Title: My Sister’s Keeper
Author: Jodi Picoult
Translated by: -
Used year: 2008
Year of release: 2004
Number of pages: 407
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Summary
Anna has been born to keep her sister alive, she has been a donor for Kate her entire life. Her genes are matched perfect. Now Kate has grown older and her kidneys don’t function anymore, she says to Anna she had to fight for the rights of her own body. She doesn’t want to live on. Also, the operation is dangerous for them both: both Anna and Kate could get serious injuries from it. So Anna sues her parents, Campbell Alexander is her lawyer. Because Sara, Kate and Anna’s mother, was a lawyer in the past, she represents herself and Brian, her husband, in court. A long time ago Sara gave her career up to take care of Kate. She tries to convince Anna to stop, but Anna doesn’t want that. When the tension is too hard to live with, Brian takes her to the fire station. Sara goes back to the past and shares her memories with us: for example when she discovers Kate has leukemia or when Kate got a boyfriend who also had leukemia and died. Meanwhile, Julia – guardian ad-litem (she represents Anna in court) – tries to find out how the situation is at home. Campbell and Julia know each other already form high school: back then, they were in love. They find it hard to represent Anna together, but both of them refuse to stop and through the story, they get more connected to each other. Jesse, Anna and Kate’s older brother, makes trouble by starting fires and doing drugs. He wants to have attention, because hiss ill sister Kate and donor Anna have always been in the spotlight. Brian discovers what his son Jesse is doing, but forgives him. The lawsuit ends with the conclusion that Anna is medically independent from her parents. But on the way home, she gets involved in a car accident. Campbell only has a few scratches, but Anna doesn’t survive: she’s brain-dead. Kate gets her kidneys and all of her other organs are for some other people: they know Anna would have wanted that.
In the end, in court, we discover the real reason Julia and Campbell broke up a long time ago: Campbell had an similar accident and became epileptic. He didn’t think Julia deserved that. This also was the reason for him to help Anna: he knows what it is like to not have the control of your own body. As Anna dies, Campbell marries Julia and Kate always carries her sister around inside herself. She thinks someone had to die and Anna took her place.
Title Description
It’s about the fact that Anna has been a donor for her sister all her life. She keeps her sister alive, in fact. But it also means that Kate gets Anna’s kidneys when she dies in the car accident, so that Kate has the feeling she always carries around her little sister.
Main characters
Anna: the youngest child in the family, born to keep Kate alive. She goes to court for the rights of her own body, because Kate is giving up. In the end, she dies instead of Kate.
Kate: got leukemia when she was only two years old, had survived it throughout the years because of her little sister. Now, she wants to give op, so she says to Anna she has to sue her parents. In the end, she gets Anna’s kidney anyway and she survives instead of Anna. She always carries Anna around.
Jesse: the big brother of Anna and Kate. He starts fires everywhere, because he’s always in the background of his ill sister Kate and donor sister Anna. He knows what Kate and Anna’s plan is.
Sara: mother of Kate, Anna and Jesse. Was a lawyer, but gave everything up to take care of her daughter. She can’t let Kate go and represents herself and Brian in the court.
Brian: father. He is a fireman, flights from home all the time. Anna is at his work when the tension is too high at home. He discovers what Jesse does and has been through.
Campbell: lawyer of Anna, has a dog to warn him when he gets epileptic. Has always been crazy about Julia, but didn’t think he was right for her.
Julia: is guardium at-litem of Anna, is trying to find out about her family. She had a sister and gets confronted with her past love: Campbell.
Genre
Genre: novel
Subgenre: realistic, drama
Place
Hospital: Kate is in the hospital because of the leukemia and her kidneys. Her family visits her a lot. Also Anna is in the hospital once she’s had the car accident. Anna dies here at the end.
Home: Although Kate is mostly in the hospital, the rest of her family is at home when they’re not in the hospital, court or the fire station. Especially they are at home when they have memories.
Fire station: This is where Brian works, even though Kate’s sick. Anna lives here for a while, because of the tension at home.
Court: Anna and her parents are fighting about the rights over her own body, because Sara doesn’t agree: Anna should let Kate have her kidney in her opinion.
Time
It takes place in the present, but there are also a lot of memories which go back in the past. Sara tells us about most of these memories.
If you count the memories within, the story takes place in about twelve years. If you don’t count the memories, I guess the story takes place in about a year.
Writing style
It’s written in English and while I understand everything out of the sentence, I can imagine it’s hard to read for people who aren’t so familiar with English. There are some difficult words.
Telling method
The story has been told by the ‘I’ person, but above each chapter is written a name from who’s perspective the ‘I’ person actually is. There are more tellers: Anna, Jesse, Sara, Brian, Campbell, Julia and in the epilogue Kate.
Theme
Sickness
Motives
Leukemia, kidneys, donor, dead, family and rights
Author
Jodi Picoult is 44 years old, married to Tim and has three children. They live in Hanover, New Hampshire with a real farm of animals, like a duck, eight chickens and two donkeys.
My opinion
I think it’s a beautiful story. I’ve seen the movie a few times before I read the book. There are some differences between them, which you can read below. But I think the book is as beautiful as the movie is. Because it was different, I didn’t know everything and I still was surprised sometimes, so that’s surely a good thing. It’s kind of a sad story, but I can understand most of the feelings in it. I, myself, have had many family members who died from cancer. I only know one person who survived it. Kate does too, thank God – although her sister dies, which it sad of course. On the frontpage it says: ‘The only way to save you daughter, is to sacrifice her sister. What would you do?’ I think that’s a question which I find hard to answer, especially for parents.
Differences with the film
In the film, Anne is only eleven, though she’s thirteen in the book. Kate doesn’t have a say in the book (except for the epilogue), while she has in the movie. Campbell is guardian ad-litem in the film and Julia doesn’t even exist there. So there’s also no past between them, which includes why Campbell has the dog and is epileptic (however, the dog is explained at the end). In the book, the judge is a man, in the film it’s a woman. Some quotes from the book are in the film too, but spoken by another person. Sara had dark hair in the book and blond in the movie. The end is different too: Kate dies in the movie, while Anna dies in the book. Kate survives because of Anna: she gets her kidneys anyway.
Hier vind je een link naar het Nederlandstalige verlag van dit boek.
Author: Jodi Picoult
Translated by: -
Used year: 2008
Year of release: 2004
Number of pages: 407
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Summary
Anna has been born to keep her sister alive, she has been a donor for Kate her entire life. Her genes are matched perfect. Now Kate has grown older and her kidneys don’t function anymore, she says to Anna she had to fight for the rights of her own body. She doesn’t want to live on. Also, the operation is dangerous for them both: both Anna and Kate could get serious injuries from it. So Anna sues her parents, Campbell Alexander is her lawyer. Because Sara, Kate and Anna’s mother, was a lawyer in the past, she represents herself and Brian, her husband, in court. A long time ago Sara gave her career up to take care of Kate. She tries to convince Anna to stop, but Anna doesn’t want that. When the tension is too hard to live with, Brian takes her to the fire station. Sara goes back to the past and shares her memories with us: for example when she discovers Kate has leukemia or when Kate got a boyfriend who also had leukemia and died. Meanwhile, Julia – guardian ad-litem (she represents Anna in court) – tries to find out how the situation is at home. Campbell and Julia know each other already form high school: back then, they were in love. They find it hard to represent Anna together, but both of them refuse to stop and through the story, they get more connected to each other. Jesse, Anna and Kate’s older brother, makes trouble by starting fires and doing drugs. He wants to have attention, because hiss ill sister Kate and donor Anna have always been in the spotlight. Brian discovers what his son Jesse is doing, but forgives him. The lawsuit ends with the conclusion that Anna is medically independent from her parents. But on the way home, she gets involved in a car accident. Campbell only has a few scratches, but Anna doesn’t survive: she’s brain-dead. Kate gets her kidneys and all of her other organs are for some other people: they know Anna would have wanted that.
In the end, in court, we discover the real reason Julia and Campbell broke up a long time ago: Campbell had an similar accident and became epileptic. He didn’t think Julia deserved that. This also was the reason for him to help Anna: he knows what it is like to not have the control of your own body. As Anna dies, Campbell marries Julia and Kate always carries her sister around inside herself. She thinks someone had to die and Anna took her place.
Title Description
It’s about the fact that Anna has been a donor for her sister all her life. She keeps her sister alive, in fact. But it also means that Kate gets Anna’s kidneys when she dies in the car accident, so that Kate has the feeling she always carries around her little sister.
Main characters
Anna: the youngest child in the family, born to keep Kate alive. She goes to court for the rights of her own body, because Kate is giving up. In the end, she dies instead of Kate.
Kate: got leukemia when she was only two years old, had survived it throughout the years because of her little sister. Now, she wants to give op, so she says to Anna she has to sue her parents. In the end, she gets Anna’s kidney anyway and she survives instead of Anna. She always carries Anna around.
Jesse: the big brother of Anna and Kate. He starts fires everywhere, because he’s always in the background of his ill sister Kate and donor sister Anna. He knows what Kate and Anna’s plan is.
Sara: mother of Kate, Anna and Jesse. Was a lawyer, but gave everything up to take care of her daughter. She can’t let Kate go and represents herself and Brian in the court.
Brian: father. He is a fireman, flights from home all the time. Anna is at his work when the tension is too high at home. He discovers what Jesse does and has been through.
Campbell: lawyer of Anna, has a dog to warn him when he gets epileptic. Has always been crazy about Julia, but didn’t think he was right for her.
Genre
Genre: novel
Subgenre: realistic, drama
Place
Hospital: Kate is in the hospital because of the leukemia and her kidneys. Her family visits her a lot. Also Anna is in the hospital once she’s had the car accident. Anna dies here at the end.
Home: Although Kate is mostly in the hospital, the rest of her family is at home when they’re not in the hospital, court or the fire station. Especially they are at home when they have memories.
Fire station: This is where Brian works, even though Kate’s sick. Anna lives here for a while, because of the tension at home.
Court: Anna and her parents are fighting about the rights over her own body, because Sara doesn’t agree: Anna should let Kate have her kidney in her opinion.
Time
It takes place in the present, but there are also a lot of memories which go back in the past. Sara tells us about most of these memories.
If you count the memories within, the story takes place in about twelve years. If you don’t count the memories, I guess the story takes place in about a year.
Writing style
It’s written in English and while I understand everything out of the sentence, I can imagine it’s hard to read for people who aren’t so familiar with English. There are some difficult words.
Telling method
The story has been told by the ‘I’ person, but above each chapter is written a name from who’s perspective the ‘I’ person actually is. There are more tellers: Anna, Jesse, Sara, Brian, Campbell, Julia and in the epilogue Kate.
Theme
Sickness
Motives
Leukemia, kidneys, donor, dead, family and rights
Author
Jodi Picoult is 44 years old, married to Tim and has three children. They live in Hanover, New Hampshire with a real farm of animals, like a duck, eight chickens and two donkeys.
My opinion
I think it’s a beautiful story. I’ve seen the movie a few times before I read the book. There are some differences between them, which you can read below. But I think the book is as beautiful as the movie is. Because it was different, I didn’t know everything and I still was surprised sometimes, so that’s surely a good thing. It’s kind of a sad story, but I can understand most of the feelings in it. I, myself, have had many family members who died from cancer. I only know one person who survived it. Kate does too, thank God – although her sister dies, which it sad of course. On the frontpage it says: ‘The only way to save you daughter, is to sacrifice her sister. What would you do?’ I think that’s a question which I find hard to answer, especially for parents.
Differences with the film
In the film, Anne is only eleven, though she’s thirteen in the book. Kate doesn’t have a say in the book (except for the epilogue), while she has in the movie. Campbell is guardian ad-litem in the film and Julia doesn’t even exist there. So there’s also no past between them, which includes why Campbell has the dog and is epileptic (however, the dog is explained at the end). In the book, the judge is a man, in the film it’s a woman. Some quotes from the book are in the film too, but spoken by another person. Sara had dark hair in the book and blond in the movie. The end is different too: Kate dies in the movie, while Anna dies in the book. Kate survives because of Anna: she gets her kidneys anyway.
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