seawarrior's review
2.0
I also felt that Picoult shied away from fully exploring the situation Anna was in. By making her subservient to her parents and a willing participant in the surgeries she was born to endure, Picoult never has to stare down the true horror of Anna's life.
Spoiler
Though she's granted medical emancipation, we later realize that even this decision was made to help Kate, negating any hurt or resentment between the family members. Anna's death serves this purpose even further. Though her family grieves her, she had a slim realm of identity and personality outside of providing for Kate, so in a way she exists as she always has.Unfortunately I did not feel that the additional protagonists were written well either. It felt to me that Picoult stretched herself too thin, and managed to create characters who represented problems that needed to be solved within her narrative, but not much more. Though each character had different perspectives, most noticeably defined by their fields of study or past life experiences, their voices were not dissimilar and I didn't think they possessed the true complexity of human beings. I will say that Picoult's story was engaging, and seemed to have been researched well; yet I am not an expert in medicine, law, astronomy, fire science or any other topics Picoult needed factual support to make a part of her story. I would recommend this book to others who are interested in children's rights in the medical field, although do not expect the book to be too revolutionary, as I did. Instead it provides a starter for questioning the way we undermine children's consent in medicine, and ends with vague assertions that are ultimately meaningless for Anna.
Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Suicide attempt, Child death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Pregnancy and Excrement
Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Drug use
ansfaiv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Cancer, Grief, and Child death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
aimeal815's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Spoiler
such as the whole thing with Campbell and JuliaSpoiler
It made me feel almost like I wasted my time following Anna’s whole story for it to just be thrown away at the end like that.Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Chronic illness, Child death, Car accident, and Blood
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Cursing, and Addiction
Minor: Excrement, Alcohol, and Alcoholism