ESL Blogs

It was not an easy job to me,to name a book as my greatest love,but if I had to name one,it would be My sister's keeper right now,written by Jodi Picoult.

The genre of this book is a real family drama.

The story of this book is about difficult choices a family must make,when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease,as here in this story of the Fitzgerards'.

I read this story the last summer,and I got emotionally involved into the plot.

The plot:The writer covers a controversial story of designer-baby,Anna,who was concieved by the Fitzgeralds,mainly to save the life of their older daughter,who is suffering from acute promyelocytic leukemia .

But after Kate's several relapses,Anne has to stand as a blood and bone marrow donor of her sister in years on end,because she is the perfect match (as a donor )to her sister.

The story begins there,where Anne finaly decides to sew his own family in the age of 13,in order to have right to her own body.It means she has to make a crucial decision,maybe fateful in point of Kate,as she is willing not to be the kidney donor of Kate,and hires an attorney....

Picoult has surprised me with her multi-character narration,where the story is told by all of the protagonists of the book:Anna,Kate,Sarah and Brian,and Jesse(the Fitzgeralds),Campbell-the advocate,Julia-the guardian ad litem of Anna,appointed by the judge.

The story is told in flashbacks.As the story had developed,I couldn't take sides with none of the characters,because I got to know their feelings,and understood each of them.

My favourite characters of the book are Sarah and Anne.

I admire the role of Sarah as strong and devouted mother,and a loving wife at the same time,who is in a loss at the moment.I really coud symphatize with her all along in the book.She made a very difficult choice,I had imagined how could it feel to be in her place...(may God save from it...)

My favourite quote of Sarah was:

"When I first became a parent I used to lie in bed at night and I imagine the most horrible succession of maladies:the bite of a jellyfish,the taste of a poisonous berry,the smile of a dangerous stranger,the dive into a shallow pool.There are so many ways a child can be harmed that it seems nearly impossible one person alone could succeed at keeping him safe.

As my children got older,the hazards only changed:inhaling glue,playing with matches,small pink pills sold behind the bleachers of the middle school.

You can stay up all night and still not count all the ways to lose the people you love....."

I feel it,as Sarah just had spoken here in my place,as I am completely sharing all of her motherly worries....

My other favourite character is Anna,I loved to know the pattern of her thoughts,although at the begininng she was presented as a 'weird creature' to me.

A lovely quote from Anna's childlish mind-that's Anna,who says in the beginning of herself,that she is childlish,but I think she is cute:

"HERE'S MY QUESTION:What age are you when you're in Heaven?I mean if it's Heaven,you should be at your beauty-queen best,and I doubt,that all of the people who die of old age are wandering around toothless and bald....etc"

Note:This winter we had to take my little daughter to a blood check,after a virus infection,and her level of leukocythes was too low,so we had to repeat the blod test a few weeks later.(although the dotor said not to worry,and I knew it too,but I have a bad anxious character most of the time...)

This book was all along in my mind,I was worring a lot,but -grace to God-,her level is back to normal again...

these are the main reasons what lead there,that this book became my first love nowadays,and the fact,that I read it in English.

I enjoyed the whole presentation and idea of Picoult,and I became a new fan of her.

The finishing of the book really surprised me,I knew it is not a love story,and there won't be a happy ending ,but it manage to became too sad!

I have also downloaded it in audio book format on a CD,and sometimes as I read,I listened to the CD at the same time.

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Downloadable audio format of the book can be found here or here.....

In 2010 there was a film released with the same title,based on the book of Jodi Picoult,I didn't see it yet,but I'd like get this film,starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, and Sofia Vassilieva....

Jodi Picoult's podcasts-a few podcasts by Jodi Picoult,I simply love her!