfair of them to ask so much of her, and I believe he realized much earlier that Kate was going to die and that any time they had should be cherished. I was amazed by the courage it took for Kate to tell Anna she was ready to die, and that Anna was willing to sue her parents to try and get them to listen to the fact that Kate was ready to give up. Many people would not be able to make that choice and follow through with it. For most people, their first and only instinct would to be to help in any way possible, and I know I would for a family member, but the courage it takes to not help when asked not to, is much greater. There were also many references to astronomy and astrology, which I found very interesting, it is used mostly by Brian as a way of escaping from his job and family life, and gives him something positive to think about. They named Anna after Andromeda, which tells a story of a girl chained to a rock and set free by the death of someone she loved, which was ironic that Kate was set free by the death of someone she loved, when it was expected to be the other way around. The book as a whole brings many emotions up while reading, as you get to see the courage one family can have when battling a disease, and when it is time to stop fighting the inevitable.
Overall I felt the book was extremely well written in the way that it is clear how the disease affects each of her family members, and how Anna’s choices affected the family as well. It brings up many emotions and questions to ask yourself that often would not want to be asked, such as how you would react in the same situation. I would and have recommended this book to other people, as it causes people to reflect on their lives and think about how other people are affected by diseases or disabilities. It brings an awareness to how the person is struggling and how sensitive it can be for the loved ones around them at the same time.
Works Cited
Picoult, J. (2004). My Sister's Keeper: A Novel. New York: Atria Books.
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