Summer Reading Reader's Journal-Fiction

#1                                                      Reader’s Journal                                              7/19/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

            This week I finally finished reading a fiction novel called MY SISTER’S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult. After seeing the movie I was so inspired to see how it all came out to be in detail by reading the book. I have realized that the movie forgot to mention many events that seemed really interesting to me in the book. For example, the ending in the book was completely different than the movie. If I didn’t see the movie before I’ve read the book, I defiantly wouldn’t be able to imagine the story without the books ending! All in all, I defiantly think the book is much better than the movie.

            The most breath-taking quote I have read was at the very end of the book, located on page 712. “My mother let me have that picture of Anna. But I didn’t frame it; I put it into an envelope and sealed it and stuffed it far back into a corner drawer of a filing cabinet. It’s there, just in case one of these days I start to lose her. There might be a morning when I wake up and her face isn’t the first thing I see. Or a lazy August afternoon when I cant quite recall anymore where the freckles were on her right shoulder. Maybe one of these days, I will not be able to listen to the sound of snow falling and hear her footsteps. When I start to feel this way I go into the bathroom and I lift up my shirt and touch the white lines of my scar. I remember how, at first, I thought the stitches seemed to spell out her name. I think about her kidney working inside me and her blood running through my veins. I take her with me, wherever I go.” This quote gave me the strongest feeling of love and sadness at the same time. I picked this passage because it showed me how important her sister Anna is to her and how grateful she is to still be alive and survive her illnesses of promyelocytic leukemia. Anna saved her life by always providing her with the organs and such Kate needed to stay alive but unfortunately Anna ended up not making it after a horrible car accident.

            The genre of this book is realistic fiction. Realistic fiction falls under the category of fiction and is believable fiction that is set in the present; within the last fifty years. The main characters are Anna, Kate, Campbell, Sara, Brian, Jesse, Julia, the mother, and the father. To me, they are all considered to be round and dynamic. The characters characterization seemed to mature throughout the years in the book. They have all seemed to change greatly; especially Kate and Anna. They have grown to love each other, more than any sister would. Also, all characters have a protagonist personality. The book has been written in a way to give all characters a few chapters that are written in their point of view (first person). Meaning, the book isn’t set on one persons point of view the entire time. Some foil characters were just the background characters, like the judges and nurses, also known as, flat characters. The setting of the book usually takes place in Kate and Anna’s house, and in the hospital. The books events happened between the times of 1990-2010. There are no weather nor social conditions; except for the fact that Anna had the responsibilities of keeping her older sister, Kate alive by undergoing countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots.

The plot structure of the book was very interesting.  As I started the book, I found out about all about the characters individual thoughts, and feelings. The exposition was just that! When Kate was three years old, she clearly informed the reader about how she wanted to “kill” her sister, Anna sometimes. Anna was a girl very different from everyone else. She just always thought differently about the usual things people are interested in. The rising action was when Kate and Anna started to grow up but had few complications with Kate’s health, concerning cancer. Anna started to got along much better with Kate and did anything and everything she can to help her fight her cancer. During the climax, their family receives an emergency call from the hospital saying that Anna just had been in a horrible accident and that it would be a very low possibility she was going to survive it. Next, during the falling action, the family had conflicts deciding weather they were just going to leave Anna in a machine that helped her breath, or turn her off and give the transplants needed for Kate… they knew the right thing to do was to turn the machine off so that Anna would no longer suffer. The resolution was that Kate was able to be healthy again because of the donation of organs Anna gave her after she died… even though the whole family had a hard, and tragic time with Anna’s death, Kate couldn’t be more thankful then she already was to have such a great sister who was always willing to help her.

The author’s purpose was to share a personal experience with the reader. Also, the conflict was internal; it is a man vs. self-conflict because Kate tried to flight the cancer and illnesses in her body throughout the whole book. The tone and mood of this book seemed very alike to me. I think they both were inspiring and sadness. The theme was to appreciate what others were born/have to offer and accept it. After reading this book, the moral was that if you were good to others, they would be good to you. The book was written so that each character could have a point of view of first person on their own chapter; I think the pattern of organization is cause and effect. Also, I think the author’s perspective was subjective, because he was biased about having cancer.

I wasn’t able to identify so many structures of figurative language, but I did find a few… "Actually, that's not quite true--right now she doesn't have it, but it's hibernating under her skin like a bear, until it decides to roar again" is a simile because its comparing her to a bear. "The room is a sea of dirty clothes and magazines and leftover Chinese take-out cartons;” is a metaphor. Also, “The sky is nervous. Black and blue.” is an example of personification. “ Sometimes I just feel like my life is inside-out” is an oxymoron because inside out has two different meanings used for each word. “I feel like I was born with more than a million problems inside of me.” This is a hyperbole because it is exaggerated.

I used many strategies before, during, and after reading this book. Before reading, I skim and scanned the front and back covers, the synopsis, chapter titles, etc. to see if I actually liked and was interested in the book I was reading. Also, I set a goal to try and read four to five chapters whenever I read so that I would get all my reading done. While reading, I raised questions and read to find answers to keep me interested into continuing to read the book. Also, I posted some parts of the book that interested me on a sticky note so that I can log it into my reader’s journal.  After reading the book, I saw the movie again to compare and contrast parts of the book to parts in the movie; it wasn’t so incompatible from one another but did have some differences. Also, I went back in the book and reread parts that were confusing to me so that I understood it better.

All in all, this book was extraordinary! I rate it a 10-10 and recommend it to anyone, preferably young adults. It kept me flipping the page! And reading it really gave me a new perspective. I loved it!

            Love,

            Joelle Ben-Nissan