My Sister's Keeper
Windsor Stamey
Summary
Connection With Her Daughers Kate and Anna
With the oldest daughter Kate having Leukemia, the mom becomes a very protective mother. She will do absolutely anything for her daughter, and I mean everything. In the beginning Kate is watching television and starts to cry, and her mom frantically runs over to her thinking they need to rush to the hospital. It turns out Kate was crying from a breakup on a soap opera, and you see how her mom goes into super protective mode whenever the issue is concerned with Kate no matter how silly the issue is.
The story though is mainly centered on the other daughter, Anna. Anna talks about how her parents told her she was born to save her sister's life. It seems Anna feels like her mom just needs her around to help keep her sister healthy. The story gets very interesting when Anna does not want to donate a kidney to her sister, so she files for medical emancipation. The book goes on to talk about how on the way home for the hospital Anna is hit by a car and is now brain-dead. The power of attorney, makes the decision to give Kate, Anna's kidney, since Anna is now brain-dead. Anna dies as soon as her kidney is removed, and Kate ends up living.
In the story, the mother does not really consider Anna's feelings. The mothers main priority in the book the majority of the time is keeping Kate alive. But, it turns out the mother is not very connected with Kate either. You see her doing all she can to save Kate. She goes crazy in hospitals, gets her the best doctors, and does everything in her power to save her daughter. But, Kate is tired of fighting and her mother doesn't even know that because she is all consumed with keeping her alive. Kate had to go behind her back to get Anna to file a law suit. You see a glimpse of how her mother even ignores the son, Jesse, and he is always getting in trouble lightening things on fire. Her connection with Anna, in my opinion is the worst. They have made their daughter feel like she is only in this family and born merely to provide health assistance to her sister. The mother doesn't ever seem to really ask Anna if she wants to do this or how she feels about this, she is just expected to do whatever it takes to save her daughter.
In conclusion, this is a hard book to put yourself in. You get mad at Anna for not donating her kidney. Then you get mad at the mom for not seeing Anna's side on everything. But, if I was a mom and my child was dying, it would be hard to focus on anything else except saving her. I feel sorry for the mom and how she has to put the other children aside, because she is so focused on Kate. Anna has a hard time feeling like her mom really cares about her, she feelings merely like she is only medical help. That is why the relationship of Anna and her mom is very rocky for most of the book.