My Sister's Keeper 1-141

Summary:

Since we are reading books that have been developed into films, this term I decided to read My Sister’s Keeper by: Jodi Picoult. So far this book is about a young girl named Anna who is trying to figure out where she belongs in life. Unlike all other children who were born to their parents, she was born for a specific reason: to help treat her sister’s long battle with leukemia. She talks about her parents, her mother who is very over protective of her older sister, her brother Jesse who moved into the garage and started doing bad things like smoking and drinking for attention. Since her brother lives out in the garage she never goes out to him, but all of a sudden she went to her brother “house” and asked him to give her a ride. She ended up going to the office of a lawyer. Obviously when she went to the lawyer’s office he thought it was a joke since she was only thirteen, but since a major decision about her was about to be made she thought she had a right to a choice. That decision was whether or not one of her kidneys should be given to her dying sister. This is why she wants to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.

Since this book is written in different point of views the next person who is speaking is Campbell Alexander who is going to be her lawyer. She tells him how they never pay attention to her unless they need something for her sister. This prompts him to file a petition to grant her medical emancipation from her parents which would mean that she has to go to court and face her parents which is something that a normal thirteen year old would be terrified to do.

Anna’s father Brian is a firefighter. Even though he is supposed to be working he takes the time to eat with his family. At dinner that day they notice that Anna is not at the dinner table in time for dinner. When she comes, they notice many things that are strange about her such as the way she is speaking to people and the fact that she wasn’t wearing the necklace that was given to her as a very important gift from her dad. This causes her father to be alarmed, but her mother thinks that the other children are higher priorities since compared to them Anna is doing fine.

Days later while Anna, her mother and her sister Kate are at the hospital for Kate’s Dialysis sessions, the sheriff comes and delivers papers to Anna’s mom Sara. She finds out that she is being sued by her own daughter. Even though you might think that both her parents might have been outraged, Anna’s father seemed to understand that it’s not a crazy idea for something like this to happen, but her mom thinks it all for attention.

At the court hearing, a lot of misunderstandings occurred causing each side to believe that Anna was agreeing with them. Since she is living with her mother, it is very hard to come out and just say what she wants but on the other hand she wants to continue the case because it is important to her.

In all of the flashbacks that Anna’s mother has, she is able to take us through the journey of her daughter’s life from when it all started crashing down. These flashbacks help us understand what led her to making the decisions of “creating” Anna and making her a donor to her sister.

Quote:

“If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?”(Picoult138).

Reaction:

When I first read these sentences, it caused me to really think about what the right answer really is. Anna is doing the exact same thing. She doesn’t want to lose her sister but she also doesn’t want to get used and not have a say in it. This quote allows us to have an insight to the kind of thinking she has to be doing.