My Sister's Keeper

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, AF, 2004, audio CDs, 13.75hrs, rating=2.5

"A major decision about me is being made, and no one's bothered to ask the one person who most deserves it to speak her opinion." The only reason Anna was born was to donate her cord blood cells to her older sister. And though Anna is not sick, she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since she was a child. Anna was born for this purpose, her parents tell her, which is why they love her even more. But now that she has reached an age of physical awareness, she can't help but long for control over her own body and respite from the constant flow of her own blood seeping into her sister's veins. And so she makes a decision that for most would be too difficult to bear, at any time and at any age. She decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body.  (Goodreads)

An interesting concept and seemingly thorough application of law and medicine but as I kept reading it slowly went downhill.  I do like that Ms Picoult delved into the perspective of each member of the family and others (except Kate's sister) instead of just the main protagonist's point of view.  Doing it this way gave it an emotional depth.  You felt the sense of empathy for their actions because you were given their perspective on them.

There was too many things going on in this book.  The side story of Kate's lawyer and guardian ad lit em seemed unnecessary.  Though the dog thing was perhaps there to spice things up and put in a bit of mystery, it seemed unfitting to me.  Basically, a heavy subject that the author tackled well emotionally but desperate to be detailed that the content became too abundant and gave room for misinterpretation of law and medicine.

I do like the family involvement in Ms Picoult's writing so I will try another of her books.  ~Which would you recommend?