‘My Sister’s Keeper’ | Summary
Andromeda “Anna” Fitzgerald: Anna was born with the purpose to safe her sister Kate, now she is thirteen and she doesn’t want to do it anymore so she decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. Anna is a girl that always wanted to learn new things, she also played hockey on a high level but because she had to help Kate she couldn’t continue playing. She also loves astronomy just like her father.
Sara Fitzgerald: Sara is the mother of Kate, Jesse and Anna and she would do anything to safe Kate’s life. When Anna sues her she doesn’t understand why and she is afraid that Kate will die without Anna’s help. Sara is a woman that tries to do the best thing for all of her children but not always in the right way. For thirteen years all of her attention goes to Kate, and her other children suffer the consequences. She also is a former lawyer and she decides to defend her self in Anna’s lawsuit.
Brian Fitzgerald: Brian is Kate, Jesse and Anna’s Father. When Anna sues him he understands her, and he helps her understand why it is so important for her to help Kate. Brian is a man who likes to keep things cool. He always looks at the situation with a positive mind, and he tries to make the best out of it. Sometimes he goes up on the roof at the fire station (Brian is a fire man) and looks at the stars with his telescope.
Jesse Fitzgerald: Jesse is Kate and Anna’s older brother who nobody pays attention to. His parents are to busy with Kate, and Anna is to busy with her lawsuit. He outs his emotions through pyromania. With these actions he hopes that someone notices him. Jesse looks like he is a tough and cool guy but in reality he is scared. Scared to loose his sister and scared to loose his family.
Campbell Alexander: Campbell is the lawyer Anna has hired to help her with her lawsuit. He didn’t want to help her at first but when he got to know her and her situation he gave it a shot. Campbell is a man who has a big secret but is too ashamed to tell anyone. But when something goes wrong in the courtroom everyone finds out his secret.
Julia Romano: Julia is Anna’s guardian ad litem (legal guardian) and an ex girlfriend of Campbell Alexander. As they work on the case together their love grows again and they end up getting married. She lives in an apartment with her sister and loves her work.
C. Summary
Kate Fitzgerald was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of two. The doctors said Kate needed a bone narrow transplant as soon as possible but no family member seems a match, not even Jesse Kate’s brother. Brian and Sara, Kate’s parents, try everything they can, but nothing seems to work. Than the doctor finds a solution, but not a common one. He suggests that Brian and Sara should have an other child, but not just a child, a child that is the perfect match for Kate. This is how Anna was born, she was engineered to save her sisters life. For thirteen years now Anna put up with all the transplants and operations because her parents asked her to and she wanted to help Kate. But when Kate needs a kidney transplant Anna is done. She doesn’t want to do it anymore and she decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. She hires the famous lawyer Campbell Alexander, though he doesn’t believe in her case right away he decides to take it. Because Anna is sewing her own parents she needs a legal guardian to make decisions for her and to look how Anna is treated at home. This legal guardian is Julia Romano, an former girlfriend from Campbell Alexander. Eventually Anna wins the lawsuit and Campbell is now her guardian, but than something horrible happens and everything changes.
D. Biography of the author
Jodi Picoult was born May 19, 1966 in Nesconset, Long Island. Jodi has written fifteen best selling novels, which include my sister’s keeper. Jodi studied creative writing at Princeton, she had al lot of jobs before entering Harvard to get a master’s in education. She married Tim van Leer, whom she has known from Princeton. Now Jodi lives in New Hampshire with her husband, three children and all of there animals.
E. Personal response, answer the questions
1. Did you like the story or not?
I loved the story. I love stories where there’s a lot of drama involved. And this story has enough of that. I also really liked the idea. I don’t think that anyone could write a story like this and write it so realistic when it didn’t happen to themselves, but Jodi did and I admire her for that.
2. What was it that you did or did not like?
What I liked about the book was that not everything was about drama and death and problems, there where also a lot of fun parts, like the completely different story about Campbell and Julia. It fits perfectly in the book but it isn’t about Kate and her family.
3. Choose one action of the main Character and explain:
When Kate is in the hospital to get her chemo, she starts talking to the boy sitting next to her, his name is Taylor Ambrose and he also has Leukaemia. They started to talk about chemo and how it sucks that they have leukaemia but that life goes on. When Taylor is done with his chemo he asks for Kate’s phone number and they make plans for the next day.
Why you would have done the same.
I don’t know actually. I don’t know if I would be in a lot of pain or if I would even have that much courage, but Kate thought ‘what the hell’ and just did it, and maybe I would do the same thing but for now I’m not sure.
Why you would have acted differently and how
If would’ve done it, I would’ve done exactly the same thing. It is a subject that they both relay to and they both have to live with, so why not make life a little better and get a date.
The sources I used: