[Book Review] My Sister's Keeper

Jodi Picoult's drama novel "My Sister's Keeper" often crosses the borderline of thriller. The cover of the novel gives us an insight into what we're going to discover in the pages. From the name of the book and its unique and rather original looking cover I draw a thin picture of what I was about to read. My first guess was that it's the story of two girls, sisters of course, who have a pocket full of secrets each trying to hide it from others. After reading the book, I sure do feel the shallowness of my thinking. 

"My Sister's Keeper" is the story of Anna who sues her parents for medical emancipation when she's expected to donate her kidney to her sister Kate who is dying of leukemia. 

One of the most striking thing about this novel is that the storytelling is not third person nor is it by a single person. The narration is done by multiple characters each giving their part in first person. This was a really nice way of taking up the storyline as the reader wouldn't be bored and also, we get to see what's in the heads of other characters in a little more detail. The storytelling juggles between Anna, her sister Kate, her brother Jesse, her mom Sara, her dad Brian, her lawyer Campbell Alexander and her guardian ad litem Julia. There are moments when one dialogue continues into another's narration and I found that quite comfortable. We also get a decent view of what a situation really means to different characters. That said I'll close the narration part and move on to the interesting and well defined characters. My personal favourite was Campbell Alexander and his 'service dog' Judge (that's a really nice name for a dog whose owner is a lawyer). Campbell is a humorous guy whose narrative I always look forward to. Anna was a surprising character as we neared the climax. All other characters were quite ordinary and faded. 

The novel had its share of twists which I never expected in a novel like this. The climax was just brilliant that it left me in tears. After reading this one, my initial thoughts were did I really praise 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green? Sorry to say this but compared to Jodi Picoult's the other one was a complete trash of utopian romantic-cancer drama. I'm sorry John Green. I really am. Anyway, I'm very glad I read this one. Definitely recommend for a one-time read. I'm sure you will question what you would have done if you were in Sara's shoes. Much praise for Jodi Picoult for writing such an amazing novel which I'm sure will leave you thinking. 

[Book Review] Great Expectations

Charles Dickens is one of the most celebrated authors in English and 'Great Expectations' being one of the classical novels that must not be missed, I was left with not much choice (not that I wanted a choice). I had a faint memory of reading the abridged version years ago and I distinctly remember that it had a cathartic effect at the end and that too being an abridged one. So I wanted to read the unabridged one which I was sure won't disappoint me and I wasn't mistaken.

A bildungsroman genre novel that followed the life of a boy named Pip who is endowed with riches from an anonymous benefactor to make him a gentleman. Throughout this novel, Pip' life is shaped by discoveries, revelations and sufferings. 

I always had a thing for bildungsroman novels that focused on the protagonist's evolution from a child to be an adult. Every time we give an example for this genre, it's always 'Great Expectations'. I must point out that Dickens' language is much simpler than other writers of his age and for this reason there are things that we can easily understand and relate to. The sub characters were distinctive if not well memorable but the main ones will remain etched in our minds. Miss Havisham was my favourite which I couldn't find in any other novels but Pip was always the likable one. The thing about Dickens is that most of the events were implied rather than directly said; like the last line of the book. I'll close this review with a line from the book said by Pip: "but far more terrible than death was the dread of being misremembered after death". Ponder over this line if you must but it gave me all the chills.