Thirteen year old Anna Fitzgerald sues her parents for control of her own body, because her sister Kate needs a kidney.
A crowded, emotional courtroom novel told by seven narrators, with a jolting ending that readers still argue about. Heavy on illness, grief and family strain. Four out of five, a draft score for the owner to check.
Every guide comes as a video and a full written article. Pick the one you need: the review is spoiler-free, the ending explained is not.
My Sister's Keeper book ending vs movie ending: in the novel Anna dies and Kate lives, in the 2009 film Kate dies and Anna lives. What the film kept, cut and changed. Full spoilers.
My Sister’s Keeper (2004) is a novel by Jodi Picoult about the Fitzgeralds of Upper Darby, Rhode Island. Anna, thirteen, was conceived to be a donor for her older sister Kate, who has acute promyelocytic leukemia. When Kate’s kidneys fail, Anna hires a lawyer and sues for control of her own body.
Below you’ll find the book against the 2009 film, what the movie kept, cut and changed, and the two endings side by side. Full spoilers for both.
A crowded, emotional courtroom novel told by seven narrators, with a jolting ending that readers still argue about. Heavy on illness, grief and family strain. Four out of five, a draft score for the owner to check. Read it if: you like family dramas told through several narrators; you want a courtroom story built around a moral dilemma; you can handle a child's illness and death on the page; you want to compare a novel with a very different film ending. Skip it if: a dying child and a child's death are a hard line for you; you dislike jumping between narrators and timelines; you want a gentle, tidy ending; strong language, drug use and arson on the page bother you.
My Sister's Keeper book ending vs movie ending: in the novel Anna dies and Kate lives, in the 2009 film Kate dies and Anna lives. What the film kept, cut and changed. Full spoilers. Book vs movie: My Sister's Keeper →
Judge DeSalvo declares Anna medically emancipated and names her lawyer Campbell her medical power of attorney. On the way home Anna is in a car crash, is declared brain dead, and Campbell approves donating her kidney to Kate. Kate narrates a last chapter set in 2010, alive eight years after her last relapse.
Per published plot summaries, Kate dies in her sleep with her mother beside her and Anna lives. Campbell reports that Anna won. The film reverses the book: Kate dies and Anna survives.
This is our opinion: read the book first, since it gives every family member a voice, then watch the film for its different ending. Both deal with a child who is dying.
