My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I don't even know where to start. This book brought out a lot of feelings. Here's the basic story from Jodi Picoult's website:

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?

I think Jodi Picoult. Is a great writer. There were so many times I stopped and re-read and re-read paragraphs to soak up the beautiful way she puts the words together.

Sometimes I wonder if I qualify as a parent that has lost a child. Does it count if you never got to know the child? I wonder if it hurts more to have a baby die and never have the chance to get to know her than to lose a child later in their life. As I read this book I expected that Kate would die...and I found myself stalling and not wanting to get to the end of the book because I was afraid of going through that experience.

And just like life, this book didn't give what I expected.

I realize then that we never have children, we receive them. And sometimes it's not for quite as lon gas we would have expected or hoped. But it is still far better than never having had those children at all. (page 395)

I'd have to agree.

You've got to read this book. I loved it. I also hated it. I had a hard time dealing with a lot of the feelings that it brought out - but all in all, it feeling like a part of the healing process to go through those feelings.

It made me wonder if I could have done anything to save our little Destiny, what would I have done. I can understand a mother that would do anything to save their child. I suppose that's a gift of a great writer - to be able to write the story in a way that people feel like they can relate to the story.

My little Destiny....you're still very alive in my heart.