BOOK: My Sister's Keeper

AUTHOR: Jodi Picoult

SUMMARY: Because many of my customers had spoken so highly of Jodi Picoult's books, I chose to read My Sister's Keeper. I was not disappointed. She held my attention from beginning to end. I became involved in the Fitzgerald family and their dilemma. This family is threatened with the loss of one of their own. Family ties are a central theme in this story bringing subjectivity to the characters' interactions. It crossed my mind as I was reading this novel that it was a morality play. The author has tackled some tough questions about parental and children's rights. These are unanswerable questions. The alternating narrative by the five family members, an attorney and a court appointed guardian is a device used quite successfully by Picoult. An entertaining subplot is the romance between the lawyer and the guardian ad litem who were high school sweethearts. Another enjoyable aspect of this novel is Anna's quips about life such as, " The other thing I like is that Laundromats draw lonely people like metal to magnets." The quick speed of this emotional novel is set in the present but uses flashbacks to give us clues to this family struggle. The bittersweet turn of events at the end of this novel had me in tears before I reached the final plot twist, a surprise ending.

PLOT: : Kate Fitzgerald is born with a rare from of leukemia. No one in her immediate family is the genetic match that she needs to survive. Sara and Brian, her parents, choose to have another child, Anna. She is the match. Is Anna a "designer baby"? At age thirteen Anna, the protagonist, has undergone numerous procedures to save Kate's life. These sisters are very close yet Anna wants to make her own medical decisions. She is having an internal struggle over actions that might lead to death. She hires a lawyer, Campbell Alexander, to medically emancipate herself from her parents. Sara, her mother, becomes her adversary. When served with her daughter's subpoena for emancipation, Sara uses her training as an attorney to represent the family. Her conflict in roles is very evident. Is she the Mom or the lawyer? She wants to be both. Her husband, Brian, is more concerned with Anna's well being. Brother, Jesse is a troubled child acting out because he can't help Kate. All is resolved after the court date. But it is not what you expect. Picoult ties all of the loose ends together in an epilogue that is told from Kate's point of view.