Ugg, I seriously hated this book. And interestingly, the friend who gave it to me loved it. Although I have no idea why. (Spoilers ahead, by the way)The idea is interesting: A family conceives a baby that will be, with the help of science, a perfect genetic match for their dying daughter, Kate. But as a young teenager, Anna is tired of being noticed only when her body parts are needed and decides to sue for medical emancipation. But My Sister's Keeper just didn't captivate me. The characters were pretty one-dimensional, with the rebellious son, hero father, and callous lawyer; the mother was so awful that it was hard to see her point of view. With the trial, the novel could have had a lot of tension, but it just kind of plodded along. Partially it was the language - my friend liked its reliance on dialogue, but I felt that Picoult relied too much on allusion and metaphor to make "grand" points that weren't terribly insightful. So I was already disliking the book...and then I got to the end. Oh, the end.
What I really, truly hated about this book was the enormous cop-out ending. I felt like Picoult chose this subject - genetically engineered children, medical rights - to be controversial, which of course would stir up interest in the book upon publication. But then, there's nothing to back it up - Picoult doesn't take a stand and she doesn't offer any sort of meditation on the subject.
In the Readers Club Guide at the back of the book, Picoult says of the ending, "...this isn't an easy book, and you know from the first page that there are no easy answers." But I really felt that she took the easy road. At the end, Kate is at death's door. She needs the kidney that her sister doesn't want to donate, but she probably isn't going to make it, regardless - enough so that her doctor is actually against transplant. Even though Anna wins her case and gets to make her own decisions, she will presumably still be at the mercy of her mother's wishes for her to donate. It's not that Anna's not going to do it; it's more that, at the end, she's won the right to make her own choice. And here we are, at the big question: Should Anna feel obligated to save the sister she loves, even if it may not work and be bad for her own long-term health? The real crux of My Sister's Keeper is how can you balance the equally deserving but opposing needs of two children that you desperately love.
Guess what the answer is? That's right; there is no answer. Instead, Anna is killed in a car wreck immediately following the conclusion of the trial. Her kidney is given to her sister who, miraculously, recovers from leukemia and goes on to live a healthy life. Seriously? It annoyed me that Picoult never tried to answer the hard questions - I don't think there was a perfect ending that would have satisfied all readers, but I think she should have tried for something. But it really bugged me that she purposely chose a controversial topic and never did anything with it. (And no surprise, rebellious brother gets fixed and the scummy lawyer - who ran from his high school girlfriend over a seizure disorder, again, seriously? - gets the girl back anyway.)
Do yourself the favor of staying away from My Sister's Keeper. You will thank me, really.
No comments:
Post a Comment