My Sister’s Keeper
Sara and Brian Fitzgerald’s life with their young son and their two-year-old daughter, Kate, is forever altered when they learn that Kate has leukemia. The parents’ only hope is to conceive another child, specifically intended to save Kate’s life. For some, such genetic engineering would raise both moral and ethical questions; for the Fitzgeralds, Sara in particular, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive. And what it takes is Anna. Kate and Anna share a bond closer than most sisters: though Kate is older, she relies on her little sister–in fact, her life depends on Anna. Throughout their young lives, the sisters endure various medical procedures and hospital stays–just another part of their close-knit family’s otherwise normal life. Sara, a loving wife and mother who left her career as an attorney to care for her daughter, is sometimes lost inside the single-minded caregiver she has become in her efforts to save Kate. Her strong, supportive husband, Brian, is often rendered powerless and passive by his wife’s strength and determination. And their only son, Jesse, drifts, at times all but forgotten as Kate and Anna take center stage. Until Anna, now 11, says “no.” Seeking medical emancipation, she hires her own lawyer initiating a court case that divides the family and that could leave Kate’s rapidly failing body in the hands of fate.
Recommendation: 4/5
I read the book & I watched the movie.
So, if you read the book, you will be disappointed. Though I understand that it’s difficult to put 500 pages of words into a 2-hours movie. However, I see no point in the changes they made. First, cutting the character Julia may have been a good idea if thinking about time, but without her, there was no depth in the character of Campbell Alexander. Also Campbell only made one excuse as to why he had a service dog, leaving viewers who hadn’t read the book confused when he had a seizure. Secondly, why move from Rhode Island to California? This wasn’t that big of a change, however it didn’t make much sense to me. Thirdly, they didn’t go into detail about any characters. Viewers didn’t see that Anna couldn’t go to hockey camp because Kate may have to go to the hospital. They didn’t show that Jesse had become a drunk, druggie and pyromaniac because of lack of attention. They didn’t show that Brian was a stargazer and based most of his life on the stars in the sky.
WARNING SPOILER AHEAD!
And the most disappointing change was the change of the end of the movie. In the book, Anna died. Having Anna died gave the book sense and closure. Anna was able to save her sister one last time. In the movie, Kate died. The movie ended. And the family went on vacation to Montana.
Yeah. If you’ve never read the book, you will love the movie. If you read the book, you’d better think twice about wasting your money.