My Sister's Keeper; A Closer Look

Author: Jodi Picoult

Page number: 423 

Written by; Ivanaj

There’s no denying that this novel is a classic. But is it truly worth the hype? Read on and find out. To start off, it’s realistic fiction, which is one of my favorites. But realistic fiction can take many paths. This book is particularly interesting because it presents a Solomon’s choice. Let me explain it to you. Imagine you are the mother of a beautiful family with two children. Suddenly you find out your oldest has leukemia. There’s a chance to save her but it means that you would have to genetically modify a new child altogether. That child would then give everything needed for your firstborn. You would choose to save your first child right? Now imagine you’re the child created to save your sibling. You know you were only created to help somebody else. You don’t have a choice in the matter either. What would you choose now, after thinking about both of these perspectives? This novel takes a rather peculiar idea and transforms it into the book of the century. 

Anna, short for Andromeda, was born to help her sister Kate with leukemia. The novel itself revolves around one main event: Anna sues her parents and finally stands up for herself. Her parents haven’t realized it was against Anna’s wishes to help Kate. It’s such a hard situation for a family to be put in. The book tells the story of exactly that. It also includes other characters and details that I found amusing. There’s Taylor Ambrose, Kate’s first love who dies from cancer. Jesse the brother of both Kate and Anna who has been pushed off to the side by his family. In a final analysis of the entire book, it’s an amazing story that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. 

Touching Spirit Bear; A Deep Dive

Author: Ben Mikaelsen

Page number: 241

Written by; Ivanaj

This book has quickly become one of my favorites, with its abundance of literary signposts and devices, it’s an educational read. Additionally, it’s deeply meaningful and resonates with the reader well. The main idea of the book is that everybody deserves a second chance. I connect with this on another level plainly because of the fact that I have a little sister. I should further explain; when my sister was first introduced to this world, she knew who she wanted around her. (Anybody but me) Every time I would try to get close to her, she would kick and scream and try to bite me. Which was weird because she was a relatively calm baby who let anyone hold her. This lasted until she was almost four. I understand now that she was just a little kid and it wasn’t her fault but that’s hard for a three-four-year-old Janavi to wrap her little head around. As my sister got older, we grew closer and one day I guess we just woke up and decided to collectively stop hating each other. 

The protagonist in this book is named Cole Mathews and he’s a juvenile delinquent who struggles with anger. He’s made a lot of mistakes in his life but the last straw was when he physically assaulted a peer (Peter), bashing his head into the ground as a cherry on top. He’s given an awesome opportunity to avoid being imprisoned by Circle Justice. The deal is that he willingly banishes himself for a year on a remote Alaskan Island. But to Cole, this is all just a game. He has no intentions of changing. He makes that very clear when he burns down the shelter that was made for him and tries to escape the island by swimming. This ends in tragedy as Cole is mauled by a Spirit Bear. Which is odd because Spirit bears live nowhere near where he was mauled. He’s on the verge of death for a while when he has a breakthrough. He wants to live. From that point on he does his best to survive. 

He gets a second chance after he’s rescued to go back to the island but this time have to do everything himself. He will have to build his shelter etc. He uses this privilege wisely, taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him. Cole has changed even before he’s offered a second chance and it’s clearly portrayed when the author states, “Beginning today he would tell the truth. His words would become his only proof.” He has immensely wise mentors Garvey and Edwin to guide him. They give him great advice throughout the entire book but there are a few that appealed to me personally. Like when Edwin said, “ ‘A person is never done being mad. Anger is a memory never forgotten. You only tame it.’ “  You can tell that he has been through everything that Cole is going through because he has. Both Garvey and Edwin were in trouble with the law when they were young, that’s a big part of why they care and help Cole so much. 

To give the readers closure, the author has the boy who Cole assaulted come to the island and coexist with Cole. Peter is doing horrible by this point, he has tried to take his own life multiple times. Obviously, Garvey is there to supervise them both. Peter is terrified of Cole but masks it as hatred at first. Then, he truly does start to resent Cole, shoving him and eventually beating him up. Fortunately, Cole doesn’t fight back and just takes it when Peter beats him. This leads them to make up on the way back to the cabin. The book has a genius ending as well. It’s a conversation between Peter and Cole as Peter teaches Cole how to carve. The last line is Cole saying he’s a slow learner while smiling and nodding. There’s so much beauty in this moment because, without any context, it just sounds like a pair of friends chatting it up. It shows how far Cole and Peter both have come since the beginning of the book. This was one of those books that made me physically ache when I finished it because I couldn’t have the feeling of reading it for the first time again. I know you’ll love this book too!