if you haven’t already, pick up a copy of “My Sister’s Keeper”. It is a powerful read with tight family bonds to allow the characters to deal with crisis. Of all things, the sister has cancer. This story is written so that we (the reader) see all viewpoints, even the lawyer that represents the sister who doesn’t want to act as a donor of stem cells and organs any longer. The last major conflict is a kidney transplant for the older sister.
The adolescent characters are having separate feelings about what is right for them. Jesse, the only teen boy, is tired of the sisters getting all the attention, so he commits criminal acts to get noticed. It works, for the wrong reasons. Anna, the younger sister, wants to sue her parents for making her donate organs and cells to her sister; it feels like she had no choice in the matter.
I don’t know how I feel about losing my father recently, but I’d try anything to have memories of him that are GOOD. All I heard is how he didn’t want me in the picture, and he really wasn’t there for us four. (Yes, I have three sibs from him.) Now I have a chance to get to know them and my cousins. It does turn out good in the end. My Sister’s Keeper is a reminder of how good family bonds can be; each family member will have their own experience, but that bond does make a difference.
