Book Review: My Sister's Keeper
Exploring the Ethical Issues Presented in this Bestselling Novel
As a young girl slowly dies of leukemia, her sister becomes an unwilling donor. Explore the ethical issues behind stem cell research and this emotional story.
Imagine that your daughter is dying. She has a rare form of leukemia for which no suitable donor is available. Imagine further that her doctor suggests the possibility that a sibling (one who is not yet born or even planned for), through a scientific process, could be “designed” to be a perfect genetic match. This is the basis for Jodi Picoult’s bestselling work of fiction, My Sister’s Keeper.
In this beautifully written, powerful novel, Ms. Picoult explores the many ethical issues that arise from this scenario. With their daughter Kate dying, Sara and Brian make the decision to genetically “pre-engineer” another baby, Anna, who will act as a donor for Kate, effectively saving her life. However, the process is not an easy one for Anna who must endure numerous hospitalizations and potentially dangerous medical procedures in order to provide the necessary aid to her sick sister. Anna isn’t sick, but she certainly feels like she is. The story begins at the point where Kate is in the final stages of renal failure and Anna, now age 13, has been “asked” to donate one of her kidneys. The procedure is dangerous and painful and will leave Anna living forever with only one kidney.
Anna makes a decision to file a lawsuit for medial emancipation, which will give her the right to refuse the donation of a kidney. This move shocks her family and, though she knows the refusal means Kate will eventually die of kidney failure, Anna does not back down.
The thing that makes this story so powerful is the fact that it is told from the point of view of the mother, the father, Anna, and her lawyer (as well as a few other side characters). Each person has a distinctly different interpretation of the ethics surrounding this situation and, as a reader, you feel compelled by each person’s individual perceptions. It provides a strong argument for the idea that ethics and morals are not hard and fast rules; rather they can be incredibly adaptive depending on the circumstances, emotions and history of the person or people involved.
For example, consider the character of Sara, the mother. From the point of view of Anna’s lawyer, she is a coldhearted woman who is so blinded by her desire to save one child that she regularly puts the other child’s life at risk. From Anna’s point of view, her mother has been preoccupied with Kate and her disease. Though Anna understands why this is, she has often felt somewhat invisible and used – something she begins to resent as she grows up. But of course, from Sara’s perspective, she has taken advantage of every opportunity she could to save her dying daughter. As a mother, she is unable to consider doing anything less. As a reader, you feel her pain and you see what she has been through. You are able to understand that her grief leads her to hold tight to any and all hope, regardless of the consequences. You see that Anna is a source of hope for her.
While the novel does not come to any definitive conclusions on the ethics of this issue, it does give the reader a lot to consider. As stem cell research becomes a major scientific focus, the questions become more powerful:
How ethical is it to “design” a person (or parts of a person) in order to cure the disease of another?
As humans possessing the mental capacity to fathom such scientific advancement, is this not another necessary step in our evolution?
Is it moral to interfere with the process of nature and attempt to dictate the traits of babies? And where is the line drawn? If one person can genetically engineer their child to be a bone marrow match, why can someone else not select blond hair and blue eyes? Is there any difference? And even if there is a difference, is it a bad or immoral thing to do?
Such thought-provoking questions are definitely raised in Jodi Picoult’s novel, My Sister’s Keeper, however, few are answered. In the process, Ms. Picoult manages to weave a suspenseful, emotional and intelligent work of art that simply leaves the reader speechless. Once again, Ms. Picoult proves she is both a master storyteller and always at the forefront of modern controversy.
