Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

23 reviews

caseylovett's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit

zoejjj's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

Okay obviously I cried like a baby I have three sisters and if I was put in a position like this I have no clue what I would’ve done!! The part where Anna is in the shower and Kate is talking to her, saying I can lose you as a sister but I couldn’t handle losing you as a friend? I was trying to do chores while listening this and was cryinggg!! 

Nobody in this book is hateable. Not even Sara. She is written as an incredibly driven woman who will stop at nothing to save her daughter. Unfortunately her other kids get forgotten in the process but she regrets, she makes it right. “This is her pond but my lily pads”? Shaving her head for Kate? Honestly Jesse got the wayyyy short end of the straw but he also almost killed someone.

The ending is… so so.

I wish Jodi would’ve committed to Kate dying. In the end, Anna’s choice was taken away from her AGAIN. Was the whole lawsuit pointless? Maybe! Sure it’s (possibly) realistic bc life does not care but this book isn’t meant to be realistic like that. The ending is out of left field for the topics this book is dealing with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Car accident, Drug use, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

obsessor_of_books's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Vomit, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Grief, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

emileesbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Abortion, and Blood

jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Child death, Death, Drug use, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Body horror, Car accident, Blood, Cancer, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, and Medical content

bethanyhacquoil's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Car accident, Self harm, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism

sanjana_the_book_station's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, Grief, Murder, Child death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

seawarrior's review against another edition

2.0

The primary issue that I have with this book is its melodrama. Picoult seemed very deliberate in including plot points and phrases that heightened the emotional drama and distress that the characters were experiencing. By the final pages of the book, this was painful to the point of irritation. 

I also felt that Picoult shied away from fully exploring the situation Anna was in. By making her subservient to her parents and a willing participant in the surgeries she was born to endure, Picoult never has to stare down the true horror of Anna's life.

Though she's granted medical emancipation, we later realize that even this decision was made to help Kate, negating any hurt or resentment between the family members. Anna's death serves this purpose even further. Though her family grieves her, she had a slim realm of identity and personality outside of providing for Kate, so in a way she exists as she always has.

I think this book did a disservice to its own mission by relying on plot twists that eventual solved the ethical and familial ramifications of Anna's fight for the rights to her own body. 

Unfortunately I did not feel that the additional protagonists were written well either. It felt to me that Picoult stretched herself too thin, and managed to create characters who represented problems that needed to be solved within her narrative, but not much more. Though each character had different perspectives, most noticeably defined by their fields of study or past life experiences, their voices were not dissimilar and I didn't think they possessed the true complexity of human beings. I will say that Picoult's story was engaging, and seemed to have been researched well; yet I am not an expert in medicine, law, astronomy, fire science or any other topics Picoult needed factual support to make a part of her story. I would recommend this book to others who are interested in children's rights in the medical field, although do not expect the book to be too revolutionary, as I did. Instead it provides a starter for questioning the way we undermine children's consent in medicine, and ends with vague assertions that are ultimately meaningless for Anna.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Suicide attempt, Child death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy and Excrement

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Drug use

ansfaiv's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Cancer, Grief, and Child death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

lulunyx's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Gut-wrenching, emotional and a beautiful exploration of an impossible situation. Not a full five stars because I am still bitter and sobbing over the ending (even if the author note explains it, still felt like a cop out that was emotionally devastating). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Suicide attempt