At my sister's life (novel)

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When the life of my sister (original: My Sister's Keeper ) is a book by the American author Jodi Picoult , which was published in the original English language in 2004 and in German in 2006 by Piper Verlag . In this work, Picoult describes the drama of the Fitzgerald family who, because of their daughter's leukemia, produce a genetically tailored test tube baby that serves as a living spare parts store. Though the book contains science fiction influences, it is an ethical drama about human worth. The book, in which Picoult processed his own experiences with cancer , was a great commercial success and was shown as a film in German cinemas from August 27, 2009 .

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Picoult describes the story of the Fitzgerald family. The happiness of parents Sara and Brian is suddenly destroyed when their child Kate falls ill with leukemia and hardly has a chance. Desperate they seek advice and find what they are looking for at a doctor who offers to produce a genetically tailored test tube daughter for them as a spare parts store. Nine months later Anna is born and used from birth as a donor of stem cells , bone marrow and other vital substances. These procedures are painful and traumatic, but always prolong Kate's life. Even so, it hurts the parents to always cause their youngest daughter pain, and they experience the estrangement of the eldest son Jesse, who feels neglected and useless.

When Anna turns 13, Kate has a kidney failure, so Anna should donate one of her kidneys. Since Anna is not yet of age, she sues her parents in court and brings in a lawyer named Campbell Alexander and a new guardian named Julia Romano. They were together during their school days and come closer again during the process. In the process, many ethical questions are asked about human worth and the complex love-hate relationship between Kate and Anna is highlighted: Kate wants to live, but not at Anna's expense, and Anna sees Kate as the source of her pain, but also the only person who can understands. It also comes to light that Kate asked Anna not to continue donating for her because she wanted to give Anna a good life. Anna wins the lawsuit against her parents, mainly because her parents never really asked her for consent to the procedures.

After the trial, Anna dies in a car accident on the way home. Mr. Alexander, who has Anna's authority to make decisions, agrees to donate Anna's organs to Kate. Kate survives and works as a dance teacher six years later. She thinks back to Anna all the time - especially whenever she hears two sisters laughing. Kate believes that one of them had to go and Anna went in her place.

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The most important question is what is the human worth. Anna is on the one hand, a human spare parts warehouse, which has been deprived of the right to a carefree childhood because of the many operations and practically a slave , as a lawyer Campbell finds. On the other hand, Kate would die if Anna refused: The doctor who "produced" Anna also refers to this and states that he has thereby saved a life. The parents love both daughters and hate each other for hurting Anna so much. This dilemma is at the heart of the novel and, as with many ethical questions, there is no definitive answer.

Ethical and Scientific Facts

At the time of the book's publication (2004), scientists had succeeded for the first time in 2003 in creating a so-called rescue sibling with the help of IVF and later pre-implantation diagnostics.

Comment from Picoult

In an interview, Picoult described that she got the idea for the novel from the illness of her own son Jake. Jake had two ear tumors, had ten operations and got well again, but today he has no hearing in his left ear and only poor hearing in his right ear. Picoult explained that she would have done "anything" in the darkest days to spare her son another operation, and that was where the book with the complex ethical topic arose. She was also fascinated by the fact that the patients appeared much more optimistic and cheerful than the often discouraged and desperate relatives.

Reviews and commercial success

The book was published in 2004 and was a huge commercial success. Critics celebrated the book and awarded Picoult the following prizes (excerpt):

  • 2007 Virginia Readers' Choice Award
  • 2006–2007 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award
  • 2007 The Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award
  • 2007 Vermont Green Mountain Book Award Master List
  • 2006 Alex Award from the American Library Association
  • 2005 Best Book of the Year, Bookbrowse.com

The 21st edition of the book was published in Germany in 2016. It was in the charts of the SPIEGEL bestseller list for several months .

Book information

The book is 478 pages long and was published by Piper Verlag ( ISBN 3-492-24796-2 , ISBN 978-3-492-24796-2 ).

filming

The book forms the basis for a film adaptation that was released in German cinemas on August 27, 2009. At the end this differs significantly from the novel in which Kate and not Anna dies. The director of the film is Nick Cassavetes . Abigail Breslin plays the main role of Anna, Sofia Vassilieva plays Kate and the mother is played by Cameron Diaz . The lawyer Campbell Alexander is played by Alec Baldwin . Picoult is co-writer of the script.

See also

credentials

  1. ↑ AUTHOR TALK: Jodi Picoult
  2. ↑ 5 Questions with Jodi Picoult
  3. ↑ Book 11: My Sister's Keeper , www.jodipicoult.com

Web links