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ande13's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A little long, a little predictable (yes, even the ending), but overall a good read. It definitely raises a lot of good and difficult questions, even 20 years after it’s original publication. The author does a fantastic job of capturing what it’s like to love you family but still want to do what’s right for you - all the conflicting emotions but still feeling the burning love for the people around you. I would have given 4 stars, but I think there was some extra “stuff” that could have been excluded like the love story between Campbell and Julia and all their history… but it didn’t totally distract from the main story, so I guess it’s kind of a wash. Just there to make the book longer imo.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Addiction, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Car accident
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.
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.
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,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!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Cancer, Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Child death, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Child death, Grief, Medical content, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Suicide attempt
eurekareads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I couldn’t remember other books that made me question my morals the way this book does. This compelling novel by Jodi Picoult triggered many internal debates within me about ethics, morals, love and law.
“My plans for her are no less exalted; I plan for her to save her sister’s life”
Sara’s daughter, Kate is just two years old when she’s diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Her only hope was a bone marrow transplant–this is how Anna was ushered into the world. The girl who felt like she had never belonged to herself. A combination of perfect genetic material only conceived for her sister’s benefit. Until one day, at the age of thirteen, Anna has decided that she doesn’t want to be a donor anymore. She’s suing her parents for the rights to her own body.
As the story unfolds, I became totally engrossed in the moral dilemma of the Fitzgerald family. The whole time, I was mentally debating where I stand between Anna and her mother. I remember annotating my book with “there is more to this case than the letter of the law”.
I could easily give this book a five star rating if it wasn’t for the ending. I knew from the moment I opened this book that this isn’t going to end well. BUT THE ENDING WAS PURE AND UTTER BULLSHIT. It was ridiculous and unnecessary. I’m talking about killing a young girl who just won a medical emancipation from her parents. A girl who finally has a shot in life. Worst cop-out ending but I still gave it a four star rating and I’m just going to pretend that the last three pages didn’t happen
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Child death, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Medical trauma, Grief, and Medical content
I could easily give this book a five star rating if it wasn’t for the ending. I knew from the moment I opened this book that this isn’t going to end well. BUT THE ENDING WAS PURE AND UTTER BULLSHIT. It was ridiculous and unnecessary. I’m talking about killing a young girl who just won a medical emancipation from her parents. A girl who finally has a shot in life. Worst cop-out ending but I still gave it a four star rating and I’m just going to pretend that the last three pages didn’t happenbelfrybatz's review against another edition
challenging
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It was very slow, and the characters particularly the mom were extremely unlikeable
/flawed but not in a good way. The ending shocked me and made me sad, but came way too late to make me interested in the plot.
/flawed but not in a good way. The ending shocked me and made me sad, but came way too late to make me interested in the plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Drug use
bug_2's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, and Medical content