Sara and Brian's daughter, Kate was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia when she was two years old. Kate's doctor told her parents that she wasn't going to live long. She needed a donor, but a stranger would've been too risky, so they tested Kate's older brother, Jesse. He wasn't a match. Brian and Sara decided to have another child who would be a genetic match for Kate, whom they named Anna. Anna donated cord blood cells, platelets and bone marrow. Her sister goes through periods of remission and relapse.
At sixteen, Kate needs a kidney because of renal failure. Although Anna desperately wants to help her sister, she also wants to be free of the responsibility of only being her sister's saviour. At the age of thirteen, Anna decides to sue her parents for medical emancipation. She realises the fatal impact her choice will have on Kate, but she wants to be an individual and do what's right for her body.
Upon receiving the papers, Sara is shocked. On numerous occasions, she attempts to persuade her youngest daughter not to go through with the case. In spite of the guilt that weighs heavily on Anna, the trial proceeds. Julia Romano is her guardian ad litem as well as her lawyer, Campbell Alexander's, high school sweetheart. Because of the tension at home, Brian lets Anna stay with him at the fire station.
During the trial, Anna reveals that Kate convinced her to go ahead with the case. Kate didn't want to live her life suffering any longer. On the last day of the trial, the judge rules in
Anna's favour. When Campbell drives Anna home afterwards, they get in a car crash and Anna is declared brain dead. Her parents realise too late that they took her for granted. Anna's kidney is donated to Kate. Kate's life is saved, but she's without her sister.
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My Sister's Keeper is told in multiple viewpoints. I think it's a good way of learning about all the different characters as well as the story, as the varying insights add new layers to what you thought you knew. The topics addressed in the book are intriguing and fascinating. I hadn't heard of medical emancipation before and I learned a lot. The ethical and moral issue of having a child who is genetically compatible in order to save a sibling's life is one that has many grey areas. The line between right and wrong is so blurred that it's hard to discern exactly what is right or wrong.
I understand Sara's desperation. Any parent would be willing to go to extreme lengths if it meant saving their child. But not at the expense of their other children. Sara was so focused on Kate that she lost sight of her son and other daughter. No child should be made to feel as if they're an outsider. Although Brian and Sara loved Anna, they didn't truly listen to her.
Jesse became a pyromaniac, due to the lack of attention he received from his parents and because of the fact that he couldn't be the one to save Kate's life. Starting fires gave him a sense of control in the same way putting out fires gave his father a sense of control. It shows how, in life, people deal with their pain in different ways, but for the same reasons. They look for signs that hope exists. Some ignite that hope themselves, and some extinguish it.
This novel is beautiful, melancholy, life-affirming and tragic all at once. It really makes you wonder what you would do if you were in the characters' shoes. The ending is devastating and leaves you floored, and the irony of it all leaves a lasting emotional impact. You can't take anyone or anything for granted. And that's a message that can't be forgotten.
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Quotes:
"You don't love someone because they're perfect... You love them in spite of the fact that they're not."
"When you care more if someone else lives than you do about yourself... is that what love's like?"
"Kate and I are Siamese twins; you just can't see the spot where we're connected. Which makes separation that much more difficult."
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