Book Review: "My Sister's Keeper"

By Allison Kowalski
LIFESTYLES EDITOR

Siblings share many things toys: a bedroom and clothes. However, most siblings do not share the same DNA like Anna and Kate do in the novel My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Diagnosed with a dangerous type of leukemia at age two, it was likely Kate would not survive unless she had a perfect blood match.

Kate’s older brother, Jesse, was not a match for Kate, so her parents decided to create a baby to exactly match Kate’s genetic material. The baby would give Kate blood cells and possibly organs if she needed them. That baby’s name is Anna.

After 13 years of constant bone-marrow procedures and blood infusions for Kate, Anna is tired of giving her sister life while she is slowly hurting mentally and physically. Kate now needs a new kidney and the girls’ parents directly turn to Anna for the transplant. There is a shocking surprise though: Anna is going to court for medical emancipation. She no longer wants to give any more of her blood or body parts to Kate, who is slowly dying.

Picoult creates a set of parents who are split with the decision of trying to save one daughter who is already dying, or saving another daughter, who is healthy, but may suffer from future surgeries.

Readers may think Anna does not love her sister, but Kate is her best friend and she loves her, yet she is tired of giving parts of her body to Kate because of her long suffering.

Anna feels that she is a part of Kate, not her own person, thus she questions her identity and tries to create her own. The only way Anna can be Anna and not Kate’s donor is to medically emancipate herself.

This means that Anna makes her own medical decisions, no longer under her parent’s guidance.

Picoult does not display Anna as a rude and selfish character who wants her own identity. The chances of Kate surviving even with Anna’s kidney are slim to none. At 13, Anna is embarking on puberty and adulthood, and those times can be scary for a child who is not her own person. By freeing herself, it will be easier for Anna to develop and grow. After 13 years, it is finally time for Kate to do something for Anna.

The novel also explores the consequences of genetically planned babies. Anna was the first planned baby in her home state, and her parents received negative media attention. The question of the ethicality of Anna’s birth is up in the air. Is Anna Anna or is Anna Kate? Though Kate and Anna have identical blood matches, they have opposite personalities. Still, their blood flows in one another and they will always be physically connected.

The book is heart-wrenching and warm with a shocking and disturbing surprise at the end. Picoult creates a novel where the unexpected is constantly around the corner and sacrifice for another may not be the greatest gift of all.