The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11th novel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out. Picoult uses multiple viewpoints to reveal each character's intentions and observations, but she doesn't manage her transitions as gracefully as usual; a series of flashbacks are abrupt. Nor is Sara, the children's mother, as well developed and three-dimensional as previous Picoult protagonists. Her devotion to Kate is understandable, but her complete lack of sympathy for Anna's predicament until the trial does not ring true, nor can we buy that Sara would dust off her law degree and represent herself in such a complicated case. Nevertheless, Picoult ably explores a complex subject with bravado and clarity, and comes up with a heart-wrenching, unexpected plot twist at the book's conclusion.
I love the poem at the very end of this book also:
When along the pavement,
Palpitating flames of life,
People flicker around me,
I forget my bereavement,
The gap in the great constellation,
The place where a star used to be.
-D.H. Lawrence
"Submergence"

RELEASE NOTES:

another good read, putting into my chicklit bookbox

I got this from princess-peapod's Chicklit Bookbox!

This book is going in my Women's Fiction Bookbox, which should start its travels sometime this summer.

Amazed by the perfect condition the book is in! I've been wanting to read this one for awhile, so now I will!

This was a little different from the movie, but i still liked it.

Putting into my possessive bookbox

My SISTER'S Keeper

Read this novel a couple of years ago...very compelling read, and at the time, I said I'd NEVER read another novel by Picoult because I was upset by the ending. However, having said that, I have read more by her...she does write about very topical, very interesting subjects.

This novel is in the "possessive book box" which was started by izzy5000. Thanks for letting me participate in your book box! Returning this to the box, and sending on this and ten other books to the next member in the book box. I hope you find the choices just as difficult as I did.

Pulled this from the Possesive bookbox, hope its a good read.