My Sisters Keeper vs FIOS
ashlyn hilgenberg
similarites
both have a cancer theme
show the unpleasant side of being sick
both Kate and Hazel knew that they wouldn't have a happy ending
Kate and Hazel had insecurities about their appearance due to their illness
someone of importance dies in each but they're both
differences
Fault In Our Stars
Hazel's family knew that she wasn't going to get better or be cured
they accepted it and learned to be a peace that she was gonna die and that they couldn't do anything to stop it
the mood of this book was more sarcastic and had dark humor
allowed the reader to relate with Hazel
Hazel didn't want to do anything before Augustus
Hazel was an only child
My Sisters Keeper
even though Kate was sick she was always trying to be happy and do family activities
Kate's parents, her mom especially didn't want to let go of Kate and wanted her to fight when it was clear that she didn't want to
Kate acted like a mom to Anna sometimes
Kate had Anna and Brian, she was the glue that kept that family together
Kate wanted to die
the author used flashbacks to tell the stories of the family and what they have been through
there were many different points of view in this book
the tone was more somber
which book was better
I enjoyed My Sisters keeper better because it was more than just a story about cancer, it was about family and how they will stick up and fight for you when no one else will. My sisters keeper examines what it means to be a good parents, a good sister, and a good person. It also examines if it is morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life even if it means hurting another child.
which character I related to
I related to Anna in My Sister's Keeper because she did anything to help her sister Kate even going to court to sue her parents for medical emancipation. Anna was yelled at, slapped and humiliated by her parents for even considering not giving Kate her kidney and was being told she was being selfish because she "wasn't thinking about her sister and wanted her to die".
Her connection with Kate, and her struggle to exist independently of that connection, both define her. She tells Campbell, for instance, that of all the things she might want to be in ten years, what she most wants to be is Kate’s sister. At the same time, Anna desperately wants to exist independently of Kate, but she knows she cannot do so as long as her main purpose in life consists of keeping Kate alive. She feels a tremendous sense of guilt for wanting to live separate from Kate and wonders if she is an awful person for feeling that way. But Anna also wants to do what’s best for her sister. Kate, we learn, ultimately decides that she no longer wants to live, so Anna, although it hurts her deeply, brings a lawsuit against her parents for medical emancipation. The lawsuit satisfies both desires: it gives Anna control of her own body, allowing her to put her own interests before Kate’s; and since Kate will die without Anna’s kidney, Anna can fulfill Kate’s wish to die.
I can relate to Anna wanting to live separate from Kate because being a twin you are always thought of as one person, you never have your own identity. I'm referred to as Callie's twin sometimes and its annoying to me because were two completely different people with two completely different personalities and my name isn't that hard to know.
My Sister's Keeper Summary
At two years old, Sarah and Brian Fitzgerald’s daughter Kate is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive type of Leukemia, Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia to be exact. Kate starts chemotherapy right away but her oncologist, Dr. Chance, says she will eventually need a bone marrow transplant from a match. The Fitzgerald’s test their four year old son, Jesse but he is not a match and neither is Sarah or Brian. The doctor says that an unborn sibling could be a match so Sarah tells Brian that they should have another child. But instead of having kids until one is a genetic match to Kate, they have scientists help them conceive another child, Anna, who is a perfect genetic match for Kate. Right after Anna is born she gave cord blood to Kate which put her in remission. The next time Kate relapsed Anna was five and had lymphocytes drawn three times over because Kate’s body needed more. Over the next couple of years Anna goes through several procedures to keep Kate alive.
At thirteen years old Anna goes to see a lawyer named Campbell Alexander and wants to sue her parents for medical emancipation. Campbell Alexander has a service dog but never explains why, agrees to represent Anna for free. At this time Kate is in kidney failure and Anna wants to file the lawsuit so she doesn’t have to give Kate her kidney. When Sarah receives the lawsuit she is furious, and cannot understand why Anna would want to do this and is convinced she is doing to for attention. Brian on the other hand understands Anna’s point of view and knows that Anna would not have brought it up if she weren’t happy. Judge Desalvo, the judge on Anna’s case appoints a woman named Julia Romano as Anna’s guardian ad litem, someone to decide what is in Anna’s best interest. Campbell and Julia have a romantic past but haven’t seen or heard from each other in many years. Jesse is now eighteen but acts like a delinquent, setting fires in abandoned buildings and drinking excessively. Anna refuses to change her mind about the lawsuit despite the constant fighting between her and her mother, because of the fighting Anna’s dad decides to take her to the fire house with him to give Anna and her mother some space. Brian thinks that if Anna stays in the house Sarah will bully her until she changes her mind about the lawsuit. Sarah, a former attorney decides to represent herself and her husband.
At the trial both Campbell and Sarah question many different people including Kate’s doctors and family members. Anna takes the stand and admits she filed the lawsuit because Kate wanted her to, Kate was tired of being sick and wanted to die. Anna also admits that she wanted this lawsuit so she could have more freedom and be a normal thirteen year old. Campbell, Anna’s attorney has a seizure during Anna’s testimony and collapses. After his seizure is over he explains that he has been having seizures ever since he got in a car crash in high school and admits that is the reason he broke up with Julia because he didn’t want the seizures to limit her like they limit him. He also explains that is why he has service dog, that he can tell when a seizure is about to come. Judge Desalvo rules in Anna’s favor and grants her medical emancipation, and Campbell is to assume medical power of attorney until she turns eighteen so that he can assist her in making difficult decisions. Anna and Campbell had to stay behind to fill out paperwork while Brian and Sarah go to the hospital to go see Kate. Campbell offered to drop Anna off at the hospital after everything is done, on the way to the hospital they get in a car accident. Brian’s beeper goes off at the hospital while with Kate, a motor vehicle accident with injuries. As he arrives to help he realizes that Anna is in the BMW that was t-boned, they load Anna in the ambulance and rush her to the hospital. A firefighter and friend of Brian’s goes to get Sarah who comes down frantic and he tells her what happened. Then Campbell rushes into the hospital about the time the doctor come out and tells Brian and Sarah that Anna hit her head hard which caused a fatal head injury and asks about organ donation. Campbell tells the doctors to give the kidney to Kate, since he has the power of attorney not her parents.
The transplant nearly failed and then one day she just started getting better and has been cancer free for eight years. Kate narrates the epilogue, and talks about what her family went through after Anna died, and that she blames herself for Anna’s death. If it weren’t for her Anna wouldn’t have filed the lawsuit and wouldn’t have been at the courthouse that day and wouldn’t have gotten in the car accident that took her life.
The Fault In Our Stars Summary
Hazel is in Support Group one day when a new boy catches her eye. Soon enough, she and Augustus are friends and talk to each other about everything. Hazel shares her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, with Augustus, and together they obsess about the unsolved ending. Augustus manages to somehow get through to the author and when Hazel emails him, he invites her to come to Amsterdam to discuss the ending of the book. A fan's dream come true.
So Augustus surprises Hazel by telling her that he still has his wish from when he had cancer and lost his leg, and he'd happily use it to take her to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten, reclusive author of An Imperial Affliction.
Eventually, they manage to get their trip in order and take off into the great unknown with Hazel's mother in tow. They go to Amsterdam and have beautiful and romantic times, but when they meet Peter Van Houten, it doesn't exactly go as planned. First of all, he's a mean drunk. He's just a mean drunk and doesn't answer any of Hazel's questions. Hazel is angry and upset, but Van Houten's assistant Lidewij takes her and Augustus out to explore Amsterdam. They see Anne Frank's house, where things are kind of redeemed because she and Augustus finally kiss. They go back to the hotel room and even steamier things happenAugustus then drops a bomb: his cancer has returned. When they return to Indianapolis, it's clear that Augustus's health is deteriorating and he might not have much time left. In a heartbreaking scene, Hazel and Isaac even share the eulogies that they wrote for him. Throughout it all, Hazel is there with Augustus, until the very end.
When he dies, Hazel is shocked and filled with grief. At his funeral, though, she gives a different eulogy than the one she had written him.
At the funeral, she's shocked to see that Peter Van Houten is there. She talks to him and realizes that he wrote An Imperial Affliction because he had a daughter who died of cancer. She's no closer to liking Van Houten as a person, but she understands a little more why he's so tortured and crotchety. She also learns from Isaac that Augustus was writing something for her before he died. She proceeds to go on a kind of crazy search for what he's written, which she thinks might be the alternate ending to An Imperial Affliction that she wanted so badly. She also learns that her mother is taking classes to become a Support Group leader, and is relieved that there will be life for her parents after she dies.
At the very end, she learns from Lidewij that Augustus wrote her a eulogy that he sent to Van Houten. The book ends with her reading the eulogy, which states that he hopes that she's happy with the choices she made.
Hazel says that yes, she is happy.