Book: My Sister's Keeper

[- Femme -]

This is an amazing book. I read it in one sitting and for the past couple of days I would pick it up and just go over my favourite passages. It's basically about the consequences of people being allowed to have 'designer' babies - choosing the genetic makeup of their future children. It's a little futuristic because although the topic has been discussed for quite a while - I don't think it has happened yet. It's narrated by several people but the main character is Anna who is thirteen. She sues her parents for the right to make decisions about her own body after she was asked/told to donate a kidney to her dying sister.

 

I cannot adequatey describe the book so here is a synopsis I borrowed:

 

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?

An excerpt:

 

When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn't how babies

were made, but why. The mechanics I understood – my older

brother Jesse had filled me in — although at the time I was

sure he'd heard half of it wrong. Other kids my age were

busy looking up the words penis and vagina in the classroom

dictionary when the teacher had her back turned, but I paid

attention to different details. Like why some mothers only

had one child, while others seemed to multiply before your

eyes. Or how the new girl in school, Sedona, told anyone

who'd listen that she was named for the place where her

parents were vacationing when they made her ("Good thing

they weren't staying in Jersey City,"my father used to

say).

 

Now that I am thirteen, these distinctions are only

more complicated: the eighth grader who dropped out of

school because she got into trouble; a neighbor who got

herself pregnant in the hopes it would keep her husband from

filing for divorce. I'm telling you, if aliens landed on

earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get

born, they'd conclude that most people have children by

accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night,

or because birth control isn't 100%, or for a thousand other

reasons that really aren't very flattering.

 

On the other hand, I was born for a very specific

purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a

full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a

scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my

father's sperm and come up with a specific combination of

precious genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how

babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask

my parents the truth; I got more than I bargained for. They

sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course —

but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me,

specifically, because I could save my sister Kate. "We

loved you even more,"my mother made sure to say,"because

we knew what exactly we were getting."

 

It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if

Kate been healthy. Chances are, I'd still be floating up in

Heaven or wherever, waiting to be attached to a body to

spend some time on Earth. Certainly I would not be part of

this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I

didn't get here by accident. And if your parents have you

for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once

it's gone, so are you.

Read rest of excerpt...

 

Anyway I recommend you guys get it.

 

ON TO OTHER BOOKS:

 

Anyone finished Harry Potter yet? What's your thoughts? I cannot believe someone could be become a billionare through books.

 

I enjoy reading the series but I cannot wrap my mind around the thought that hundreds of people waited HOURS just so they could be the first ones who got it. It's unbelievable. Would the book have been less exciting if it had been read in the 3rd 4th 8th day? People just went nuts over it and it's scary.

[rudy-Diiriye]

how can u read that stuff my dear!! dontchya want get enlightened...or u just wanna rot.

 

my book i am reading currently is : The Battle for GOD...anybody read that yet...very facinating.

[Valenteenah.]

^ Turned into a literary snob, have ya? Will wonders never cease? :rolleyes:

 

 

Andromeda, it sounds like a very interesting book. I'll look it up, I'A.

 

<- Not a Harry Potter fan.

 

<- Currently reading about a stripper turned private detective. Gotta luv it.

[Mowgli]

Harry Potter...hmm still havent made up my mind bout how i felt about it...I was hoping one of the main main characters would be killed off...lakiin it wasnt meant to be.

 

At the mo i'm reading An Interpretation of Murder...

[Cara.]

Idil, I'm also a little ambivalent about the final Harry Potter. The treatment of Snape and Dumbledore was brilliant, but the ending was a cheat. Besting evil leads to happiness and domestic bliss? *Gags*

[Cara.]

DP

[Cara.]

DP

[NGONGE]

^^^ Maybe not the book but you do seem excited about something there, Cara! Was it a nudge from Zafir?

[Crystal_Clear]

Harry Potter? How old are you guys!

[Ariadne]

^^Harry Potter is the cat's pajamas!