My Sister's Keeper
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| My Sister's Keeper | |
 Hardback cover |
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| Author | Jodi Picoult |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Atria |
| Publication date | April 6, 2004 |
| Media type | Print ( Hardcover & Paperback ) |
| Pages | 432 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7434-5452-9 |
My Sister’s Keeper (2004), by Jodi Picoult, is a novel about a young girl who sues her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned in order to potentially save her older sister.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Anna came into the world by in vitro fertilization so that she would be a genetic match for her older sister Kate, who was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia when she was two years old. When Anna was born, her cord blood was donated to her sister, but when the leukemia returned she then had to donate blood and bone marrow. Kate's kidneys fail when she is sixteen and Anna is thirteen and her only chance for survival is a kidney transplant. Because she would be a closer match than an unrelated donor and no other family member is a match, Anna is expected to donate one of her own kidneys to save her sister. Anna decides to hire a lawyer to become medically emancipated from her parents in order to gain the right to make the decision for herself. Her lawyer, Campbell Alexander, works for her pro bono.
At the end of the book it is revealed that the reason Anna initiated the lawsuit was because her sister didn't want her to donate the kidney. Kate said she no longer wanted to go through life in a hospital and was ready to die. After the trial Anna is granted medical emancipation. Just as she is about to reveal her decision if she wants to give Kate her kidney or not, she is involved in a car accident, suffering a closed-head injury and becoming brain dead as a result. As Campbell Alexander has power of attorney over Anna's medical decisions, he grants the donation of Anna's kidney to her older sister.
[edit] Characters
The book is narrated by seven different characters, six of whom narrate the main story, with Kate (the central character) narrating the epilogue and the prologue (although until the end of the book the reader is intended to be under the impression that Anna has written the prologue).
- Andromeda "Anna" Fitzgerald was genetically engineered and conceived by IVF. She was born to provide a genetic match for her sister. She files a lawsuit against her parents for medical emancipation. She plays hockey but was not able to focus on it due to her commitment to Kate. She loves her sister Kate, and Kate loves her, but the lawsuit is tearing apart the family. Kate and Anna keep their close relationship though.
- Katherine "Kate" Fitzgerald is the sister that has leukemia. She and Anna are each other's best friends. She doesn't like all the attention being in the hospital constantly; she just wants to have a normal life. She enjoys watching soap operas and had only one romantic relationship with a fellow leukemia sufferer who later dies. She becomes tired of all the time in the hospital, and wants to just live a normal life. She loves ballet and in the epilogue has a job as a dancing teacher.
- Jesse Fitzgerald is Anna and Kate's older brother. Throughout the book we see him as a troubled pyromaniac child who starts a series of fires, takes drugs and steals cars. He identifies with Anna because they both feel neglected by their parents in favor of Kate. In the epilogue, he appears to have become a reformed character after joining the police.
- Sara Fitzgerald is the mother of Anna, Kate and Jesse. She loves all three of her children, but often finds herself focusing on Kate and her illness rather than Anna and Jesse. She is a former lawyer and when Anna starts the lawsuit she decides to represent herself.
- Brian Fitzgerald is the father of Anna, Kate and Jesse. Brian is a firefighter and has a love for astronomy. He named Anna after the Andromeda Galaxy.
- Campbell Alexander, Anna's lawyer. He has a service dog named Judge, but hides the dog's purpose until near the end of the book. He becomes Anna's power of attorney.
- Julia Romano is Anna's guardian ad litem for the trial. She is also the ex-girlfriend of Campbell Alexander and there is a subplot concerning their relationship. Towards the end of the book, Campbell and Julia resume their relationship and in the epilogue, it is revealed that the two are married.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
There are plans by New Line Cinema to turn My Sister's Keeper into a feature film, to be released sometime in 2008. Nick Cassavetes is attached to direct it.[1][2] It will star Cameron Diaz as Sara and Alec Baldwin as Campbell.[2] Dakota and Elle Fanning were originally set to play the sisters but Dakota changed her mind when she found out she would have to shave her head to play the leukemia-suffering character of Kate. Elle dropped out along with her sister, and they were replaced with Sofia Vassilieva and Abigail Breslin.[2]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- My Sister's Keeper at the author's site
- The BBC Radio 4 programme, Book Club, discussed My Sister's Keeper in May 2007. The programme may be listened to at Book Club's website
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