"Sister's Keeper": Endless Rescue

This is a novel recommended to me by a friend.

Although friends and even online reviews say that once I pick up this novel, I won’t be able to put it down, but somehow, I really don’t think this novel is that compelling to read.

In fact, judging from my reading speed, it took me a very short time to read this book (about two weeks), which shows that this book is really attractive.

In fact, this novel may be even more controversial than the previously introduced "The Wandering Blade" because it involves a person's basic rights.

Let me first introduce the content. A couple originally had a pair of children, and the family of four lived happily until they discovered that their daughter Kate had leukemia. In order to save Kate's life, they used a genetic matching method to give birth to their daughter Anna, initially to use Anna's umbilical cord. Blood came to save Kate, but as Kate's illness continued to worsen, Anna continued to provide her with blood, white blood cells, bone marrow, stem cells... until Anna was 13 years old, and Kate needed her to donate a kidney. At this time, Anna suddenly hired a lawyer to sue her parents in an attempt to regain the right to use her body.

We can't deny that everyone's body belongs to them. But what if the purpose of one person's existence is to save another person? Is there any end to the endless rescue? Does a 13-year-old girl have the ability to decide her own life? What is her role in this family besides being the savior?

The novel advances the development of the case from the perspectives of multiple characters. The lawsuit probably happened within ten days, but it was interspersed with the causes and consequences. Through Anna, mother, father, brother, lawyer, legal guardian, etc., the readers were taken to different time and space and different moods, trying to establish a more three-dimensional background. Delve deeper into this thought-worthy story.

However, I don't agree with this approach. Many of the characters' statements do nothing to advance the development of the novel. I really don't like this writing technique. There are too many extraneous details, which makes the originally compact story unable to be completed in one go.

There are only two endings for such a story. Anna won the case and decided on her own whether to donate her kidney to her sister. Or Anna loses the case and has to obey her mother's arrangements. However, we all know that whether she wins or loses the case, it will not end well for her. In other words, starting from the time she filed the lawsuit, no, no, no, from the time she was born, her life has been a tragedy.

The ending of the novel can be said to be unexpected. Although I like the unpredictable ending, I really don't like this kind of overly deliberate arrangement. This does not remind me of fate's tricks, but of the author's ridicule.

The author is above the novel, which destroys the charm of the novel.

Original author: Jodi Picoult

Translator: Lin Shujuan

Publisher: Taiwan Business

Publication date: December 1, 2006

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