The book is My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and I recently finished it. It was a very enjoyable read. Thanks to my friend Robin who loaned it to me. A while back I read a different book by this same author, which I blogged about here. I liked that one so I was anxious to try another. And I liked this one too, how about that?! Once again the author tackles a deep subject and creates characters that are very interesting and really drew me in. I got to know the whole family and the side characters as well and could see both sides of the moral uncertainty that the author likes to write about.
Ms. Picoult likes to tackle ethical questions and make you wonder who is really right and wrong, but at the same time she tells a story and gives insight into each character, whether likable or not. I would certainly recommend this book. I have already bought another one by her and will get to it one of these days. You know how that goes, though!
Here’s part of the review from Publisher’s Weekly:
The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11th novel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out. Picoult ably explores a complex subject with bravado and clarity, and comes up with a heart-wrenching, unexpected plot twist at the book’s conclusion.
Now, really, don’t you want to read it? Or have you already? Either way, why not leave me a comment below.