My Sister's Keeper

When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn't how babies were made, but why. (...) ... I was born for a very specific purpose. (...) I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm and come up with a specific combination of precious genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth. (...) They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course — but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister Kate. "We loved you even more," my mother made sure to say,"because we knew what exactly we were getting." It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy. (...) Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn't get here by accident.

Excerpt from My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult

     Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?

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