First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Washington Square Press, 2004. Genre: Realistic Fiction

My Sister’s Keeper is both a powerful and suspenseful novel that will have you constantly turning the pages for more. This book is about the tragedy of a family that lives in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island. The story begins with a little girl named Kate Fitzgerald being diagnosed with leukemia. In order to keep Kate alive, her parents decide to have another child that would be a genetic match for their very ill daughter. And thus Anna Fitzgerald is born. Since the day Anna was born she has been helping her sick sister Kate out with whatever her body needs. But when Kate is sixteen, she has a bad relapse, and is later informed that she will need a Kidney transplant. Anna is expected to give Kate one of her kidneys; that is until she sues her family for medical emancipation.

“It’s difficult to find a book combining a timely moral dilemma with well-drawn characters for whom one cares. Picoult has written such a book.” – The Boston Herald

This book is unlike any book Jodi Picoult has written. It is very unlike Jodi to write about such a debatable topic of genetic engineering. The main character Anna is the product of genetic engineering and throughout the story questions who she is. This book is not just about Anna’s medical journey but the journey about finding herself, and who she is.
I am familiar with a book called The Genetic Revolution by a man named Dr. Patrick Dixon. I have not read his book but I have heard that it is all about genetic engineering, and that being able to genetically create your child is like playing God, which many find controversial. It is interesting to read a book that starts off with the creation of a child through genetics.

“I wasn’t the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother’s eggs and my father’s sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material.” (Pg:7-8)

I am a big fan of Jodi Picoult. I have read many of her books, and all of them were great, but none of them compared to My Sister’s Keeper. A lot of Picoult’s books are very emotional and dramatic, but reading her books never affected me emotionally until I read My Sister’s Keeper. Just the way the story was built, and how it was told from seven different points of views. The main character Anna’s point of view was the most interesting to read. She is so bright, and intelligent at age thirteen, and I was amazed at just how comfortable she was at being honest even if it was hurtful. I know that I will have a long time to wait before I read another great book like this.