My Sister’s Keeper By Jodi Picoult

What’s it like to be the parent of a terminally ill child? What if science could create a genetic match in an embryo that might save that child? What might happen if the donor child grew up and no longer wanted to help? These are the questions explored by Jodi Picoult in My Sister’s Keeper. It is a gripping story with compelling characters.

My Sister’s Keeper is the story of a family caught up in the cycle of a daughter’s illness. Kate has a rare form of Leukemia and the odds are stacked against her. The novel begins with her sister Anna seeking legal counsel to sue her parents for the right to take control of her body. She has been donating stem cells, blood, and bone marrow since she was born and she wants to cease donating to her sister Kate. Her mother, however, desperately wants Anna to proceed, believing that Anna will regret it later if her sister dies.

Anna’s Mom expects her to donate a kidney, but it isn’t clear that the kidney would save Kate’s life. Anna’s motivation for not donating isn’t clear either, until the end of the story. In the meantime, other adults speak for Anna and the control she seeks is elusive once the court case begins.

Jodi Picoult is the Bruce Springsteen of contemporary fiction. A superstar, she writes with the conviction that her medium has a social purpose beyond entertainment. Picoult isn’t afraid to broach controversial topics about the struggles of daily American life and reflect on them from all angles. She gets us considering the emotional consequences of decisions we make as a family. The brilliance of her writing is that she explores how a character feels and helps us sympathize with their circumstances.

My Sister’s Keeper is perhaps her most famous novel, complete with a movie. If you like to stick with one author and like contemporary topics, then Jodi Picoult is a great choice! Out now is House Rules about a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Review by: Jackie Powell