My Sister's Keeper

Title: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5

All her life Anna Fitzgerald has undergone countless surgeries and transfusions so that her older sister, Kate, can fight her leukemia. Now a teenager, she's starting to question who she is and what she wants for her future. Tired of having no say in her own well-being, Anna decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.

My Sister's Keeper is one of the best books I've read in a while. The plot is well-written, emotionally moving and all around riveting. I was hooked from the first line. The characters were realistic and kept me interested in their problems throughout. Even Jesse, who had a lesser role in the drama, seemed to emphasize the Fitzgeralds struggle to balance the regular problems a family has to deal with and the problems that arise from Kate's leukemia.

The chapters switch points of view from one character to another as the book progresses, and I was genuinely surprised by how well this worked as it's not a technique I generally like. Each part provided a little more background and gave a look into the inner workings of the characters. They also introduced new twists to keep the reader hooked. And I think it is interesting that the chapters from Sara's POV are all set in the past until more than halfway through the book, unlike the other characters.

My Sister's Keeper deals with some big questions, including whether it is morally correct to infringe on the rights of one child in order to save the life of another. It wrenched at my heartstrings and made me think. It's definitely a book I'd suggest to all the women in my life.