My Sister's Keeper: Summary And Critique

Jodi Picoult's novel My Sister's Keeper begins with a thirteen year old girl named Anna talking about how her parents conceived her, yeah seems to be a weird way to start off a book, but not in Anna's case. She was specially picked by a doctor to be a genetic match for her sister Kate, which is just the beginning of her story.

Kate is sixteen years old and has been living with leukemia since she was two. Her parents Julia and Brian planned Anna's birth so she could be a donor and save Kate. At first Anna was only supposed to be "used" once for an operation immediately after she was born. But, the donations from Anna just kept on coming.

Until one day Anna decided she wanted to sue her parents, so she would no longer have to be a donor for her sister. That is when Campell, her lawyer, comes into play. Campell decides he will work with Anna on her case. Once her mom finds out about the lawsuit she is very confused, she does not understand why Anna wants to kill her own sister. All Anna wants to do is keep her kindneys and her body all for herself.

After a few months of arguments the case finally goes to court. Anna starts to regret her decision and refuses to go on stand. Campell is confused by this and thinks maybe this case is just an attention grabber for a young girl.

Her dad and her mom go on stand. Brian talks about how much he loves Anna, and her being a donor was not supposed to last her whole life. Anna's mother Julia goes on stand to defend having Anna be Kate's donor, and how she could not bare to make the decision to kill her own daughter.

Finally Anna agrees to go on stand, Campell asks her a few questions. Then he asks her why she decided to sue her parents, Anna began to cry and said Kate made her do it. Campell wants an explaination Anna says one day she found Kate with pills and razors an she told Anna she did not want to be a burden on their lives any more.