Devastated - My Sister's Keeper

I am just devastated today. Nothing happened in my real life, but the way I read, you'd think that was the case. Yes, I am that person that gets so entrenched in a novel that I have difficulty separating my world from the fiction.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is no exception. Have I mentioned before that I put off reading this book for a long time because I thought it would be full of super sweet, sentimental drivel? Wow, was I wrong! This is a gut-wrenching story. Nothing sticky sweet about it. And, maybe part of that is because I am a mom and I work in health care. I spend a lot of my time worrying and wondering about illnesses, accidents, disasters that could befall my son. I am usually not superstitious, but back there, in the way way back recesses of my mind, there is a little superstitious elf keeping alert for the first sign of trouble, and that little elf is convinced that thinking about these things may have some magical effect in warding them off. I know that isn't how the world works, but none of us is rational all the time.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

If you haven't read My Sister's Keeper and haven't seen the movie, the novel is about a family that has had to make numerous hard choices for their children, specifically the two daughters. Kate, the older daughter, has a rare form of leukemia that has extremely low rates of survival. Anna is her younger sister, conceived through genetic counseling in order to be a donor match for Kate when it is found that the oldest child, a son named Jesse, isn't compatible, and neither are the parents. The story is about the emotions and moral dilemmas that this family must navigate, but it is told in such a real way that I believed every single minute of the story.

I was up far past a reasonable time last night reading, and began reading again this morning. In truth, I still have two pages left, but I was crying so hard that I had to put the book down and take a break. I rarely cry while reading. I rarely cry during sad movies. I rarely cry when bad things happen around me (although I cry a lot and hard when I'm mad or frustrated). With this novel, I cried and cried!

Although it isn't my favorite movie, the movie version of My Sister's Keeper is a decent film adaption, but several plot elements, particularly towards the end, are changed a bit.



Update: I finished those last two pages this morning. I couldn't pick up anything else to read today. Sigh...