This was the first Jodi Picoult book that I read and I was very impressed by it. I like how Jodi Picoult didn't give us a one sided view of the suject. We got to see how all the characters were affected.

I've heard of people having another child so that the sick child can have their chord blood but not much beyond that. Still, I believe that people will do it in the future. Most parents would do whatever it takes to save their child. I like how Picoult explored the affect that such a situation had on Anna.

I also found the character of the girls' brother, Jesse, interesting. How his deliquent ways started as a cry for attention from parents who basically ignored him. He was a good boy and would have probably stayed a good boy if things had turned out different.

I thought it was such a great book overall. Very thought provoking.

I read this book quite some time ago, so it is hard to remember the details. Picoult explores difficult situations and in some ways she seems to understand human nature, but I find that she also seems to hide her character's motivation and development from the reader which sometimes makes them seem a little two dimensional.

I do believe that parents will go to very extreme lengths to save one child and sometimes to the detrement of another. I had a friend whose older brother was dying of kidney failure and the family put pressure on a younger bother by 15 years to donate a kidney. I also have observed the bitterness that my mother-in-law carries with her because of emotional neglect she endured during her younger brothers short 7 year life as he suffered through lukemia. Watching a child dying affects parents so greatly that many times they are unable to cope with their other offspring and may in fact resent them for being healthy and also being self centered, which children by nature ususally are.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through this book. So far, I find the book stronger at asking questions around the balance of parenting aspect of family life, the near neglect of the two siblings in favour of Kate rather than a strong focus on the ethical questions around designer babies. I feel sorry for both Jesse and Anna who's childhood's have largely been lost. Losing a childhood is a terrible thing. The moral duty that the family is placing on Anna in particular points to the peril of being that designer baby. Beyond the family context, this could lead to wider 'breeding' programs where babies are bred only to supply parts to their matched sibling. I think it is important to face these questions as a society before the technology is well established and commercialized because tough ethical questions can take a great deal of time to resolve and once the science develops and runs away with the show, it is hard to slam the door shut.

Most parents would do whatever it takes to save their child.

You only need to have a child in peril once to know how true this is. But I find that Sara and Brian as parents, especially Sara, have trouble remembering that they have three children and really seeing that all three are in trouble because they are so emotionally swamped by Kate's condition and near imminent death. I have not finished the book but the kids are now teenagers and the damage is done. Kate is dying physically but Jesse and Anna are dying emotionally, and by the teen years, it may be too late to save them. This situation has bothered me so much as I've been reading that I haven't thought much about the genetics issues.

I don't think this situation is really that uncommon. A mother can get so wrapped up in the child that she feels needs her the most that it can blind her to the needs of her other children. Having a child die is one of the worst possible thing a parent can face and in comparison the problems of the other children can seem superficial. It is easy for us to see what she is doing is wrong, but much harder if we were actually experiencing it.

I cannot remember this book very well as I read it quite some time ago, but I think I remember feeling the same way as you do.

I just picked up another Picoult book today, 'Keeping Faith'. I'll give her another try even though I think I remember being a little disappointed with the last one of hers I read. I found some of her characters not really believable, perhaps this is partly because she does make them a little narrow to focus on a particular aspect, like the mother unable to see past her daughter's illness.

giselle wrote:

Most parents would do whatever it takes to save their child.

Kate is dying physically but Jesse and Anna are dying emotionally, and by the teen years, it may be too late to save them.

Well said. This is a very thought provoking book. One of the interesting things, and some might say one of the frustrating things about it, is that we don't really get a lot of answers.... but are there answers to this kind of situation? Picoult shows us this issue from all sides and it really does seem like a no win situation.

giselle wrote: Beyond the family context, this could lead to wider 'breeding' programs where babies are bred only to supply parts to their matched sibling.

I think it is important to face these questions as a society before the technology is well established and commercialized because tough ethical questions can take a great deal of time to resolve and once the science develops and runs away with the show, it is hard to slam the door shut.

I agree completly with you, but unfortunatly, i have to tell you that this is already a big thing, a lot of people are having it done now, its just very expensive, there's actually a good book that adresses these issues from all angles called Designer Babies, this book talks about the extreames aswell, like choosing babies hair and eye colour for example.

Although i am completely against designing your baby, i can say that i see the side of the argument for certin aspects, from a scientists point of view, the procedures that enable you to have a child if you carry a dissibilitating heriditary disease and ensure that child only has good genes is an incredible thing, however godd-playing like it may be.

Also, in respect to harvesting babies for there organs, this wont be necesarry, as we have actually now created most of the major organs artifically, they just arnt availiable quite yet. In fact, the most impressive one to date is the human heart - yes - the heart, i actually know the guy who is working on it just now, he discoverd a cell to make it beat, the only part he is missing now are the valves, thay havent made artifical ones yet, but it wont be long, and soon, donar lists will be out the window.

I have just finished reading My Sister's Keeper, it is the third of Picoults' books that I have read and I must admit I didn't find it as gripping as the previous two (Perfect Match and Nineteen Minutes) but by the end i was very emotionally involved.

I agree with a previous poster that I found it hard to be sympathetic to Sara the mother in the story, but I can't judge as I have never been in her situation and don't know how I would act, I do believe that I would do anything to save my child but not to the detriment of any of my other children, I don't think....

The ending of the book was very interesting, throughout the book I had been wondering how the author was going to end it...that was one scenario I certainly hadn't thought of.

Definately a thought-provoking book and I would recommend it to anyone.