My sister's keeper by Jodi Picoult

With her penetrating insight into the hearts and minds of real people, Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person, and what happens when emotions meet with scientific advances. ***Now a major film.***

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. **Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate a life and a role that she has never questioned until now.**

**Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to ask herself who she truly is.** But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable a decision that will tear her family apart and have **perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.**

**Told from multiple points of view, My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person.** Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life . . . even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you?

**Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, *Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.***

I didn't like it. I don't usually read this genre, it's labelled chick-lit, but I wanted to read it for two reasons: it was banned and the premise of being a donor baby sounded interesting.

However, there was a lot of angst. Now, I understand that this is from the point of view of a 13 year old, and when the pov switches, from someone that is close to a 16 year old with cancer, so I tried to let my annoyance of it go.

I didn't care about Campbell and Julia's romance. I didn't care. I picked up the book to read about the dynamic between a donor baby and her family after they hear that she wants to make her own choices. I loved the character of the father Brian -- he's wonderful, and I understood him, a little bit of a trope at times, but still likeable.I disliked the character of the mother, I found her to have tunnel vision, and as a mom you can't have tunnel vision. You can have focus on one thing, but you can't let it blind you. The ending was a bit predictable, and I disliked it immensely. But I guess that's the ending that fits the best for things that involve donating an organ.And when we finally hear from Kate, she seems to be in perfect health, which is a little to 'happily ever after' for me, but it's chick lit, so how can there not be a campy ending where everyone's pain is turned inside out such as Jesse getting to be a police officer that is recognized by the mayor, despite his streak as a fire bug, and so on.

My first ever Jodi Picoult book which I loved at first read. But looking back, the mother was a jerk and I felt sorry for Anna. I didn't appreciate the author's attempts to justify the mother's actions. But overall, the character relationships were developed well and it's truly amazing how the author managed to tackle and deeply explore such a complicated ethical matter. The plot twist I did not expect, and while it was not an ending I liked, it was wrapped up nicely.