My Sister’s Keeper By Jodi Picoult
Published 2005 448 Pages
If you use one of your children to save the life of another,
Are you being a good mother -
Or a very bad one?
Kate was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of two, now 16 she desperately needs a bone marrow transplant or she will die. Her brother, Jesse is no match, but her scientifically engineered sister Anna, 13, is perfect. Born to to donate bone marrow and stem cells, every time Kate is hospitalised, Anna is too. This means Anna can never lead a normal life of going to summer camp or even college.
Until now, Anna has never questioned her role in life, just always stepped up. But when Kate needs a kidney, Anna is told there is a 1 in 3,000 chance she will die on the operating table, and if she doesn’t she will be in hospital for 4 to 6 weeks. As much as she loves her sister, this is too much for her to bare, so Anna seeks out a lawyer so she can sue her parents for the rights to her own body.
With all of this, there is also the story of wild child Jesse, he does drugs, plays with matches and steals a judge’s car. It is just acting out because he can’t be the one to help his dying sister, so therefore, lives his life virtually being unnoticed.
I won’t spoil the ending for you (which is much better and very different to the way the film ends) but you definitely do not see it coming! It is clear throughout the book that there are no right or wrong answers for any of the situations. Picoult has done a good job of presenting all of the dilemma’s and it really is thought provoking, no matter how ethical you might be.
Buy the book now from play.com
See movie trailer here
