My Sister’s Keeper tells of a thirteen-year old girl, Anna Fitzgerald, a
“designer baby” who was modified to be a perfect match for her older sister
Kate. Kate has been diagnosed with leukemia at two and needs a donor to donate
cord blood. Kate survives, and Anna spends the next thirteen years donating to
her sister whatever she needs – lymphocytes, granulocytes and bone marrow – as
she suffers relapse after relapse. But the final straw comes when Anna is asked
to donate a kidney to replace Kate’s failing one – Anna finds a lawyer,
Campbell Alexander, and sues her parents for the rights to her own body, thus
setting up the premise of the book.
From the moment we
are introduced to the Fitzgerald family, we know that there is something wrong,
not just with the daughter dying from leukemia, but with the other daughter,
who wants to sue her parents, and their only son, who is a delinquent who
drinks, does drugs, and sets empty buildings on fire. It’s obvious that both
Anna and her brother Jesse have been seriously neglected because of their
sister’s condition, which leads to the question: is Anna serious about not
wanting to donate her kidney, or is it just because she wants attention from
her parents?
It’s a difficult
moral dilemma that the Fitzgeralds face, and which we as readers contemplate as
well. On one hand, as a human being, Anna should have the rights to her own
body, and the right to refuse to donate the kidney if she wants to. After all,
what if her remaining kidney fails? Furthermore, there are other health risks
that come with doing an invasive surgery to remove her kidney, and as the book
points out, there is no medical benefit that Anna gains. But on the other hand,
if she does not do it, Kate will die. Should she risk her own health to save
her sister, even though it’s obvious that sooner or later (and probably sooner)
her sister will die anyway?
My Sister’s Keeper hit most of the right notes. I felt bad, even
indignant, for Jesse and Anna, since it’s clear that neither of their parents
really care about them. As Sara and Brian themselves state, they give up on
Jesse within a few years of his troublemaking, whereas they never really give
up on Kate and keep on trying to use Anna to save her, not even considering the
risks to Anna’s health. When Brian admitted on the stand that even though he
agreed that Anna should have the right to say no, he still wanted Anna to give
Kate the kidney, I felt terrible for him and his indecision.
The development of
the story is also quite well paced out. At first I found Anna a little
frustrating – first she files the case, then she keeps flip-flopping between
continuing with the lawsuit and just submitting to her parents. Every time she is
with her mother, she would agree to stop, but when she is with Campbell, she
would want to continue. It was irritating because she never really says what
she really wants, and is just upsetting everyone else in the book. In the end,
however, it is revealed that the one who wants the case filed is actually Kate,
who is tired of suffering and tired of making Anna suffer along with her, and
Anna actually does not mind donating the kidney to her sister (although she desires
her own freedom, it is not to the point of wanting her sister dead). This revelation
turns Kate into a much more sympathetic character.
However, I feel that
the story’s structure is a little too messy. It keeps switching point of view
from Anna, to Kate, to Campbell, to Sara, to Brian, to Jesse, even to Anna’s
guardian ad litem (meant to watch Anna and give her view on whether or not Anna
is old enough to make her own choices logically), Julia. That’s seven different
people, and because of that, I never felt invested in the characters or
emotionally attached to them. The story would have been more effective if a
larger portion of it is focused on Anna and Kate. The story should have been
all about them and their family; instead, a significant part of the story is
used to develop the romantic relationship between Julia and Campbell, which I don’t
see as being very important to the plot.
Another problem I have
with My Sister’s Keeper is the
ending. When the Judge finally rules in Anna’s favor, I thought the whole thing
is settled: Sara and Brian know what their daughter wanted at last, Anna
finally gets her wish (there is no doubt in my mind that she would donate the
kidney anyway, since she does not want Kate to die), Jesse understands that his
parents care about him too, although they are not always there for him. What I
did not expect is that Anna would die in a car accident. I feel that Anna’s
death is pointless – everything has already been resolved, why does Anna have
to die? Just to show her parents that they took her for granted? But that has
already been established and acknowledged during the court case? I feel that
Anna’s death is just Picoult trying to wring more tears from the reader, which is
unnecessary (if I want to weep copious amounts of tears, I would watch a Korean
melodrama).The story would have been better without the final twist.
All in all, My Sister’s Keeper is a satisfying book
with a slightly marred ending. Everyone gets their happy ending except Anna,
which is ironic since the whole book is about Anna fighting for what she wants
(and does not get in the end).
Rating: 3.5/5
For ages 11 and above
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