Helpful Score: 1
If you've never read Picoult before, I highly recommend this book. She is an amazing author who writes in such a way that the characters become three-dimensional because you learn so much about them and the way that the chapters are laid out keeps you omniscient of events in the story. She manages to have two stories that become intertwined in this book as a result of one family's decision to go to extreme measures to save a daughter from cancer.
Sometimes, I wanted to feel sorry for Sara, the mother, but I just couldn't because it came down to her being a selfish person until it was too late. Though it's admirable she refuses to give up hope and accept inevitable death for one child, the pain she causes both daughters in order for Kate to live leads to a dramatic action by Anna. With Sara, it's always about what she wants in order to keep, who is obviously, her favorite child alive and so she ignores the true needs of all of them in order for herself to play the martyr.
The father, Brian, ends up being nearly as bad, though he has his moments of empathy with all his kids, in some of the decisions he makes in order to try to keep his family together. And the brother, Jesse, is almost understandable in the anger that he projects at having felt ignored and helpless though he expresses it in an awful way. As for the sisters, you can feel the love that they have for each other while at the same time wishing for a normal life.
It's a story that made me feel like my heart was compressed in my chest as I read and laughed and cried as I felt the anger, hurt, love and sacrifice within its pages.
Sometimes, I wanted to feel sorry for Sara, the mother, but I just couldn't because it came down to her being a selfish person until it was too late. Though it's admirable she refuses to give up hope and accept inevitable death for one child, the pain she causes both daughters in order for Kate to live leads to a dramatic action by Anna. With Sara, it's always about what she wants in order to keep, who is obviously, her favorite child alive and so she ignores the true needs of all of them in order for herself to play the martyr.
The father, Brian, ends up being nearly as bad, though he has his moments of empathy with all his kids, in some of the decisions he makes in order to try to keep his family together. And the brother, Jesse, is almost understandable in the anger that he projects at having felt ignored and helpless though he expresses it in an awful way. As for the sisters, you can feel the love that they have for each other while at the same time wishing for a normal life.
It's a story that made me feel like my heart was compressed in my chest as I read and laughed and cried as I felt the anger, hurt, love and sacrifice within its pages.
