Jessica Best
EDUC-2530-005
March 6, 2014
Mike Link
My Sister’s Keeper- A Book Review by Jessica Best
In Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, the Fitzgerald’s face the struggle of childhood cancer, specifically, acute promyelocytic leukemia. Kate Fitzgerald was diagnosed with the often life-taking disease at the young age of two years old, and because her older brother Jesse was not a match to donate for Kate, Anna was conceived through in vitro so she would be an exact genetic match. Picoult tells the fictional story through multiple first person narratives, including Anna, her mother Sarah, her father Brian, her older brother Jesse, campbell the lawyer, as well as Julia who acts as Anna’s guardian ad litem. Much of the novel is told in the present, however Sarah’s narratives act as flashbacks which start from the time Kate was diagnosed at the age of two, and slowly move towards the present.
The novel begins with Anna, who is presently thirteen years old, going to see a lawyer in order to get medical emancipation from her parents. Campbell Alexander thinks Anna is a joke and is about to send her off to planned parenthood, until she explains to him that she has been undergoing medical procedure after medical procedure in order to keep her sister alive, and in fact, this was the reason she was brought into this world. Anna’s story hits close to home for Campbell, as he is a closeted epileptic, and he passionately takes on Anna’s case for no cost.
The story begins to get tumultuous when Sarah is served the papers at the hospital and becomes furious with Anna for going against the family and her sister Kate, when she knows that if she stops donating, that Kate will die. Brian however tries to see Anna’s side of things which results in a strain on their marriage. While all of this is going on, the eldest child, Jesse, is continuing down his rebellious path, burning down buildings as his father tries to put out the fires. The dramatics continue in the story as Julia Romano, who happens to be Campbell’s long lost high school sweetheart, is assigned to be Anna’s guardian ad litem, forcing her to overcome her resentful feelings towards Campbell while they work together on Anna’s case.
Due to tension in the house, Brian takes Anna to stay at the fire station and things become rockier as Kate's kidney failure becomes serious and Anna refuses to change her mind about kidney donation and yet another surgery. The living arrangement is also beneficial to Brian, as Sarah decides to represent herself and Brian in the lawsuit, giving him time to decide whether he will side with Anna or Sarah. In the end he sides with Sarah, and throughout the extensive court dates and questionings, it is revealed by Anna that it was Kate who wanted her to get medical emancipation from her parents, as she felt she was the reason everyone in her family was so unhappy. Campbell and Julia have a break through in the courtroom as well, as his very public seizure leaves him with no excuse to lie to Julia anymore about why he left her in the first place.
In the end Campbell and Anna win the case, but while in the car with Campbell on their way to go see Kate in the hospital, they are in a terrible accident that results in Anna’s death. Anna’s kidney ends up going to Kate and saving her life, however the family is still left with the burden of burying a child, it just happened to be the one they thought would live.
Throughout the novel, Picoult does an excellent job of illustrating the complexity of situations, and how there is always another side to the story. While reading this novel I found myself empathizing with nearly every character in the story. I love the way Picoult tells the story from so many points of view, as it allowed me to understand that many people deal with stress and crisis in a different way, and how your position in a crisis can greatly affect the way you feel it should be dealt with. A great example is Jesse; it would be so easy as an outsider looking in, to judge him for being so rebellious because he has a sister that is sick and he shouldn’t be complicating the situation any further, or taking away his parents energy to deal with his problems which are so minor in comparison. However Picoult gives a very realistic portrayal of a child who is lost in the chaos. She reminds us that amidst a crisis, such as a child near death, the normal aspects of life still happen, whether they are convenient or not. I think that My Sister’s Keeper is a novel that really grabs your attention, and makes it impossible to put down because the entire story is shocking. Most thirteen year old children do not sue their parents, most parents do not have to consistently dance around the conversation of a child’s funeral plans, and most children are not conceived for the benefit of a sibling, and the ending of this novel follows suit as it is very unexpected. I should have seen a shock like this coming, as I have read Picoult novels before and often they have a twist, but none the less, I was fully expecting to mourn Kate’s somewhat of a suicide after a long battle with her disease, but I was left mourning a different character. The end was so heartbreaking as it only highlighted my sympathy for Sarah and Brian, as it seems that things only get harder for them.
Overall I really enjoyed this novel. I loved that she chose such challenging topics to write about, and really showed every aspect of both the struggles and joys the Fitzgerald’s went through. The novel did great justice to the strength and dynamics of the family as Picoult does not try to paint a picture of a super-human family that makes every decision correctly. Rather, Picoult paints a very realistic picture of a family dealt a stressful situation, and sheds light on the idea that one needs to stop and think about the complexities of a situation before judging someones choices. I think Picoult set out to show her readers that the horrors of childhood cancer do not stop at the child and parents, it truly affects every single aspect of their life, from big to small, important to less important, everything is tainted by the disease and everyone is changed and forced to adapt to what life has become. In my opinion, Picoult succeeded in what she set out to do, and therefore I would recommend this novel. Although this novel is meant to educate people on the effects of childhood cancer on the family unit, it is friendly to a wider range of readers as it is a fictional story, therefore I would recommend this novel not only to those who want to widen their views on childhood cancer, but anyone who enjoys fictional novels.
Picoult, J. (2004). My Sister’s Keeper. New York: Atria Books.
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