Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - My Sister's Keeper

Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

29 reviews

ananyaramesh's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

i liked this book but im conflicted. it’s definitely something i could do a literary analysis on if i had to bc there were a lot of interesting decisions that the author makes. however sometimes her narration is SO early 2000s that if i didn’t know the author, i’d lowkey think she was a male author. the court scenes were also i feel kind of unrealistic and too tv-drama.

and the ending?? i originally hated it but i kind of understand why she did it. it makes the whole premise of the book pointless but emotionally it’s good.

idk maybe my rating will change but overall i did like the book.

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morgan_byrd's review against another edition

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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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eurekareads's review against another edition

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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

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belfrybatz's review against another edition

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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.

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danielle2121's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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thresholdgirl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad

5.0

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aimeal815's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-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? Yes

3.0

I wouldn’t say I’m upset with this book, because I thought the story was really interesting, but I am definitely upset with aspects of it. I found it very difficult to read at times because I was having trouble sympathizing with a lot of the characters. It felt like some of the conflicts were very needless

such as the whole thing with Campbell and Julia

. I also found the ending incredibly upsetting. I know that that was the whole point, but it felt almost ridiculous.

It made me feel almost like I wasted my time following Anna’s whole story for it to just be thrown away at the end like that.

That being said, it was a very complex plot with a lot of complex characters, and I can appreciate that because that’s just how life is. It’s just that there were too many parts of it that I had trouble with in order to really love it.

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thedandybrambler's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

A truly, truly beautiful book that I believe will stay with me for a very long while

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nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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