Q3 Outside Reading Week 1 Post B

Having just started My Sister's Keeper, I'm surprised to find myself already completely traumatized. The moral dilemma laid out by Jodi Picoult is one of the most difficult situations I've ever been presented with.

Aside from the horrifying position Anna and the Fitzgerald family have been thrown into, there are also a lot of literary elements to this book. The one that I wanted to comment on was the organization and writing style. Picoult starts the book using Anna as the narrator. If this were how the rest of the book was told, there would definitely be a bit of bias involved. Anna's side would most likely be the side that the readers take, regardless of the tremendous pain it might cause her sister and the rest of the family. Instead, Picoult tells the story through multiple narrators including Campbell Alexander, Anna's attorney, Sara Fitzgerald, Anna's mom, Brian Fitzergerald, Anna's dad, and even Jesse Fitzgerald, Anna's brother. Each narrator has their own special font and title at the beginning of their chapter. I think it was extremely clever for Picoult to write the story this way. We are now able to see all the points of view, which may make the decision even harder to bear, but gives true insight to the story.

The chapters are also arranged with days of the week. The story begins on a Monday, present day with Anna's story. As the narrators switch, they then recount their stories on the same day. Sometimes flashbacks occur, but then the year is states. All the stories that occur within each section are from the same day with differing narrators and even sometimes, differing years. It is an intelligent and creative way to organize the book. This gives a really nice sence of what happens chronologically, which for people like me who enjoy timelines, can be quite helpful.

Although I'm not very far into My Sister's Keeper, I know that it will be a book I will enjoy very much. With a creative writing style, a tearing moral dilemma, and very realistic characters, Picoult has done a wonderful job and within the first 36 pages, I'm already hooked. I can't wait to continue the story of the Fitzgerald family.