My Sister’s Keeper August 21, 2009

Did you see the movie?  I would love to know what you thought.  I haven’t seen the movie, but I read the book.  I couldn’t put it down.  It has been a while since I couldn’t get a book off of my mind.  I was drawn in from the very beginning.  This is my first book of Jodi Picoult’s.  It will not be my last!

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 challenged…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? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.  From Barnes and Noble

same kind of different As me February 27, 2009

Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver’s life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.

But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing?

Same Kind of Different As Me is the emotional tale of their story: a telling of pain and laughter, doubt and tears, dug out between the bondages of this earth and the free possibility of heaven. No reader or listener will ever forget it.

from Barnes and Noble

Denver Moore, page 80:

I slept in the doorway of that United Way over on Commerce Street for a whole lotta years. And every mornin for all that time, a lady who worked there brought me a sandwich. I never knowed her name and she never knowed mine. I wish I could thank her. Funny, though. That United Way buildin was right next door to a church, and for all them years, nobody at that church ever looked my way.

For starters, I don’t like sad books. This book broke my heart. I cried several times. But it’s been recommended many times by many good friends…I felt compelled to read it.

I am so glad I did. It is a precious book. Maybe I don’t mind sad books after all. I was strengthened by the way this couple faced disaster. They included people in their struggle and maintained their service to God through personal pain. It helped them cope with their heart break.

I hope I will handle life’s pains and struggles with similar fortitude and focus on eternity.

The story is told through the eyes of Denver, the poor homeless man, and the eyes of Deborah and her husband, the wealthy volunteers.  The reading is awkward when Denver tells the story because the spelling and grammar try to be authentic.  However, it was worth the time and energy to see the lives of these three who are striving to die to themselves.

Let me know what you think.