My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Right now

My Sister's Keeper is a heartbreaking story about a girl's struggle to make her parents understand that she no longer wants to be a donor for her terminally ill sister, Kate. Anna Fitzgerald is a beautiful 12 year old girl with her whole life ahead of her. She is intelligent, witty, athletic and beautiful. But she has a secret: she was conceived to save her older sister's life. From a very young age, Anna has been poked and prodded with needles. She has given her sister blood, bone marrow, and any other body fluids needed to keep her sister, who suffers from leukemia, alive for just a little longer.

Kate has surprisingly beat the odds in her battle with leukemia. She is a beautiful teenager who wants a chance at life, but doesn't want it at her sister's expense. She doesn't ask her sister for anything but is thankful that Anna is her perfect match, which has helped her live up until now. When Kate's kidneys begin to fail, her parents ask Anna to make the sacrifice and donate. But this is where Anna draws the line.

Jodi Piccoult writes a moving story about a family that is ripped at the seams from years of living with a terminally ill child. Life revolves around Kate's needs and Anna is the unwitting savior. Brother Jesse has long ago gotten lost in the wake of the Fitzgerald's race to save Kate and has turned to a life of drugs, crime and pyromania to force his parents to pay attention to him for once.

Ms. Piccoult's writing is very intelligent and well researched. The supporting characters are very likeable and succeed in fleshing out a well told story. The subject matter is tragic and even though Anna's parents are often depicted as having tunnel vision when it comes to Kate, you cannot cast them as villains when the choices they make are ones no parent should ever have to. Their pain is evident and Piccoult makes you see that there is no black and white in this case.

The plot twists at the end were completely unexpected, tragic and bittersweet, but necessary. I commend the author for having the courage to end the book as she did and her plot twists earn high marks from me. Definite good read.
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