I started to read this book because I saw my sister reading it and since she doesn’t read many books, I thought that it would be a good book to read. As I started to read this book, I found that it was very different from most books that I had read. The book is interesting from the beginning; it starts with the main conflict in the book right away and then goes back in time and switches perspective to explain how it all started. This story is told from a first person point of view but switches between six characters so you can understand each character’s personality.
This book is about a girl, Anna, that doesn’t want to donate a kidney to save her sister, Kate, that has leukemia. She is 13 years old and has already gone through many surgeries and transfusions to keep her sister alive a little longer. However, she doesn’t wish to continue any longer.
“I want to sue them for the rights to my own body.” She says this to a lawyer which starts the story’s main conflict.
Anna goes to court to get medical emancipation so she can make her own decisions about her body. This tears the family apart with the mother doing everything she can to keep Kate alive, and the father believes Anna is right but can’t completely support her since it would mean death for Kate.
The main characters are realistic, are dynamic, have interesting personalities, and develop throughout the story. Each character has mysteries about their past that is answered near the end of the book; “In the end, though, I didn’t kill my sister. She did it all on her own.” and “What is the dog for?” are two quotes that show this. This is a book that you have to read over again to understand everything.
A major theme in this book is individuality; Anna was chosen from four embryos by a geneticist and then implanted. She was chosen because she was a perfect bone marrow match with Kate so transfusions would work. Anna wants to be able to live a normal life, make her own decisions, and be acknowledged for being herself, not because she is the perfect donor for Kate. Another character who wants to have attention is her brother. He was always neglected by his parents since they were always too busy taking care of Kate. He turns into juvenile delinquent that smokes, takes drugs, and blows things up but is still a nice person underneath.
My favorite character is the father because he has to deal with the most in the family. He believes that Anna doesn’t have to give her kidney to her sister but that would be death for Kate, and his wife is trying everything to not let her die. He is also a firefighter, but he finds out that his son is the arsonist who is starting most of the fires he puts out. He responds to each problem the best he can and never gives up which is why he is my favorite character.
I would recommend this book to people who are over 12 years old. The book can be confusing and would be hard for younger kids to understand. The ending is very surprising and sad so this isn’t for those who want everything to always turn out right. I think that this would be a good book for people that have problems in their family, since they could understand the book better. Overall, I think that this is a book that many people should read and would enjoy it.