I promise not to tell you what happens. Read on with peace of mind.
This is not a spoiler.
I really loved Jodi Picoult’s “My Sister’s Keeper.” In a strange way, I found it very easy to relate to. Julie, my older sister, was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes when she was nine and I was five. Diabetes isn’t cancer. It isn’t terminal, and I am in no way saying that we’ve had it as anywhere near as bad as the family in the book. We haven’t. But I can identify with the fear associated with those sudden trips to the hospital, and my spare kidney/parts have been the butt of many jokes.
Needless to say I required much less attention than Julie, and usually felt like I got less. A few years ago, while still blogging on Xanga, I wanted to write about growing up with a older sibling who has a disease. So I started doing some research.
There is a ton of information out there on what it’s like to raise a family with a sick child, tons of information on how to treat the other children, tons of stories from the point of view of the kid with the illness. But none of it was very helpful to me. Most of the information out there was written based on the idea that only younger children get sick. NOT THE CASE!
I know that in the book Anna is only younger than Kate because she was born for the purpose of saving her sister. But nevertheless, I felt like there was a lot of truth in the way Picoult describes the family dynamic.
I’m a war story type of kid, and I’m not typically someone who picks up a Picoult novel. But I loved the book, it was about the only war I’ve ever seen firsthand. Parts of it were very real to me (while other parts were completely foreign and unlike anything I’d ever imagined before). But I was upset when I watched the movie – as I usually am whenever they make a movie out of a book I like. But this has got to be the most upsetting transition from book to film I’ve ever seen, and I wish I could unsee it and have my $9 back.
Like I said, I’m not going to spoil the movie or the book for you. But, I feel obligated to warn my fellow book lover’s out there: This movie is based so loosely on the novel that I CANNOT believe they didn’t have to change the name. I CANNOT believe that Picoult approved the screenplay. The changes that the screenwriters made to the plot are not the usual minor deletions of detail. They are MAJOR changes – majorly disturbing. The title “My Sister’s Keeper” makes AWFUL sense based on the movie alone. The plot is boring, predictable, lacking proper setup, and just sad and uninspiring AND DOWNRIGHT DISAPPOINTING.
Don’t go. Wait for the DVD or the Dollar Theater if you really must see it.
