My Sister's Keeper-Jodie Picoult

This story is about a family which is troubled from its very beginning, with a severely leukemic child, who they cannot give any part of their body to rescue her from death hence they get another genetically modified child through invitro fertilization to save their diseased child. From the very beginning as soon as Anna was born, she has given some part of her body to her elder sister so that she could live a few more days. From a young age, Anna has been aware of why she has existed ever, that is to save her elder sister Kate. She has been having no issues in saving her elder sister, till the time her sister is in need of a kidney which tags a series of events putting the whole family in turmoil. Anna not wanting to give a kidney sues her parents for medical emancipation. She does not want to be a donor anymore for Kate and a mother is torn between her two kids, a father is in despair to decide which child to take side for and an elder brother is helpless for not able to be of any use to Kate.

A series of events hence unfold when Sara, Anna’s mother decides to fight her daughter’s lawsuit to save her other daughter and a struggle between prioritizing relationships take place. How do you feel when your own child sues you? How will you feel that the same child is the only one who can save your other child? What lengths will you go to keep your child alive even if it means taking a part from one to keep another breathing? Is this wrong or right? Who decides it? On what grounds do you decide that a parent has a right to their child’s body to use according to their needs? Are minors in a state to take such decisions for themselves? All these are the questions that are answered by this book.

Anna continuously struggles between doing right to herself and to her sister. No one wants their sibling to die even if they want them dead at some point of their lives. Sara is in the toughest of situations to treat all three of her children equally in which it seems all three of her children are slipping away. Her eldest son has become distant, a drug addict and a smoker. He has always been neglected because of Kate. Anna has of course sued her and Brian and Kate is struggling to live every day. Their father Brian, struggles everyday as a firefighter to keep the bills paid, to be there for his children every night but nothing just seems to be normal ever. My sister’s keeper is a family drama where you can feel overwhelming emotions, conflict of morals, love, hatred and never ending despair. But what this book teaches us that ‘Hope can conquer anything and courage in extreme of situations displays that you are still alive’. It’s a must read for all the emotionals out there. I will give this book a 4/5.