"If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?"
I am supposed to give a review on The Fault in our Stars by John Green. However, we answered our English 23 bring home exam from 4pm to 3am, leaving me no time to finish reading the book. So I decided to give my old review of My Sister's Keeper from my old blog. Here goes...
My Sister’s Keeper is yet Jodi Picoult’s best book for me. Although the first parts are kind of boring and just like A Change of Heart (her other novel, which I have read), the story is told in different points of view of different characters on every chapter so it’s also a bit confusing especially if you forgot whose POV you are currently reading. Yet the book surprised me. Why? Because of the ending. I haven’t had the slightest prediction or idea that it would end that way. SPOILER ALERT!
So here’s Kate, the oldest, who got AML, a rare type of leukemia with a rare cure. And there’s Anna, a designer baby. She was genetically cloned to be a perfect donor for her older sister since Jesse, the middle child, wasn’t a match. Sara and Brian, the parents, went to a geneticist to make every cell, every gene, every thing in Anna to be just like Kate’s so they won’t worry about donors when the latter needs them. I can’t even believe as soon as Anna was born in the world, she had already donated something for Kate. It was the umbilical cord, I think. Correct me if I’m wrong.
"They don't really pay attention to me, except when they need my blood or something. I wouldn't even be alive, if it wasn't for Kate being sick."
The case here is: Sara and Brian gave a lot of attention to Kate, which made Anna felt like an outcast. She was only given attention when they needed her for a donation of an organ, blood cells, and even bone marrow. It’s like Kate was the center of attention in the family since she was way beyond ordinary. Plus, she needed a kidney and Anna would provide it to her. Jesse also felt that way. Because of that, he rebelled. Anna, however, didn’t rebel. She just filed a lawsuit to sue her parents of medical emancipation.
You might think that Anna filed the lawsuit for her parents to see her, to feel her need of attention, to become visible to her parents’ eyes. But no, she didn’t do that for those reasons. She did it because Kate asked her to, and she was convinced that she didn’t want to donate her kidney to Kate. Kate, moreover, didn’t want to suffer anymore. She didn't want to go to hospitals anymore, and experience receiving organs and stuffs that may prolong her life on earth. She wanted to die. And when Anna told her she filed the lawsuit, she thanked her. God! She thanked Anna.
"I wondered what happened when you offered yourself to someone, and they opened you, only to discover you were not the gift they expected and they had to smile and nod and say thank you all the same."
Anna, having a good lawyer Mr. Campbell Alexander (yes, not the other way around), was soon medically emancipated from her parents after a series of trials, and the night that she was signing papers with her attorney, her parents went home ahead of her. Campbell would bring her to her house. However, they met this accident on the road. Their car collided with a truck on the way home. The rescuers (firefighters--whom Brian is one) went to the place of the accident and it was Brian who saw that Campbell and Anna were on the car. Campbell was able to survive the accident but Anna was critical. Brian did his best to save Anna but it was too late. He did CPR but nothing. He brought her to the doctor and nothing. The doctor said, Anna was already brain dead and the respirator was the only thing that kept her breathing. Campbell, having wrecked the car and missing Anna’s life, told the doctor that Kate needed a kidney.
Well, I guess you already know what the ending is. Anna died and her kidney (only one) was donated to Kate. Kate lived, and regretted having asked Anna to file the lawsuit because if she didn't ask Anna to, if they weren’t signing those papers that night, she could have been still alive and she was the one to be dead. But Kate was thankful, still.
It’s just… I don’t know, heartbreaking and shocking. I was teary-eyed when I found out about Anna being dead and Kate regretting it all. It was a sister’s love after all. Even though Kate has the eye of her parents, even though Anna was being left-out, even though parts of Anna’s body are being donated, she still loves Kate. A sister’s unconditional love.
Books are forever.
Yours, Marry
Labels: book, books, famed friday, love, marry, sister
Before I start my book review on the much-awaited, book-based movie this coming March 23, may I introduce myself first?
Bonjour! I am
Marry, and as was said on our about us section, I am going to post book and movie reviews, and other things that are related to books. I have been a reader for as long as I can remember, and I believe my bond with the books I own is more than simple reading, and thinking; it is a relationship.
Who still hasn't read this famous work of Suzanne Collins? Who doesn't know about Peeta's love for Katniss? For Gale's trouble-stricken heart when beautiful Katniss stepped onto the stage as a volunteer for the 74th Hunger Games? Who doesn't want to thank Cinna for making Katniss, and Peeta become raging fires from just mere charcoal? I bet everyone already took time to read it, and I sure bet we all know about everything that happened inside the covers of that very book.
The first time I read The Hunger Games was when I was in fourth year high school. I probably heard about it on Tumblr, and since people had been going nuts about the series, I downloaded the e-book (I still couldn't afford to buy the book that time!). And just like you, reader, I got hooked since the first chapter. SPOILER ALERT! I was saddened that Katniss had no choice but to volunteer as tribute to save her sister from the hands of the capitol, and their life-or-death game. I was thrilled to know of Peeta's childhood crush towards Katniss, and to find them falling in love, thus, becoming the Game's star-crossed lovers. However, I was stricken to find out that they had to kill each other for one to become the victor, and was more than relieved upon reading on the next chapters that there will be two victors for the 74th Hunger Games. To sum it all, I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it.
The Hunger Games is clearly a dystopian novel. It sets its readers in the nation of Panem, where the Capitol that governs the twelve surrounding districts launches The Hunger Games annually, making one boy, and one girl from each district to participate by having a draw lots. Katniss, volunteering instead of her sister Primrose, finds herself with a death sentence placed above her head. However, Katniss has been a tough girl, having been the only member of the family that provides for them since her father died. Surviving is not new to her, but regardless of her skills in survival, she has yet to prove that she can win the Game--to come back alive, to be home for Primrose, her mother, and Gale. But a dilemma is presented to her when she finds herself falling in love with his co-tribute. How will she make her decisions?
Over all, I am happy to have read this book. I'm sure you are, too, reader. Nothing beats a girl in rebellion, doesn't it? It is also a move towards feminism since Katniss--just an ordinary, and poor girl--strikes a match that drives her district, and soon, others, in fiery rebellion towards the belligerent Capitol.
Carpe diem! How? By reading books!
Love lots,
Labels: book, famed friday, marry, the hunger games
