Saturday, November 12, 2005
My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
Title: My Sister's Keeper
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Atria Books
Date: 2004
Discussion:
I got this book on Tuesday and I finished it in the middle of the night on Thursday. It was difficult for me to put down.
The Setup:16 year old Kate has APL, a form of leukemia that is chemo-resistant. This means that whatever puts it into remission once can't be used again as the smarty-pants leukemia has already figured out how to beat it. She's had it since she was 2.
Her 13 year old sister, Anna, was born specifically to be a cord blood donor for her sister's first stem cell transplant. When I say specifically, I don't mean that her parents got pregnant on purpose, I mean that they selected an embryo determined to be the most suitable match for their ill daughter.
19 year old brother, Jesse is a troublemaker - he has to be to get attention from a family that centers around Kate and her relapses.
Mom and dad are Sara and Brian. Dad is a fire fighter and mom is single-minded when it comes to her oldest daughter - anything that is possible must be tried - even if it means pushing her younger daughter to the limits of her endurance.
There are lots of things in this book that rang true - the unexpected nature of such an illness (lymphoma, like leukemia, is a blood cancer that is random in nature - there's no genetic links even suspected), the little crises that can turn into big ones (a trip to the hospital to get chemo can turn into a months long stay if something goes wrong), the complete and utter unfairness of cancer, and of life, and how everything revolves around the person who is sick - even if they are not conscious.
The story begins as Anna decides to file for medical emancipation to avoid giving her sister her kidney. The story gently leads you into believing her reasons for doing so are complex - partially a desire to simply be asked rather than ordered to donate, partially a cry for attention from a distracted family engrossed in saving her older sister and partially fear for her own health and a desire to exert control over her own body. There is always a bit of ambiguity though, which leads us to a revelation at the end of the novel.
The text in iteself is interesting as each chapter has the title of the person who is narrating, and each of these people are assigned their own font. There were a couple of points where I felt the author was purposely delaying the story to build anticipation - I hate it when authors leave off at a crucial point to switch point of view and you have to muck through another few pages to continue the part you were really engrossed in. It's a sign of not being confident in your craft. Plus, it's really annoying.
There is also a sub-plot of an attorney and his lost high school love that is interjected. I feel like this was completely superfluous. The attorney has a "service dog" whose service remains a mystery until close to the end. This is an annoying trick. I felt like saying "look lady, your story is good enough, you don't need to be putting all this garland on it" but maybe she felt like she did. Or maybe her editor did - at any rate, it kept me curious about the damn dog.
Not surprisingly, the mom gets really upset about the turn of events. Other reviews I read mentioned her single-mindedness was "incomprehensible" or other such phrase. I say - don't judge until you have walked a mile in their shoes. If you don't know what it's like to have a child/sibling/close family member be sent into the abyss only to be snatched back by some "miracle" you can't understand that toll that takes on you. The hoping, the praying - miracles happen - but you never know when.
I was considering being a kidney donor for my sis. Considering is probably an understatement. It was assumed that I would and I did want to - but the truth is, it scared the shit out of me. There are things that I want to do and like to do that would be more dangerous without my spare kidney? It's all very nice to say you only actually need the one until someone starts talking about cutting you open to take the spare.
I can't imagine declining to do so, not to my sister and certainly not to our parents. I had to let myself believe that I had that choice - but really I had no choice. And what if that was all she needed and I refused and then she died. It would be all my fault. My selfishness. I think, when it would have come down to it I would have done it. How could I not? I'd gotten a taste of life without her and I didn't like it. And I'm way over 13. And I wasn't born especially to give her anything, except company and the occasional hard time.
****SPOILER ALERT****ENDING OF BOOK REVEALED****
If you don't want to know how this book ends, stop reading here.
I can empathize with Anna when she is conflicted about the donation thing. And the mom is a bit nuts, but they are so singluarly focused on Kate's crises that Anna is invisible. I can relate to that as well. Calling the hospital. Monitoring the nurses. Trying to ensure that your favorite nurse is on that shift. Reporting the ones you don't like. Spending the night in the room when you are allowed. Shitty cafeteria meals.
My parents went from calling me once a week to calling me twice a day. It was difficult. The conversations started "tell us the news." "Have you heard anything?" "Did you talk to the nurses?"
You start to feel a bit like chopped liver. I love my sister - I wanted her to get well also. I spent a lot of time in that fucking hospital. But I'm not just the familial extension that feeds information the nurses are unable to give over the phone - just like Anna is not the familial extension created to be Kate's spare parts.
Anyway, turns out that Kate asked Anna to not give her the kidney. This information comes out in a dramatic court scene where the attorney has a seizure (this, we find out is the reason for the service dog and the abruptly ended love-affair). Kate wanted to die - she was sick of fighting.
The judge rules that Anna can be medically emacipated and tragically, on the way to the hospital, she and her attorney get into a car accident. Anna's father, who is a fire-fighter, responds to the scene. Anna is brain dead and donates her kidney to her sister and then dies.
The sister is miraculously recovered and writes the epilogue in 2010. The trouble maker brother is now a cop. The dad had a drinking problem and then recovered. The mom seems to have mellowed out (she should, since her favorite daughter lived anyway).
I have more than a few problems with this. I think it would have been better if Anna had gotten the emancipation and given the kidney willingly. Since Kate was the one who initiated the refusal, there would have been some way to work around that. The ending selected by the author was just tooo hokey.
Also, what was up with the APL, which is the most aggressive and least survivable form of leukemia, just dippearing? It was pretty unbelievable. I was kind of disappointed - it seemed like an easy out.
There were parts of this book that rang true, but when the ending is so pat (like the fire fighter dad) I feel kind gyped.
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Atria Books
Date: 2004
Discussion:
I got this book on Tuesday and I finished it in the middle of the night on Thursday. It was difficult for me to put down.
The Setup:16 year old Kate has APL, a form of leukemia that is chemo-resistant. This means that whatever puts it into remission once can't be used again as the smarty-pants leukemia has already figured out how to beat it. She's had it since she was 2.
Her 13 year old sister, Anna, was born specifically to be a cord blood donor for her sister's first stem cell transplant. When I say specifically, I don't mean that her parents got pregnant on purpose, I mean that they selected an embryo determined to be the most suitable match for their ill daughter.
19 year old brother, Jesse is a troublemaker - he has to be to get attention from a family that centers around Kate and her relapses.
Mom and dad are Sara and Brian. Dad is a fire fighter and mom is single-minded when it comes to her oldest daughter - anything that is possible must be tried - even if it means pushing her younger daughter to the limits of her endurance.
There are lots of things in this book that rang true - the unexpected nature of such an illness (lymphoma, like leukemia, is a blood cancer that is random in nature - there's no genetic links even suspected), the little crises that can turn into big ones (a trip to the hospital to get chemo can turn into a months long stay if something goes wrong), the complete and utter unfairness of cancer, and of life, and how everything revolves around the person who is sick - even if they are not conscious.
The story begins as Anna decides to file for medical emancipation to avoid giving her sister her kidney. The story gently leads you into believing her reasons for doing so are complex - partially a desire to simply be asked rather than ordered to donate, partially a cry for attention from a distracted family engrossed in saving her older sister and partially fear for her own health and a desire to exert control over her own body. There is always a bit of ambiguity though, which leads us to a revelation at the end of the novel.
The text in iteself is interesting as each chapter has the title of the person who is narrating, and each of these people are assigned their own font. There were a couple of points where I felt the author was purposely delaying the story to build anticipation - I hate it when authors leave off at a crucial point to switch point of view and you have to muck through another few pages to continue the part you were really engrossed in. It's a sign of not being confident in your craft. Plus, it's really annoying.
There is also a sub-plot of an attorney and his lost high school love that is interjected. I feel like this was completely superfluous. The attorney has a "service dog" whose service remains a mystery until close to the end. This is an annoying trick. I felt like saying "look lady, your story is good enough, you don't need to be putting all this garland on it" but maybe she felt like she did. Or maybe her editor did - at any rate, it kept me curious about the damn dog.
Not surprisingly, the mom gets really upset about the turn of events. Other reviews I read mentioned her single-mindedness was "incomprehensible" or other such phrase. I say - don't judge until you have walked a mile in their shoes. If you don't know what it's like to have a child/sibling/close family member be sent into the abyss only to be snatched back by some "miracle" you can't understand that toll that takes on you. The hoping, the praying - miracles happen - but you never know when.
I was considering being a kidney donor for my sis. Considering is probably an understatement. It was assumed that I would and I did want to - but the truth is, it scared the shit out of me. There are things that I want to do and like to do that would be more dangerous without my spare kidney? It's all very nice to say you only actually need the one until someone starts talking about cutting you open to take the spare.
I can't imagine declining to do so, not to my sister and certainly not to our parents. I had to let myself believe that I had that choice - but really I had no choice. And what if that was all she needed and I refused and then she died. It would be all my fault. My selfishness. I think, when it would have come down to it I would have done it. How could I not? I'd gotten a taste of life without her and I didn't like it. And I'm way over 13. And I wasn't born especially to give her anything, except company and the occasional hard time.
****SPOILER ALERT****ENDING OF BOOK REVEALED****
If you don't want to know how this book ends, stop reading here.
I can empathize with Anna when she is conflicted about the donation thing. And the mom is a bit nuts, but they are so singluarly focused on Kate's crises that Anna is invisible. I can relate to that as well. Calling the hospital. Monitoring the nurses. Trying to ensure that your favorite nurse is on that shift. Reporting the ones you don't like. Spending the night in the room when you are allowed. Shitty cafeteria meals.
My parents went from calling me once a week to calling me twice a day. It was difficult. The conversations started "tell us the news." "Have you heard anything?" "Did you talk to the nurses?"
You start to feel a bit like chopped liver. I love my sister - I wanted her to get well also. I spent a lot of time in that fucking hospital. But I'm not just the familial extension that feeds information the nurses are unable to give over the phone - just like Anna is not the familial extension created to be Kate's spare parts.
Anyway, turns out that Kate asked Anna to not give her the kidney. This information comes out in a dramatic court scene where the attorney has a seizure (this, we find out is the reason for the service dog and the abruptly ended love-affair). Kate wanted to die - she was sick of fighting.
The judge rules that Anna can be medically emacipated and tragically, on the way to the hospital, she and her attorney get into a car accident. Anna's father, who is a fire-fighter, responds to the scene. Anna is brain dead and donates her kidney to her sister and then dies.
The sister is miraculously recovered and writes the epilogue in 2010. The trouble maker brother is now a cop. The dad had a drinking problem and then recovered. The mom seems to have mellowed out (she should, since her favorite daughter lived anyway).
I have more than a few problems with this. I think it would have been better if Anna had gotten the emancipation and given the kidney willingly. Since Kate was the one who initiated the refusal, there would have been some way to work around that. The ending selected by the author was just tooo hokey.
Also, what was up with the APL, which is the most aggressive and least survivable form of leukemia, just dippearing? It was pretty unbelievable. I was kind of disappointed - it seemed like an easy out.
There were parts of this book that rang true, but when the ending is so pat (like the fire fighter dad) I feel kind gyped.
