My Sister's Keeper: Jodi Picoult

"Can a parent love too much? Or is too much never enough?
"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, 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. A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning moral parable for all time."

This was another of the books my friend and I decided to read for our little "book club". To be completely...entirely honest...I didn't really want to read this book. I KNEW it was a tearjerker and I didn't relish the thought of crying every other chapter in a book that's so long. I've shelved it at least 100 times over the years at my job (granted, it was in Chinese, but whatever), but I've never felt enough desire to pick it up on my own.

When the movie came out, my interest was rekindled. Maybe there was something to this SAD story. I still haven't seen the movie, but I still plan on trying to though it got bad reviews. I'm very interested to see how characters like Campbell and Jesse are portrayed. I hope they're as interesting as they were in the book because, if they're not, I can understand why the movie tanked.

Though this book is made up of a bunch of snippets of different perspectives (Anna, Campbell, Sara, Brian, Jesse, and Julia), I didn't lose interest as I thought I would. The change of time periods and perspectives made me care for the characters that much more. I felt like I understood them all the better. I actually hated Sara--the mother--for a good part of the book, but the line between hate and respect blurred slightly toward the end. Brian was a wonderfully written character. As was Jesse. Picoult seems to be able to write her male characters as well as her female characters without losing any of their realism. I can appreaciate that.

Campbell was another of my favorite characters. I loved his role and his personality. He tries to be this hardass, but you know he's really not. (After reading this book, I think I was really turned off when I found out that Alec Baldwin played Campell in the movie. He was not at all who I pictured...I saw more of an almost modelesque, blonde, slightly-rough-around-the edges hamptons-gone city style man. When I come up with an actual name, I'll put it here. So, you can see why I was a little bit disappointed in the casting. Especially since he's only 32 in the book. I will save all further judgment for AFTER I see the film.) Anyway, like I said, I loved how complex Campbell was. He really added to the story.

Anna was another one that I really liked. Though most of this book is about her, I think a lot of it all went back to Kate--which I think was a bit of a point Picoult was trying to make. Anna was no one without Kate. Kate defined her ENTIRE existence. Literally. I don't want to say too much because there is a LOT more to this book than what you get from reading this back cover. I know it made me think.

As a child, I was very ill. I didn't have cancer like Kate, but I had serious heart issues that led to several major operations. I'm better now for the most part, but I don't think my younger brother has ever quite gotten over the strain all of that put on our family and I think he might resent me for it. So, after reading this book, I can see a mixture of Anna and Jesse in him. It make me feel bad, but, at the same time, the situation was NOT the same. He can resent me all he wants, but I have to keep reminding myself that he doesn't know. He wasn't me. Like Kate, our families may revolve around us; lives may halt when we're sick; but we never wanted to be the center of attention. Sometimes, we just want it all to go away.