My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

January 9, 2007
Book suggested by Carol W., and meeting hosted by Missy.

All of us liked this book and it got good scores all around. Many of us experienced disbelief with the surprise ending, so much so that we had to read that section again just to be sure. We found that the book brought out tremendous emotion, and a number of us sobbed out loud while reading the book. One of us even woke up with nightmares!

We were very disappointed that Brian (dad) did an about-face at the trial. We were saddened by the effect that this situation had on Jesse, and were very glad to read that he turned his life around in the end.

We talked a great deal about how driven Sara was to find a cure for her daughter, and most of us strongly disagreed to her approach in raising her other children. But we all agreed that, never having walked in her shoes, we could not possibly predict how we might respond to similar circumstances (though we all hoped we would treat our other children more favorably than she did!).

A couple of us did not like how each chapter jumped from the perspective of character to character. We noted how the fonts even changed from chapter to chapter as the narrator of the story changed.

We talked briefly about the potential slippery slope surrounding the issue of selective genetics in the conception of a child, particularly since the original intent in this case was to use only the cells from the umbilical cord. But again, we agreed that, given the same circumstances, some of us might just do the same if we thought it would save our child. Some believe that if God gave us the ability to scientifically advance, we, as a society, should not feel guilty for doing so in situations like this one.

Jodi Picoult's website: http://www.jodipicoult.com/