My Sister's Keeper

Jodi Picoult (author)

Allen&Unwin, Australia: March 2011

ISBN: 9781742375717

Genre: realistic fiction

Issues: death, ethics, family, grief, identity, illness

Thirteen-year-old Anna Fitzgerald is risking everything – her body, her relationships with her family, and her sister's life: she's found a lawyer and she's applying for medical emancipation from her parents. She wants her body back. Ever since she was born, Anna has been what she was designed to be: her sister's perfect medical match – for blood and platelets, for bone marrow – because Kate has a rare and virulent form of leukemia.

Now their mother wants Anna to give Kate a kidney. How can Anna say no when it is her sister and best friend's life at stake? When she's breaking her parents' hearts and forcing them to choose between their daughters' different needs? And what about Jesse, her 'delinquent' brother – where does he fit into the puzzle?

Originally published in 2004, this remarkable book by American writer Jodi Picoult has since been made into a film – a film that the author regards with mixed feelings. My Sister's Keeper is now studied in medical ethics courses because of the complex issues it raises about who should make choices about sibling donors when the guardians (the parents) will always be swayed by their need to keep the ill child alive. My Sister's Keeper is much more complex than even that complex issue, exploring as it does many of the difficulties that arise in families when one member suffers a life-threatening illness. Anna and Jesse love their sister but they feel invisible – and their needs, their lives, their identities – both controlled and consumed by their parents' absorption in keeping Kate alive as long as possible. There is no such thing as 'normal' for Anna and Jesse – or for Sara and Brian (the parents). The leukemia has infected them all, one way or another.

The novel is presented from four main perspectives – Anna, her lawyer, Sara and Brian – with occasional input from Jesse and the guardian ad litem who is appointed to determine, through talking to all the protagonists, what is genuinely in Anna's best interests. In this way Picoult manages to create a solid narrative line but one that is looked at through a kaleidoscope – as the narrative perspective shifts, so does the reader's thinking. What at first seems a fairly clear case of unethical behavior and parental neglect becomes an increasingly intricate, nuanced situation, where the physical and psychological issues cannot be separated. As Picoult herself warns, this is a 'very heavy book' which will challenge readers to think about uncomfortable moral dilemmas and probably realize that where love is concerned there are no simple solutions. Because above all this is a book about love – sibling love, parental love, romantic love, love of life and health, love of justice. Picoult's characters are powerfully drawn – passionate, compassionate, complex human beings with all those conflicting drives, attitudes, emotions and needs that are part of the human experience.

While the conclusion is unexpected, thoughtful readers will see that Picoult is, amongst other things, reminding readers that life is constantly unpredictable, ever-changing and that there will always be new dilemmas to challenge our moral compass.

An outstanding read and hard to put down.

Warning: distressing family scenes, death of a main character