My Sister’s Keeper

When this trailer began, the steel doors slammed down on my cynical heart to shield me from emotional manipulation. Then those doors fell right off their hinges and I got jerked around like a rag doll.

As this compelling story opens, Anna has hired a lawyer to represent her in a medical emancipation suit to allow her to have control over her own body. Picoult skillfully relates the ensuing drama from the points of view of the parents; Anna; Cambell, the self-absorbed lawyer; Julia, the court-appointed guardian ad litem; and Jesse, the troubled oldest child in the family. Everyone’s quandary is explicated and each of the characters is fully developed. There seems to be no easy answer, and readers are likely to be sympathetic to all sides of the case. This is a real page-turner and frighteningly thought-provoking.

Jodi Picoult writes novels with ghastly titles like Harvesting the Heart, Keeping Faith, Mercy, and Handle with Care, so I really hate that I can’t find a way to be snide about this movie. I’m dying for something to sneer about. Thank god for Dakota Fanning.

Dakota and Elle Fanning were originally set to play the sisters but Dakota changed her mind when she found out she would have to shave her head to play the leukemia-suffering character of Kate. Elle dropped out along with her sister. (wiki)

[Don’t click on the wiki link unless you want the plot twist exposed.]