August 2004: Jodi Picoult's MY SISTER'S KEEPER
I just picked up the latest novel by a fellow New Hampshire writer, Jodi Picoult. Her book, MY SISTER'S KEEPER, received a rave review from People magazine and had my local bookseller gushing. Being very nosy and all, of course I wanted to check out the fuss.
What a great novel! Picoult writes an upscale, literary version of family suspense, with a premise that's generally been ripped from the headlines. In MY SISTER'S KEEPER, we meet a typical Picoult family: fireman father, stay-at-home mother, and three kids. But this family is far from ordinary. For starters, the oldest daughter was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer when she was only two-years old. In a desperate bid to save her life, the parents resorted to a test-tube baby for child number three. Enter Anna, the youngest daughter, who from birth is the perfect donor for her terminally ill sister. In the beginning, the doctors believe they only need the stem cells from Anna's umbilical cord. But unfortunately, as the book opens, it's a decade later, the oldest daughter is still dying, and Anna is still the donor of choice, having given everything from blood to bone marrow in her short life. Now, her sister needs a kidney, and Anna says enough is enough. She enlists a lawyer to sue her family for medical emancipation-in her own words, she's tired of being the spare parts child.
The beautiful thing about Picoult's work, is that you can love all characters equally. Chapters rotate through the different family members. You read Anna's take on her life, and you are outraged. But you read her mother's perspective in the next chapter, and you are immediately moved by her determined fight to save her child's life. In this family, everyone has to put someone else's needs first. But isn't that the essence of love?
Picoult's novels are also known for their climatic endings. As well as we feel we know the characters, there are still plenty of secrets to be unveiled in the courtroom showdown. This is hardly a happy-go-lucky novel; I found myself weeping before I ever hit the halfway point. But the characters are so compelling and their struggles so real, I honestly couldn't put it down. I'm now working my way through the Picoult backlist, including THE PACT and VANISHING ACTS, two other novels I highly recommend.
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