The book,’My Sister’s Keeper’ was WORSE than the movie!

I bought ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ on Sunday and finished reading it today. It is a terrible book.There were numerous grammar errors, every character was two-dimensional and did not differ in speech patterns and the time change between the past and present was unorganized and broke up the flow of the story.

Each metaphor used was explained, as if the reader is too stupid to figure out what it represents. Giving each character a different font didn’t change the fact that they spoke in exactly the same way. Telling the story in the third-person would have been a much more effective way to tell the story while still including the individual characters thoughts and feelings.

Speaking of individual characters, Julia was not necessary. There is a reason she way removed from the movie. She is completely useless. Campbell doesn’t need a love interest; his job is to help Anna. The book spread itself too thin. The characters the book should have focused on were Anna and Kate.

To quote an Amazon.com reviewer, Anna and Kate’s mother, Sara, was, “The kind of character you wish was real so you could punch her.” She was the most selfish, self-centered, narcissistic person through out the entire book. Sara didn’t care about Anna. Sara didn’t even care about Kate. Sara cared about how losing her children would affect her and her life.

The father seemed to care about Kate, at least, but both parents did a terrible job at parenting. Their son Jesse does a lot of bad things in the book. The parents talk about how they’ve given up expecting good things from him, blah blah blah. Perhaps if some attention was paid to the other children,and not just for the benefit of Kate, Jesse would have become a better man.

The lawyer, Campbell Alexander, was a good character. However, as stated above, his relationship with Julia added nothing to the story. It was stupid and pointless and showed how little the author knows about how the law and the courts work. I did enjoy Campbell’s made-up reasons for needing a service dog.

Kate’s voice should have been included in the book. The plot should have been nothing but the trial with Anna and Kate’s feelings, and Sara demonstrating how little she cares about her children. That was what the plot came down to. The other was just filler and an attempt by the author to showcase her “skills” and incorporating useless metaphors and analogies.

The ending was a complete cop-out. It demonstrated that the author didn’t know how to end the book, and so instead took the easy way out. Sara was right, Anna was wrong, and Anna’s only reason for existing was to help Kate. Everything works out because the next ten years are wrapped up in one neat little chapter.

Disappointed does not begin to cover how I feel about this book. I would like to read a book that does a good job at dealing with the ethics surrounding new medical technology. Perhaps someone could recommend a title to me?