Book Review of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult's riveting tale of a young girl's fight to become medically emancipated holds you from the very first page. You meet Anna, the not-so-young thirteen year old, who has decided that she is tired of her parents using her for 'spare parts' for her older sister, Kate, who has had cancer since she was two years old. Anna loves her sister deeply; indeed, they share much of the same blood and bone marrow, but their bond is deeper than that. They share a sister's love for each other. But since Anna's birth, her body has provided blood and bone marrow to help keep Kate alive. In fact, immediately after Anna's birth, her embryonic cord was used to help save Kate. That wasn't a big deal; it wasn't like Anna needed that or even knew it. She was an infant. But several years later, when Kate needed help again, Anna was old enough to know it hurt. A lot. And it happened over and over.

As the story begins to unfold, Anna hires a lawyer to sue her parents for medical emancipation. It seems Kate's kidneys are failing and her parents assume, no, they expect Anna to give a kidney to her sister. But Anna has had enough. She doesn't want to be forced to donate any more of her body. She realizes the consequences of her actions. She knows her sister will die without a kidney. But still she fights for the right to control her own body.

Each chapter in the book is devoted to one character and his or her feelings. You get to know the parents, Sara and Brian, as well as the sisters's brother, the troubled Jesse. You also get acquainted with the lawyer Anna hires and the court appointed family representative. While you have several characters telling their side of the story, you still see how all their lives are affected by Kate's illness. The only one who does not tell her side of the story is Kate. The reasoning for this is pretty clear: this is Anna's story, not Kate's.

Through the whole story it is clear Anna is torn between her love for her sister and mother and the need to be in control of her own body. She feels, well, used, yet at the same time, she feels guilty for having that feeling.

I won't give away the ending of the book, but this is one you really should read. Jodi Picoult has written an outstanding and sensitive book about the lengths parents will go to in order to save their child's life and the effects it has on the people around them.