What readers think of My Sister's Keeper, plus links to write your own review.

I read this book as part of a book club and Jodi Picoult has quickly become one of my favorite authors. The story is riveting and the writing is graceful and poetic.

Great Book - it is making it's way around the girls in my Book club!

My second Picoult book and LOVED IT! She's my new favorite author! ("The Pact" was the first one I read by her and it was excellent) I can't wait to dig into her other books!

Overall, I found this book very compelling. The emotional telling truly reels you in, and hearing the story from every characters perspective enhances the complexity of what this family is facing.

The only thing keeping it from being a 5 for me was that I felt the ending was a "tacked on" twist. It was like she decided she needed a twist for ratings, so she put it in, but it didn't feel like the rest of the novel, and it was not believable to me. It just stopped ringing true the second she took it there for me.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a novel about a young girl named Ana Fitzgerald who is caught in the shadow of her older sister Kate. Kate is diagnosed at a young age with an acute form of Leukemia that does not have a definite cure. In an attempt to save their daughter’s life, the Fitzgerald’s contact a geneticist who helps them to create an embryo, genetically designed to be a donor match for Kate. Anna spends the next thirteen years of her life as Kate’s official donor, donating cord blood, platelets, cells, and bone marrow. When Kate’s kidneys begin to fail, Anna is called upon again to donate. In response, Anna seeks out a lawyer and sues her parents for medical emancipation, giving her the right to control the decisions made in regards to her body.

Jodi Picoult’s writing style is easy to follow. The plot is propelled forward as events are narrated by different characters. This allows the reader to build intimate relationships with each character and to delve inside their personal thoughts and feelings. Character development is strong throughout the novel and leaves the reader feeling as if they can predict outcomes and future behaviors. However, Picoult uses this to her advantage by creating plot twists that add suspense and drama to the plot. Picoult does use some crude language that can be offensive to sensitive readers.

The life experiences depicted in this novel are real and written in such a way that one must fully contemplate the affects any decision will have on all parties. Throughout the novel, moral and ethical issues are debated as a family struggles to save one child through the sacrifices of another. The bonds of sisterhood are strained, as give and take is not so easily defined. I really enjoyed reading My Sister’s Keeper. The plot explored real issues that run deeper than making right or wrong decisions. The family unit as a whole is tested, tried, and proven to be strong. I felt as though I could put myself in Anna’s shoes. I explored my own thoughts and feelings about being a genetically conceived donor for my sister; in the end, “I would take her with me, wherever I go.”

I was so engaged by this book. I had trouble putting it down. It was to the point that it was demonstrably affecting my mood and my home life.

Then it ended. Abruptly.

Really that is what you were trying to tell us Ms. Picoult. That is how life is? I understand. I really do but I cant help but feel a little angry that I invested to much of myself in a character that was Spoiler Alert killed at the end. Really what is she trying to say? Fate controls us, is that it?

It was a good emotional, cathartic read and made me want to hug my kid....alot. But I cant quite put my finger on why it ended that way....some one please what is she trying to say?

I liked the way the book was written moving from one character to another. The Julia/Campbell story was great and it made you want to see what was coming next. Anna did not seem 13 to me at all. I did like having brother Jesse as part of the plot to show the effects the disease had on the whole family.
The storyline was great but I don't want to give too much detail. I really really hated the ending and read the last chapter twice to believe that yes, that is how the book ended.

One of Picoult's best. She set aside her tendency to hurry through a book, failing to complete characters as though she has a word quota and doesn't want to use too many in one place, and did a much more thorough job with this one. You hate and love almost everyone before it's over. The younger sister is portrayed as a bit too sophiscated and understanding for an adolescent that has been through what she has, and pity the poor child whose mother is as single-minded as this one, but, overall, a very good effort about a topic that won't go away soon.