For the Transition year Summer English assessment, we were told to choose a book from a very varied list, read it, and write a review on it, I chose 'My Sister's Keeper' by Jodi Picoult. My Sister's Keeper is a very moving book about a thirteen year old girl who requests a court case in order to sue her parents for medical emancipation. This girl, Anna Fitzgerald, is requesting the court case for a good reason as her teenage sister, Kate has Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia and Anna was conceived especially to be a perfect genetic match with Kate and has spent her whole young life in the hospital donating blood, marrow and whatever else her sister needs to survive her battle with leukaemia. Now after being asked to donate one of her kidneys to Kate, Anna decides this is the last straw which is why she files for rights to her own body.
This book tells the story of the Fitzgerald family during the trial, both the trial that is the court case, and the trial that is Kate's long sickness. The book is written in an unusual way, each chapter is from a different character's viewpoint. The characters in the book who talk from their personal viewpoint in each chapter are, Sara and Brian Fitzgerald who are Kate and Anna's parents, Kate and Anna's brother Jesse, Anna and Kate themselves, Campbell Anna's lawyer and Julia Romano, a woman who is advising Anna during the trial and who was a love interest of Campbell's.
The author evokes the physical and emotional toll a desperately sick child imposes on a family, even a close and loving one like the Fitzgeralds. Anna decided to move out of the family home to be apart from her mother as Sara tries on many occasions to make Anna drop the trial. She moves in with her dad, Brian, at the fire station where he works as a fireman. Brian decides to take Anna’s side of the trial, as he never wanted to put Anna through the hardship of the donations in the first place. Sara is shocked by Brian’s decision, but Brian refuses to change his mind. During the long, tiresome trial, during which the Fitzgerald family were falling apart, during the trial, it is revealed that Kate asked Anna to sue for emancipation because she did not want Anna to have to transplant, and because she believes that she will die anyway.
One of the main points of the book is when Kate meets a boy, Taylor, in the hospital while she is having chemo. He is two years her senior but they hit it off straight away. They become inseparable, helping each other through their treatments. Taylor invites Kate to the hospital dance. This is Kate's time to shine and finally feel beautiful during her tough illness. She finds a perfect dress and goes to the dance with Taylor feeling euphoric. After having an amazing night with Taylor, who appears to be the love of her life, Kate tries to contact him numerous times but she has no luck. She is extremely upset as she thinks she has done something to upset him, but when she goes back to hospital a few days later for more chemo, Sara asks a nurse has she heard from Taylor, and the nurse breaks the hard news that Taylor had passed away the day after the dance. Kate is heartbroken.
Used to being ignored by his troubled parents, Jesse has become a delinquent, taking drugs, committing arson and forever in trouble. In the middle of the book, Jesse starts a fire in a school and his father Brian, is called to distinguish it. He discovers a cigarette butt at the scene and realises it's the same brand that Jesse smokes. He confronts Jesse expecting him to lash out, but Jesse finally breaks down in his father's arms, showing his bottled emotions for the first time in the book. Fortunately for Jesse, his father forgives his difficult behaviour and by the end of the book, he's changed his ways and is a graduated guard.
We discover throughout the book that Campbell and Julia were young lovers but when Campbell is diagnosed with epilepsy, he left her and broke her heart because he thought she deserves better. Their fate is also happy, at the end of the book, all is forgiven and they get back together.
Not everything can be a happy ending though, which is evident by the end of the book. After successfully winning the court case and being granted medical emancipation, Anna is on her way home in the car with Campbell, when they are hit head-on by an oncoming truck. Anna, who is unconscious, is retrieved by Brian while Campbell is brought to the hospital with an arm injury. The doctors tell Anna's parents that she is brain dead and is only being kept alive by a machine. The doctor gives her parents the option to turn off the machine in order to donate one of Anna's kidney's to Kate, even though Kate had asked Anna to request medical emancipation so she can die. Campbell decides to make the decision for them as he now has power of attorney. Anna's machine is switched off and her kidney is successfully donated to Kate.
My Sister’s Keeper is an extremely touching book which stirs every emotion in it’s readers. I thoroughly enjoyed it even though it was quite a tear-jerker at times! I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good book which is also an emotional rollercoaster. The plot is very well planned and there are a number of shocking twists throughout. There is a movie of this book also, which is also very moving, but it has a completely different ending to the book. In my opinion the book is more enjoyable as it is deeper and the ending is a huge shock!
Ciara Xxx
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