3 Hearts, Reviews
YA book reviews

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Chick LitDrama
Author
Jodi Picoult
Publisher
Washington Square Press (Imprint of Simon & Schuster)
Published
January 1st, 2004
Rating
♥♥♥♡♡

View on Amazon

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.“My Sister’s Keeper” examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child’s life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in “My Sister’s Keeper, ” Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.
My Review:

My Sister’s Keeper is a sad story about a girl who is keeping her sister alive. Her sister has a rare type of cancer that makes treatment extremely difficult and she has had this cancer since she was just a baby. Anna, the main character, was essentially born as an afterthought by her parents in order to create the perfect doner for her sister Kate. It’s a story that will make you question what is right and wrong with every turn of the page.

I actually had trouble getting through this book. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s one of those books that you really have to read in the right mood. I picked it up because it was my Random Reads pick for March, and so I needed to read it within this month. But it was a tough one to read when I just wasn’t in the mood for something sad.

However, it was still an incredible story. I liked how it was told from several different viewpoints by everyone involved in the story from Anna to her lawyer, to the members of her family. It made it easier to understand where everyone was coming from and how Anna’s case affected them each personally. I particularly enjoyed the point of views of Campbell and Julia because while both of them are certainly in the middle of the whole thing too, they had their own story going on which was a bit of a reprieve from the downright tragic happenings of the main family.

Where the book really disappointed me was the ending. I didn’t expect it to be a happy-go-lucky, run through fields of flowers ending. I went into it fully understanding that it would probably be a sad one. But the ending just came out of left field and it felt like it was done for pure shock-factor. I don’t feel like it was necessary at all and that alone brought my rating down for this entire book. Not because I’m mad, but because it felt calculated and uncalled for.

Overall, this is a good book though, and if you’re in the mood for something sad and involving a lot of drama and grief of sorts, then you will probably enjoy it. But be sure to read it when you’re in that mood, because you probably won’t enjoy it otherwise.

3 Hearts Read more reviews & Buy it up! Goodreads LibraryThing Shelfari Amazon Barnes & Noble Book Depository Half.com Abebooks Alibris Better World Books Paperback Swap

Load More Related Articles
Load More By Sarah
  • YA book reviews

    Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

    Review: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer by Andrea Cremer. 3/5 hearts.
  • YA book reviews

    Upon the Midnight Clear by Sherrilyn Kenyon

    Review: Upon the Midnight Clear by Sherrilyn Kenyon by Sherrilyn Kenyon. 3/5 hearts.
  • YA book reviews

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

    Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what. A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark
Load More In 3 Hearts

Leave a Reply

Check Also

You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister

Review: You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister by Katie MacAlister. 4/5 hearts.

Welcome to The YA Shelf

Helping you find the BEST young adult literature online! We're YA authors, readers and bibliophiles, who read everything and sometimes post book reviews and fandom summaries. Check out our "best books for teens" lists to see our favorites, or browse nearly 300+ book reviews!

imlovingbooks

Search

Top Posts & Pages

Sarah J Maas and YA cancel culture (what's up?)
The YA shelf (young adult literature reviews)
50 YA fiction tropes and cliches we can't get enough of!
The Best Dragon Books for Teens
We Ranked the Most Overrated Books of All Time – Fight Us
50 YA Fantasy Books So Addictive You’ll Forget Sleep Is a Thing
Write for Us
The Maze Runner Books: Teen Angst Meets Post-Apocalyptic Lab Rat Maze—Is the Cure Worth the Drama?