I found this book very interesting and heart breaking. I wouldn't wish the decisions needed on anyone. I cried and cried. ( )

Good reading until the ending. Despised the end.

No point in rehashing the plot with so many reviews already. I found this to be a completely engaging read. Picoult presents a conflict that is extremely difficult to choose a side. Who's right? Who should win the court case? I was torn back and forth throughout the novel. The ending was a shocker - I didn't see it coming! Great, quick read. ( )

My Sister's Keeper

Jodi Picoult

Contemporary Fiction

In an effort to save one of its own a Rhode Island family has lost its identity and way. The story revolves around Kate who has rare form of cancer and the effort to keep her alive by her family. However, the care and medical attention needed depends on the youngest child in the family, Anna. Her birth gave new life to her sick sister. Anna is a perfect genetic match to Kate. Anna has given everything to Kate from blood to bone marrow. Anna is told that she will give her kidney to her sister. However, Anna does not want to continue to be a guinea pig any longer. She decides that her parents have to look out for all their children not just Kate. Anna will take them to court if she must. This sets the stage for "My Sister's Keeper".

Jodi Picoult is a unique writer. Each chapter is from a different character's perspective making the story anything but onesided. Picoult reminds me of Alice McDermott.

Reading the book feels like sitting at a dining room table at a dinner party. Each guest taking a turn to tell you their side of the story.

The book as a whole works quite well. By changing the perspective every chapter the reader is allowed a full profile of the entire story. By employing this device Picoult allows you as the reader to be completely entrenched in the plotline.

All of the characters are believable but Sara who is the mother never is able to connect with me. I don't know if that was by design but it was disappointing that such a pivotal character never had an impact on me as the reader.

Picoult is the standard bearer for contemporary fiction today. She is the author of this generation.

Many consider "My Sister's Keeper" as the definitive Picoult novel. I disagree. This book is a wonderful read and I highly reccomend it. However, I think Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes" is her best work.

As I mentioned earlier Alice McDermott and her novels have some similarities to Piccoult's work. Tom Perrotta and Alice Sebold are two contemporaries of Picoult that have the ability to make their characters part of your life.

If you like this book, you will probably like....
"The Appeal" by John Grisham or "The Abstinence Teacher" by Tom Perrotta or "That Night" by Alice McDermott

If you hate this book, you will probably like....
"Coma" by Robin Cook and "The Stranger" by Albert Camus ( )

I finished this book on an airplane, all hunched over in seat 16D, hoping my hair would disguise the fact that I was totally bawling. I haven't cried at a book in many years, though I knew this one would probably be a tear-jerker from the beginning. After all, it's a premise straight from a Lifetime Original Movie: Kate is diagnosed with a rare and particularly nasty form of leukemia at age 2, and after much deliberation her parents decide to conceive a genetically engineered child to be a perfect match for their sick daughter. And so Anna is born for her umbilical cord, her blood, her bone marrow. As the story begins, Anna is 13 years old and has decided that she doesn't want to be an automatic donor anymore.

It's a brilliantly written book, but very hard to take sometimes. Picoult did an excellent job of portraying the heartache of being part of a family with a sick child without getting too sappy, too outrageous, or too grandiose. Make no mistake, this is a book full of Big Questions about the sanctity of life versus control over one's own body, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it or force the reader to take a certain side. It's one of those rare stories that put me in the shoes of several characters that are (fortunately) completely alien to me while still allowing me to make up my own mind about their actions. It gave me quite a bit to think about, and that's some of the highest praise I can give any book.

I won't promise that everyone will like this book. A lot of people will see it as nothing more than a weepy family drama and dismiss it out of hand. But it does raise some serious issues, issues most of us - especially with the continued advances in medical technology - will have to face someday: when is it time to stop trying and start saying goodbye? ( )