Book Review - My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Jodi Picoult is an author that writes complex characters and isn’t afraid to tackle difficult subjects. She has an ability to get into the heads of her characters and make them come alive. And so it is also with My Sister’s Keeper.

My Sister’s Keeper is the story of a family in turmoil. From her birth on, Anna spends time in and out of hospitals as a donor for her sister Kate, who has leukemia. In fact, Anna’s whole existence resulted from preimplantation genetic diagnosis because her parents sought a donor match to treat Kate’s medical condition, and this role became Anna’s life within minutes of her birth.

The story starts when Anna is thirteen and seeks medical emancipation from her parents. In the process of discovering who she is and her role in life, Anna makes decisions that dramatically affect her family. My Sister’s Keeper explores family dynamics, motivations, emotions, and morality, and it does not disappoint.

I loved this book and was pulled in at it’s opening sentence,

“When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn’t how babies were made, but why.”

It is a novel that actually brought me to tears, so real the emotions.

Have you read My Sister's Keeper or other Jodi Picoult books? What did you like/dislike?