In the novel, My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult writes about the struggle of a thirteen-year-old girl named Anna forced to undergo multiple medical donations in order to keep her older sister, Kate, alive as she has acute promyelocytic leukemia. Usually, Anna is more than willing to help her sister as she has been doing it since the day she was born with her umbilical cord blood. But when Kate needs a new kidney and her parents insist Anna donates one of hers, Anna feels out of control of her own body and seeks the help of a lawyer. Although this means she has to testify in court against her own mother, she feels as if it’s the only way to take control of her life and be more than Kate’s savior sister.
Anna and Kate’s mother, Sara, is shocked when she receives the news that Anna has contacted a lawyer and at first accuses her of seeking attention. Sara represents herself in court due to her background in the law practice. During the trial, Sara’s son Jesse really begins to struggle as he feels so ignored and irrelevant. He begins to get involved with drugs and other criminal activity which only makes matters worse.
When the trial takes place, Anna reveals that her sister Kate had told her she wanted to die and wanted to stop undergoing all the treatments and surgical operations. Kate expressed that Anna’s kidney could very well not be enough to save her life and ultimately hurt Anna in the end and she wanted Anna to stand up for herself finally. The judge rules in Anna’s favor granting her the right to her body to make the decision against donating her kidney. But after a long-awaited victory for Anna, disaster strikes.
What I loved about this book was how the movie and the book end differently. So often, people watch movies based on books and think you can do without the more time-consuming option of reading. So I love that reading this book and watching the movie are two completely different experiences. I have an older sister of my own so I found myself not only seeing how the relationship between sisters was tested but also contemplated what I would do in this situation. Not only do I love this book but so does my mom. This shows how appealing the plotline and language in the novel is to all ages. Jodi Picoult did an amazing job writing a book filled with emotion, family bonds, and tough decisions.
