Reviews tagging 'Death'

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

46 reviews

jackieswitzer96's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Death, Cancer, Car accident, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use

jillgoober's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I can't say much about my thoughts on this book without spoiling it. Just know that if you've seen the film, you are in for a big surprise ending. I've decided that overall this was a good novel but I (unpopular opinion possibly) much prefer the film ending to the book ending. I was so floored at the absurdity that is the book ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Car accident, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, Chronic illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Ableism

lupitaestela's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Medical content, Vomit, Blood, Grief, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Death, and Drug use

jessica13zapata's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Child death, Chronic illness, and Medical content

jenn_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Every adult in this book is awful and Sara can go straight to hell.

The end is monstrously stupid. It's like M. Night Shyamalan for middle aged white ladies. The ending definite affects my assessment of this whole entire book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

Medical consent issues, Toxic parental relationship,

Car accident

,

Seizure

melissa_keen's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I watched the film, and wasn't expecting the book to have such a different ending!! Both endings are great, and it was an unexpected but good twist to read the book ending. It's a very sad book, because it centers around a little girl dying of cancer. The book tackles some really complicated and difficult subjects, but it does so beautifully. A very raw, realistic, sad yet beautiful story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, and Death

xoxandiexo's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

this was unnecessarily painful. i hate the ending with all my heart and i want to punch the wall until my knuckles bleed. merry christmas!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Cancer, Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Child death, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

niiici's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism

shushkeepitdown's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An extremely sad book which tackles all the horrible things that a family has to go through when one of their loved ones is with an illness with no certain cure. I honestly loved the beginning and even almost near the end it was so good but then the ending came and honestly I was very disappointed with it. Also there are multiple POVs and I wouldn't have minded it but what they do is during the book they constantly switch between present time and their past memories so I had to constantly read paragraphs over and over to make sure what was currently going on and what was a random memory they just put in the middle. They do this for every point of view. It was a good starting book but the ending honestly stopped this from being a 4.5 star book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment and Sexual content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

morgan_byrd's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Its been a while since I read this because I read it before I made this account.
This book is very eh, it has a lot of good starting points but it doesn't really do anything good with them.

There is serious comentary to be made about how children don't have full bodily autonomy and how that can be abused, about how a minor with severe and possibly fatal illness might want to choose palliative care instead of continuing to fight, how necessary it might be to prioritize the needs of one of your children over another when that child is in crisis and the strain it can put on a family. At first it seems like the book might go in that direction and maybe my expectations were to high but all the pieces are right there and there's no way this is or should be a coffee table novel.
I don't think the book properly explore or elaborates on any of these issues.

The main plot is intriguing at times, the 2 subplots not so much.

One is a romance subplot with so much backstory and honestly why is there a romance subplot. It adds nothing to the story.

Subplot two is about the neglected older brother who kind of faded to the background with everything going on throughout the families lives and it much more relavant but still weak.


spoiler commentary about the ending for all who care It 

The ending is a cop out, the arguement almost doesn't matter because she dies and her sister get her organs and thats it. Shes all better now, not sick or disabled anymore (cancer recovery doesn't work like that except in very rare occasion and especially not people who've had it for years). Family problems are semi-resolved even through grief. It seemed like for a couple pages there was set up for a sequel. The premise of a first book about a girls right to not the save her sister and a second about that sisters right to maybe just give up. Both about bodily autonomy. It does not do that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Child death, and Cancer

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit