2008 Woodie Awards
Picoult novel explores ethical decisions in genetics
Kerry Sullivan
Issue date: 5/3/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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"In my first memory, I am three years old and I am trying to kill my sister."
Jodi Picoult once said in an interview, "For me, a book is like a tornado, a lot of themes and characters and ideas spinning around and around and getting closer, until they touch down in a killer first line."
This opening line of Jodi Picoult's 11th literary masterpiece, My Sister's Keeper, was nothing short of a "killer," evoking in me the simultaneous emotions of fascination and revulsion. The remainder of the 432-page novel didn't disappoint, as it continued to shock me into the frightening reality of genetic engineering as it affected one unfortunate, however fictional, family's existence.
The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with compassion and understanding in My Sister's Keeper. Picoult, who has taken on in her writing such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact), and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze in her latest novel to genetic programming in humans, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes, and the ethical, moral, and emotional fallout that results.
Within the first few chapters of My Sister's Keeper, readers are bombarded with a great deal of background information that forms the foundation for the central issue presented in the novel. We learn that Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived shortly after Kate's diagnosis at the age of three to provide a donor match for procedures that became increasingly invasive as the girls grew up.
Initially, the stem cells present in Anna's umbilical cord at birth were frozen and preserved should Kate need them to put her leukemia into remission. But the countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots that followed as Anna grew older and Kate grew sicker quickly became perverse and unreasonable, especially considering that each procedure was performed without Anna's informed consent and with a great deal of coercion from the girls' mother.
At age 13, Anna is told she must donate a kidney to her dying sister. Instead, she decides to hire a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used.
Being a sister myself, I initially found it very difficult to understand how Anna could take such drastic matters to avoid helping her sickly older sister. I soon discovered, however, that the consequences of going through with the procedure would have caused a personal and emotional suicide of sorts. Anna went through her entire life knowing that she was created solely to keep Kate alive, and with each procedure that physically took away a part of her, she emotionally lost a part of herself as well.
"When Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth, I got more than I bargained for," Anna explains in My Sister's Keeper. "They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course - but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister Kate. 'We loved you even more," my mother made sure to say, "because we knew what exactly we were getting.' It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy."
The chapters of My Sister's Keeper are told from the alternating points of view of Anna, her parents Sara and Brian Fitzgerald, her older brother Jesse, her lawyer Campbell Alexander, and her court-appointed guardian ad litem, Julia Romano. This style of writing allows readers to experience the characters and their actions from a variety of different angles and viewpoints.
I was able to identify with all of the characters to some degree, except Sara Fitzgerald. Sara, the mother of the Fitzgerald children, is not nearly as well-developed or three-dimensional as previous Picoult protagonists. Although her devotion to Kate is understandable, her complete lack of sympathy for Anna's predicament until the trial is troubling. It is also a stretch for readers to accept that Sara would decide to use her long-neglected law degree to represent herself in such a complicated and personal case.
Although My Sister's Keeper certainly deals with some heavy issues, it is not without its comedic moments. That is, perhaps, how Picoult makes the stagnant character names on her novel's pages take on fluid shapes and forms, developing into actual people who I found I missed long after the final page was read.
My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, and a good person. Without being preachy, Picoult gets across her personal point of view on the subject of genetic engineering by presenting some very likable characters as well as their equally unlikable counterparts. In My Sister's Keeper, Picoult ably explores a complex subject with clarity and passion, leaving readers heart-broken with an unexpected plot twist at the book's conclusion.
"Writing is a career that many dream about but few actually get to do," Picoult once said. Clearly, she has achieved this feat. I have read a number of Picoult's masterfully-written novels, but My Sister's Keeper easily surpasses them all. The emotional roller coaster ride of My Sister's Keeper definitely gets a 10 out of 10.
Jodi Picoult once said in an interview, "For me, a book is like a tornado, a lot of themes and characters and ideas spinning around and around and getting closer, until they touch down in a killer first line."
This opening line of Jodi Picoult's 11th literary masterpiece, My Sister's Keeper, was nothing short of a "killer," evoking in me the simultaneous emotions of fascination and revulsion. The remainder of the 432-page novel didn't disappoint, as it continued to shock me into the frightening reality of genetic engineering as it affected one unfortunate, however fictional, family's existence.
The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with compassion and understanding in My Sister's Keeper. Picoult, who has taken on in her writing such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact), and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze in her latest novel to genetic programming in humans, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes, and the ethical, moral, and emotional fallout that results.
Within the first few chapters of My Sister's Keeper, readers are bombarded with a great deal of background information that forms the foundation for the central issue presented in the novel. We learn that Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived shortly after Kate's diagnosis at the age of three to provide a donor match for procedures that became increasingly invasive as the girls grew up.
Initially, the stem cells present in Anna's umbilical cord at birth were frozen and preserved should Kate need them to put her leukemia into remission. But the countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots that followed as Anna grew older and Kate grew sicker quickly became perverse and unreasonable, especially considering that each procedure was performed without Anna's informed consent and with a great deal of coercion from the girls' mother.
At age 13, Anna is told she must donate a kidney to her dying sister. Instead, she decides to hire a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used.
Being a sister myself, I initially found it very difficult to understand how Anna could take such drastic matters to avoid helping her sickly older sister. I soon discovered, however, that the consequences of going through with the procedure would have caused a personal and emotional suicide of sorts. Anna went through her entire life knowing that she was created solely to keep Kate alive, and with each procedure that physically took away a part of her, she emotionally lost a part of herself as well.
"When Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth, I got more than I bargained for," Anna explains in My Sister's Keeper. "They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course - but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister Kate. 'We loved you even more," my mother made sure to say, "because we knew what exactly we were getting.' It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy."
The chapters of My Sister's Keeper are told from the alternating points of view of Anna, her parents Sara and Brian Fitzgerald, her older brother Jesse, her lawyer Campbell Alexander, and her court-appointed guardian ad litem, Julia Romano. This style of writing allows readers to experience the characters and their actions from a variety of different angles and viewpoints.
I was able to identify with all of the characters to some degree, except Sara Fitzgerald. Sara, the mother of the Fitzgerald children, is not nearly as well-developed or three-dimensional as previous Picoult protagonists. Although her devotion to Kate is understandable, her complete lack of sympathy for Anna's predicament until the trial is troubling. It is also a stretch for readers to accept that Sara would decide to use her long-neglected law degree to represent herself in such a complicated and personal case.
Although My Sister's Keeper certainly deals with some heavy issues, it is not without its comedic moments. That is, perhaps, how Picoult makes the stagnant character names on her novel's pages take on fluid shapes and forms, developing into actual people who I found I missed long after the final page was read.
My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, and a good person. Without being preachy, Picoult gets across her personal point of view on the subject of genetic engineering by presenting some very likable characters as well as their equally unlikable counterparts. In My Sister's Keeper, Picoult ably explores a complex subject with clarity and passion, leaving readers heart-broken with an unexpected plot twist at the book's conclusion.
"Writing is a career that many dream about but few actually get to do," Picoult once said. Clearly, she has achieved this feat. I have read a number of Picoult's masterfully-written novels, but My Sister's Keeper easily surpasses them all. The emotional roller coaster ride of My Sister's Keeper definitely gets a 10 out of 10.