Finally...

How long have I been saying I would post about My Sister's Keeper? Like others, I am impressed with her style of writing and her ability to really give you the characters' personalities, no matter what their ages or yours. I really loved some of her quotes..."You are allowed to take a break, you know. No one has to be a martyr twenty-four/seven." Sara replies, "I think once you sign on to be a mother, that's the only shift they offer." "I said martyr," Zanne laughs. "Not mother." Sara smiles a little. "Is there a difference?" Of course I can relate to this one about motherhood...it is the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. Funny my 7 yr. old daughter was truly amazed when I told her this fact the other day! Maybe we don't really appreciate our parents' perspective until much later in life--I think this just occurred for me recently. And this one, that I hold true, made me sad..."They {our children} outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them." From Brian, who I adored, when he discusses the connection between fire and hope through the use of the Pandora's box myth. "When she opened the box, out came plagues and misery and mischief. She managed to shut the lid tight before hope escaped. It's the only weapon we have left to fight the others." And lastly from Kate as she discusses grief. "...as much as you want to hold on to the bitter sore memory that someone has left this world, you are still in it. And the very act of living is a tide: at first it seems to make no difference at all, and then one day you look down and see how much pain has eroded." I find this to be amazingly on the money. Humans are shockingly resilient and death is one of the universal truths that ties us together. I did not mind the ending at all...to me it drove home my belief that life as we know it can change in an instant and often times we don't have a lot of control over major aspects of our lives...each day is a gift. I guess I felt the most for Anna and Brian. I admired Anna for having the guts to stick up for herself and I just thought Brian was a wonderful, caring father. Lastly, from looking over the discussion questions, I determined that Ms. Picoult spends a good deal of time researching for her books, which of course pleases the librarian in me. I was surprised to read how she came up with the idea for My Sister's Keeper while researching eugenics for another book entitled Second Glance. Eugenics is "the science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary quatlities of a race or breed." This concept is mostly associated with Hitler, but in the 1930s, pre-Hitler, the U.S. had eugenics programs and sterilization laws- little known, interesting, yet horrific historical facts. I'd love to research more on this topic...perhaps one of you could! Ironically the government called this the Progressive Era. Anyway, trivia for curious minds and this made me want to read another Picoult book. How do you all feel about genetic manipulation of embryos? ....the implications are so far reaching.