Some people search for their purpose in life for a long time. Others know it the second they are born. Anna is the latter. She was conceived to keep her sister, Kate, alive. Kate suffers from a blood and bone marrow cancer. Up until she was 13, Anna did everything she could to keep Kate alive. If Kate needed blood or bone marrow donated, Anna was there by her side. Mostly because she didn’t have a choice.

Anna is now 13 and Kate needs a kidney. The problem is, even with the kidney transplant, Kate might not live and it would be damaging to Anna’s health to have a kidney removed. Anna is finally fed up with being Kate’s personal donor and wants to be medically emancipated from her family. This means she would have the final say if she wants to donate something or not. It wouldn’t be up to her parents anymore. In My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult, Anna has a big decision to make.

Anna’s parent’s are devastated to hear their daughter essentially doesn’t want to save her sister’s life anymore. It’s hard to pick whose side you’re on when reading the book. You feel sorry that Anna’s sole purpose in life is to be there for her sister. She has been through countless surgeries whether she wanted to or not. She feels unloved, she feels like an item instead of a person. All she can think about is if her sister was never sick, would she even be born? She wasn’t born out of love, she was born out of necessity.

On the other hand, it sounds like Anna is just being selfish. She has the opportunity to keep someone alive, and not just anybody, but her sister. Yes, her parents did have her out of necessity but they also had her out of the love they had for Kate and for the child that could save Kate’s life. It’s evident throughout the book that Anna’s parents love her just as much as Kate because she is doing something wonderful for somebody. Her parent’s are absolutely stunned to hear that Anna doesn’t want to keep being her sister’s keeper. Their hope was to not have her do this for long, but unfortunately, Kate wasn’t 100 percent better. Their hope was to one day have both of their daughters be healthy and have all of this put in the past.

The more you get to know the characters, you realize something is up. Anna has never been the selfish type of person and she loves her sister and family more than anything. So why would she want to all of a sudden stop helping her family? This question is answered in a big plot twist.

The movie explores other relationships that the book didn’t necessarily go into detail about. The movie is like seeing it from someone else’s perspective. And the best, and possibly worst (depending on whom you ask), part about the movie is that it has a completely different ending than the book does. It’s definitely an alternate ending. After reading the book and then watching the movie, I still wonder which ending I preferred. I personally liked that the movie had an alternate ending because it explored another option that readers probably wondered about.

Usually I have a preference as to whether I suggest reading the book first and then watching the movie or the other way around. But with this book, I don’t think it matters. A lot of things are different and the ending is different. So whichever you do first, it doesn’t matter since some major parts of the book and movie are different one wouldn’t exactly give it all away. But I do suggest watching the movie and reading the book, not just doing one. If you like one, the other will not disappoint.