Wednesday, May 13, 2009
My Sister’s Keeper
In our living room we have a whole shelf devoted to the visual history of our family. Everyone's baby pictures are there, and some school head shots, and then various photos from vacations and birthdays and holidays. They make me think of notches on a belt or scratches on a prison wall - proof that time's passed, that we haven't all just been swimming in limbo.There are double frames, singles, 8x10s, 4x6s. They are made of blond wood and inlaid wood and one very fancy glass mosaic. I pick up one of Jesse - he's about two, in a cowboy costume. Looking at it, you'd never know what was coming down the pike.There is Kate with hair and Kate all bald; one of Kate as a baby sitting on Jesse's lap; one of my mother holding each of them on the edge of a pool. There are pictures of me, too, but not many. I go from infant to about ten years old in one fell swoop.Maybe it's because I was the third child, and they were sick and tired of keeping a catalog of life. Maybe it's because they forgot.It's nobody's fault, and it's not a big deal, but it's a little depressing all the same. A photo says, You were happy, and I wanted to catch that. A photo says, You were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch.Anna, p130
Rarely do books draw you in and leave an indelible impression on your heart before you ever know it. Sometimes an author's story captivates a reader not by any literary feat but simply by the passionate voice by which it's told. Other times, an author has simply mastered how to craft an intricate story with painstaking detail and beautiful illustrations, how to weave a web that surfaces with many different angles all throughout the pages, how to weave you in and out of every side of critical issues and viewpoints. It's those few authors who are so gifted that they can naturally maintain a powerful yet subtle voice, a voice that speaks volumes by simply telling the story with careful timing, deliberate revelations,and sufficiently preceded developments.
Jodi Picoult is one of those authors, and I just finished "My Sister's Keeper," a novel that many of her fans argue to be one of her best. People magazine touts, "This beautifully crafted novel will grab readers with its stunning topic." The San Jose Mercury News reviewed it as, "Full of insight, inspiration, and heartbreak... Picoult's handling of the central issue is flawless."
Truly flawless, indeed.
Picoult bravely and boldly created the 400+ page novel, molding topics such as childhood cancer with controversial topics such as "designer babies" and heavy issues like how far a mother's love will go, or should go. Picoult's writing shines because of how deeply she researches topics in her books, and this one is no exception. I've lived through a leukemia diagnosis and years of ins and outs of illness, so I've seen firsthand just how dramatically the family structure can change, how differently each member can cope. Picoult didn't see a need to carefully tiptoe around the issue - she faces it head on and does so with stunning accuracy and amazing thoroughness. As careful as I read, I felt she handled the topic with absolute truth and amazing perspective. The way she interweaves all of the characters, themes, and storylines found throughout this book is just phenomenal.
About five years ago a new family bought the house across the street and knocked it down, wanting to rebuild something different. A single bulldozer and a half-dozen waste bins were all it took; in less than a morning this structure, which we'd seen every time we walked outside, was reduced to a pile of rubble. You'd think a house would last forever, but the truth is a strong wind or a wrecking ball can devastate it. The family inside is not so different.Nowadays I can hardly remember what that old house looked like. I walk out the front door and never recall the stretch of months that the gaping lot stood out, conspicuous in its absence, like a lost tooth. It took some time, you know, but the new owners? They did rebuild.Sara, p394
Brian and Sara have two beautiful children, Jesse and Kate. When Kate, their baby, comes down with a rare form of leukemia, they exhaust their options to save her. All but one, that is. Brian and Sara, through in vitro fertilization, conceive a child to be an exact bone marrow match for Kate. At birth, Anna's cord is immediately taken to treat Kate. But the line is not drawn there. As Kate continues to go in and out of disease and remission, Anna is always there to share blood or cells or whatever Kate medically needs. After all, she is a perfect genetic match for her older sister - she was created just for that purpose. Brian and Sara seem to lose sight of anything but Kate, helping Kate get better, curing Kate. When Kate is hospitalized, Anna is usually right there too, undergoing surgeries, procedures, and needles to help her sister get better. Meanwhile? Their family is breaking at the seams. Tension abounds. Jesse is left to fend for himself. Anna is sure she's invisible. Finally, at the age of 13 - for reasons you will be shocked to hear - Anna decides to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. Kate needs a kidney, and there, Anna has to draw the line.
That's all I'm saying. This book drew me in on the first page, and usually I have a hard time getting "into" a book. As this story slowly and carefully unfolds, you'll discover things that will completely shock you, and you'll realize some characters' secrets, and you'll be tantalized as Picoult repeatedly chooses to wait for disclosure.
And when you finally do solve the mini "mysteries," you'll understand why Picoult held onto you for so long. The way she tells this story, with all of the different characters, is perfectly precise. You'll think it took her a decade to write a book so purposefully connected and on-track, with so many spins, controversy, and simple truths.
It's no surprise to me that Picoult's beautiful novel has been made into a movie (as I recently blogged about), to be released June 26. Cameron Diaz will play the intricate Sara (a role I think would be nearly impossible to get "just right"), and Abigail Breslin will play the spirited Anna. I've heard from many sources (including Picoult herself) that the movie will not follow the same ending of the book. If you read the book, you'll see how many different things are wrapped up into the ending, so I'm curious about which parts will be changed in the movie. The part about Anna? The part about Kate? The part about Campbell? It's driving me crazy! I can't wait to find out. :)
If you're going to see the movie (or just enjoy phenomenal reading), go pick up the book. I hate to be prejudice, but I really don't see how this book can be done justice by Hollywood. The story is just too beautiful, the writing just too deep. It touched my heart in so many ways and showed me different perspectives of each person involved in the relentless fight against a troubled, broken body... of troubled, broken love. To understand just how much, you'll have to read for yourself.
I realize then that we never have children, we receive them. And sometimes it's not for quite as long as we would have expected or hoped. But it is still far better than never having had those children at all.She pushes back from me, until she can look me in the eye. "Don't be," she says fiercely. "Because I 'm not." She tries to smile, tries so damn hard. "It was a good one, Mom, wasn't it?"I bite my lip, feel the heaviness of tears. "It was the best," I answer.Kate, p395
.....
A few of my other favorite quotes from the book:
After my BMT, I got graft-versus-host disease - which is sort of good, because it kicks the leukemia's butt, but it also does some funky stuff to your skin and organs. The doctors gave me steroids and cyclosporine to control it, and that worked, but it also managed to break down my kidneys, which is the emergency flavor of the month. That's pretty much the way it goes - fix one leak in the dike just in time to watch another one start spouting. Something is always falling apart in me."Kate, p160
The human capacity for burden is like bamboo - far more flexible than you'd ever believe at first glance.Brian, p196
The night is falling down around us. Meteors rain like firewords, quick rips in the seam of the dark. "Oh!" Anna exclaims, and she lies down so that she can see better.""It's the Perseids," I tell her. "A meteor shower.""It's incredible."Shooting stars are not stars at all. They're just rocks that enter the atmosphere and catch fire under friction. What we wish on, when we see one, is only a trail of debris.In the upper left quadrant of the sky, a raidant bursts in a new steam of sparks. "Is it like this every night, while we're asleep?" Anna asks.It's a remarkable question - Do all the wonderful things happen when we are not aware of them? I shake my head. Technically, the earth's path crosses this comet's gritty tail once a year. But a show as dynamic as this one might be once in a lifetime.Brian, p200
There are some things we do because we convince ourselves it would be better for everyone involved. We tell ourselves that it's the right thing to do, the altruistic thing to do. It's far easier than telling ourselves the truth.Campbell, p216
"What are you getting," I ask."What do you want me to get?""The filet. That way I can taste it if I get the sole." I fold my menu. "Did you hear the results of the last CBC?"Brian looks down at the table. "I was sort of hoping that we could come here to get away from all that. You know. Just talk.""I'd like to talk," I admit. But when I look at Brian, the information that leaps to my lips is about Kate, not us. I have no call to ask him about his day - he has taken three weeks off from the station. We are connected by and through sickness.We fall back into silence. I look around XO Cafe and notice that chatter happens mostly at tables where the diners are young and hip. The older couples, the ones sporting wedding bands that wink with their silverware, eat without the pepper of conversation. Is it be cause they are so comfortable, they already know what the other is thinking? Or is it because after a certain point, there is simply nothing left to say?Sara, p235
In another pile are her baby pictures - all taken when she was three, or younger. Gap-toothed a grinning, backlit by a sloe-eyed sun, unaware of what was to come. "I don't remember being her," Kate says quietly, and these first words make a bridge of glass, one that shifts beneaath my feet as I step into the room.I put my hand beside hers, at the edge of one p hoto. Bent at a corner, it shows Kate as a toddler bneing tossed into the air by Brian, her hair flying behind her, her armms and legs starfish-splayed, certaikn beyond a doubt that when she fell to earth again, there would be a safe landing, sure that she deserved nothing less."She was beautiful," Kate adds, and with her pinky she strokes the glossy vivid cheek of the girl none of us ever got to know.Sara, p322
In the English language, there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parent who loses a child.Sara, p417
When along the pavement,Palpitating flames of life,People flicker round me,I forget my bereavement,The gap in the great constellation,The place where a star used to be.DH Lawrence, "Submergence"
My wife loved this book. I have yet to read it, but it will be read by 6/26 when the movie comes out so that we can go see it. It’s a date. :)
posted by Drofen on May 13, 2009 at 3:46pm
In reponse to your comments on yesterdays post.. read today’s post.
posted by Heather Shupe on May 14, 2009 at 12:53pm
wow, that book sounds amazing. I might just need to visit the library today.
posted by scout234 on May 15, 2009 at 3:35pm
Found your blog thru trying to find quotes from this amazing book! I have yet to go see My Sisters Keeper in the theatre but do know the changed ending is gonna kill me!
You are a great writer! Love all the quotes you share! Good luck with the wedding and marital bliss!
posted by keri on July 03, 2009 at 9:17pm