My Sisters Keeper

Orientation
My Sisters Keeper is a novel by Jodi Picoult. It shows truly scarification of life for the family. It tells
about sacrificing from the first born through the death.
Interpretative Recount
My Sisters Keeper brings up stories about family whose youngest daughter, Anna Fitzgerald who was
conceived and born so that she could provide genetically compatible body fluids and parts for her older
sister, Kate, who suffers from leukemia. When Kate is 16 and Anna is 13, Kate needs a kidney
transplant and Anna balks at giving up one of hers. She hires a lawyer to petition for medical
emancipation from her parents, so that she alone can make decisions about her body. It's a decision that
threatens to tear the family apart, from her mother who gave up a law practice to be a stay-at-home
mom, an older brother who feels left out, and her father who wavers between choosing sides.
During the trial, the reason Anna wanted to sue for the emancipation the judge rules Anna's favor, and
grants Campbell medical power of attorney. However, as Campbell drives her home after the trial, their
car is hit by an oncoming truck. Brian retrieves Anna, who is unconscious, and suffers an injury to the
head, and Campbell, who suffer and injury to the arm, from the wreckage of the crushed car and rushes
them to hospital. However, after some time, the doctor informs them that Anna is brain-dead, that the
machines keeping her alive may as well be switched off, and asks them if they have considered organ
donation. Campbell steps in, and declares that he has the power of attorney, and "there is a girl upstairs
who needs that kidney". Kate is prepped for surgery, and Anna's kidney is successfully transplanted. Kate
survives the surgery and goes into remission. Most of Anna usable organs are removed for transplants in
the future. Kate stays in remission for at least 6 years, while Anna dies for her sister's life.
Evaluation
Jodi Picoult's novel examines the inner workings of a family struggling to find love, and life, within all
their relationships.
Evaluation
Picoult is at her best, and most moving, when writing from the perspective of Anna's mother, Sara.
Exhausted by Kate's recurrent illness, Sara is often on edge and overwhelmed. But she is also focused:
Her tenacity, her vigilance and her support during Kate's aggressive cancer treatments all give Kate a
reason to live.
Evaluation
Picoult uses the present tense throughout the novel, which lends an appropriate breathlessness to the
narrative -- after all, Kate doesn't have long to live -- and encourages the reader to charge eagerly
through the story. Unfortunately, the characters themselves are overwhelmed by the galloping pace.
Indeed, it is not Anna, her parents, or even Campbell, but a bittersweet turn of events -- one last plot
twist, a surprise ending -- that solves the dilemma at hand.

COVER OF THE BOOK