Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

16 reviews

seawarrior's review against another edition

2.0

The primary issue that I have with this book is its melodrama. Picoult seemed very deliberate in including plot points and phrases that heightened the emotional drama and distress that the characters were experiencing. By the final pages of the book, this was painful to the point of irritation. 

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.

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.

I think this book did a disservice to its own mission by relying on plot twists that eventual solved the ethical and familial ramifications of Anna's fight for the rights to her own body. 

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Excrement and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

ansfaiv's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

shushkeepitdown's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

An extremely sad book which tackles all the horrible things that a family has to go through when one of their loved ones is with an illness with no certain cure. I honestly loved the beginning and even almost near the end it was so good but then the ending came and honestly I was very disappointed with it. Also there are multiple POVs and I wouldn't have minded it but what they do is during the book they constantly switch between present time and their past memories so I had to constantly read paragraphs over and over to make sure what was currently going on and what was a random memory they just put in the middle. They do this for every point of view. It was a good starting book but the ending honestly stopped this from being a 4.5 star book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

theseasoul's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Medical content

Moderate: Cursing and Vomit

erma_z's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, and Alcohol

thresholdgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content