My Sister's Keeper

Read it allll the way to the end before you try to have any discussions about it. Trust me on this one

Hmmm, I enjoyed it.

There seemed to be a lot of filler material (especially the subplots with the brother and the lawyer), but otherwise it kept my attention. Got a little grueling with the lawyer subplot but Anna/Kate's story kept me going.

Wasn't very fond of the end.

I was talking about Picoult the other day to a friend and we started talking about this book. It's definitely on my Must-Read list. I'm reading "Second Glance" right now, though, and need to finish it first.

All I will say in this thread is, this is one of the three books that make me want to tear my own arm off just so I've got something to beat the author with.

For the good of the site, I now withdraw, lest I explode with ire.

Eh. I was iffy on it. Too many subplots, I felt like, and I wanted to smack most of the characters. I didn't like it until about the last fifth of it.

As with the other Picoult novel I read (The Pact), I was very engrossed in this book-- it kept me interested, but it's more guilty-pleasure reading than quality literature. The characters seemed cookie-cutter to me, many parts were very predictable, and I don't think Picoult is an especially good writer.

Some of her books I really like, and others not so much. The Pact is my favorite. But My Sister's Keeper? I thought Picoult addressed some interesting issues, but the ending was a complete disappointment and a major cop-out. Easy way out. Bleh.

I loved this one, broke my heart.

I loved this one too. But I did scream at it. A lot.

Jodi Picoult. <33

My Sister's Keeper was the first one I read, and I wasn't impressed. =/ Sorry. I liked the ending, but I thought the parts with Jesse were dull. Also, the whole Campbell/Julia relationship seemed... shallow, I guess.

I did like it, though. I was extremely mad at the ending, until I discovered I wouldn't want i an other way.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

First, let me say that I could not put this book down.
There. That's out of the way.
But here's the strange thing.
After I finished it, I found a ton of problems. I think the unique nature of the plot and the pace is what pulled me through and allowed the suspension of disbelief. Ultimately, the important thing is that it did pull me through and I enjoyed it, but I'm curious as to what others think.
Here's what I found (Warning: Plot spoiler here!)
_ The MC and her father move into the fire station: No way would any fire department allow a firefighter to move in full time, especially with his 13-year-old daughter. And then, he lets her ride on the firetruck and in the ambulance and even help with a patient. As a journalist, I had to go through lots of legal hoops to ride on ambulances and accompany the paramedics into homes. The liability for the department is insane.
_ The teen-aged son recovers from his life as an arsonist and druggie and completely turns his life around after a brief confrontation with and hug from his dad. He also becomes a police officer despite his juvenille and adult record.
_ The parents allow their daughter to ride home with a man who just had a grand mal siezure.

I love Jodi Picoult's books (Most of them) and the fact that they are generally fast, entertaining, yet emotional reads. But I have to wonder about her editors. Who would let some of this stuff slip through?

happywritermom said:

First, let me say that I could not put this book down.
There. That's out of the way.
But here's the strange thing.
After I finished it, I found a ton of problems. I think the unique nature of the plot and the pace is what pulled me through and allowed the suspension of disbelief. Ultimately, the important thing is that it did pull me through and I enjoyed it, but I'm curious as to what others think.
Here's what I found (Warning: Plot spoiler here!)
_ The MC and her father move into the fire station: No way would any fire department allow a firefighter to move in full time, especially with his 13-year-old daughter. And then, he lets her ride on the firetruck and in the ambulance and even help with a patient. As a journalist, I had to go through lots of legal hoops to ride on ambulances and accompany the paramedics into homes. The liability for the department is insane.
_ The teen-aged son recovers from his life as an arsonist and druggie and completely turns his life around after a brief confrontation with and hug from his dad. He also becomes a police officer despite his juvenille and adult record.
_ The parents allow their daughter to ride home with a man who just had a grand mal siezure.

I love Jodi Picoult's books (Most of them) and the fact that they are generally fast, entertaining, yet emotional reads. But I have to wonder about her editors. Who would let some of this stuff slip through?

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Wow, I didn't even think about some of this stuff. I love Jodi Picoult, and I think she has an amazing way of getting into her characters' heads and really using unique voices for each one.

As far as the teenage son, I do know that even with juvenille and adult records, you can become a cop. I knew a kid who got into a huge bar fight and was arrested. He had to then wait a year for the police department to pick him up - and he did. Got a beat in NYC.

The rest just seemed to fit for me, and I didn't question it. I enjoyed it.

I hate this book so much it makes me want to rip my own arm off just so I've got something to throw at the author.

I liked Nineteen Minutes a lot, but I couldn't get into this one. I'm not really sure why, it just didn't do it for me. I didn't even get as far as the scenes you're describing, Lori.

I bought this book a couple of years ago, but haven't actually read it yet. To be honest, I only bought it because our youngest sibling, of 7 years old, died of Leukaemia when I was 15.
Our mum would have out the rest of us through hell to save her youngest, she wouldn't have regarded how we felt about any of it either, we would have had no option for bone marrow transplants etc, except none of that was ever mentioned to any of our family by the NHS anyway.

RANT AND SPOILERS AHEAD:






Not to mention, if I'm thinking about the right book, that the whole thing is about the daughter fighting to get her own life, then she gets killed in a car wreck at the moment of her freedom. Ugh. Breach of implicit promise to the reader.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the fad is to worship such meaningless death endings as realistic. But guess what? This is fiction. It should be better than real, with endings defined by the characters, not chance. To swat aside a growth/change arc with an oopsie is as mindless an act of vandalism as knocking the arm off David seconds after Michelangelo gives it the last hammer tap.

Unless, of course, your whole point is that life sucks, everyone's helpless and nothing matters. Then let the wild coincidences roll! Critics don't mind wild coincidences, as long as they screw the characters sufficiently.

From what I gather, that wasn't the kind of book Picoult was writing.

Whew, I feel better now. Where's the steps to this soapbox?

Phaeal said:

RANT AND SPOILERS AHEAD:






Not to mention, if I'm thinking about the right book, that the whole thing is about the daughter fighting to get her own life, then she gets killed in a car wreck at the moment of her freedom. Ugh. Breach of implicit promise to the reader.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the fad is to worship such meaningless death endings as realistic. But guess what? This is fiction. It should be better than real, with endings defined by the characters, not chance. To swat aside a growth/change arc with an oopsie is as mindless an act of vandalism as knocking the arm off David seconds after Michelangelo gives it the last hammer tap.

Unless, of course, your whole point is that life sucks, everyone's helpless and nothing matters. Then let the wild coincidences roll! Critics don't mind wild coincidences, as long as they screw the characters sufficiently.

From what I gather, that wasn't the kind of book Picoult was writing.

Whew, I feel better now. Where's the steps to this soapbox?

Click to expand...

When I finished this book I threw it accross the room and was crying... I hate to cry, and I am not a violent person normally. I then proceeded to call the person who picked the book for book club and told me I would enjoy it (knowing I hate it when MC's are killed)...

That said, I totally agree that Jodi screwed the readers on this one!

Is that what you said? Or was I paraphrasing?

I couldn't give a flying fuck about the characters. DEM is a lazy-ass way to wrap up a book and I don't know how any writer could think it's a good way to end a book.

Yeah. Spend the entire book taking control of your life, then have it taken away by an act of God?

Good one, Picoult.

Oh, and the original point of the original post...

I think she took poetic license there... In some stations (small towns) that may be ok.

I think everyone (in the US) can get diversion once in their lives, so they don't screw up their future with one mistake.


Oh and SP- Why don't you tell me how you REALLY feel, I think you are holding back on this one!

scarletpeaches said:

I couldn't give a flying fuck about the characters. DEM is a lazy-ass way to wrap up a book and I don't know how any writer could think it's a good way to end a book.



Yeah. Spend the entire book taking control of your life, then have it taken away by an act of God?



Good one, Picoult.

Click to expand...

Methinks I won't bother to read it now. What a cowardly way to end it.

I actually really, really liked the ending.

For me, I'd spent the book siding with the healthy sister, wanting to get her free from her unreasonable mother and set her free from her sister's hopeless case that would no doubt end in death no matter how many operations were performed.

Getting to the end and realizing that the kidney (was it a kidney?) really *was* the last operation that was going to be needed, and it was going to keep the sick sister well alive and even thriving, overturned all my assumptions and made me reexamine my emotional journey.

Having the healthy sister die was necessary for my experience, 'cause there's no way I wanted her to voluntarily give her kidney up. I wanted her to win her freedom and keep it. I needed it both ways. I needed the sister to say "no" and mean it, and I needed to see what would happen if she had said yes. The death therefore totally worked for me.

(And by the way when I say I "wanted" this, I don't mean that in real life I want someone to die or be selfish or whatever. I'm talking purely as a reader on a journey.)

I'm not saying you're wrong to dislike it, just that it worked perfectly for me. Please (anyone) don't explain to me why *I'm* "wrong" either. I'm just saying, for the record, that I thought this book terrific, including the end.

Emily, I agree completely with you. I loved the book. Though the ending was sad, and I cried my way through a lot of the book, the ending fit, for me.