My Sister's Keeper

I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material.

...I'm an allogeneic donor--a perfect sibling match. When Kate needs leukocytes or stem cells or bone marrow to fool her body into thinking it's healthy, I'm the one who provides them.

Anna

I like happily ever after endings. The way I look at it, life is full of ups and downs, and you can end a story on an upswing, or downswing, which means sad endings aren't any more "real" than happy endings. Not to mention that I really, really hate it when a writer yanks at my heartstrings instead of taking the time to actually put a good story together.

Which is why it took me so long to get around to reading My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult.

Wow. What I was missing out on! It's not a weepy, tearjerker book at all. It's about very nice people, dealing with a very difficult situation as best they can. Yes, it's sad, but for a good reason and I can't think of any better path the story could have taken.

If you're not already familiar with the plot line of My Sister's Keeper, it boils down to this: Anna was conceived to save her sister's life, but how much of herself will she have to give up in the process? When it comes time to give her sister Kate a kidney, Anna hires a lawyer to gain medical emancipation.

One song came to mind for Anna, Kelly Clarkson's Because of You.

Although I am nine months pregnant, although I have had plenty of time to dream, I have not really considered the specifics of this child. I have thought of this daughter only in terms of what she will be able to do for the daughter I already have. I haven't admitted this even to Brian, who lies at night with his head on my considerable belly, waiting for the twitches that herald--he thinks--the first female placekicker for the Patriots. Then again, my dreams for her are no less exalted; I plan for her to save her sister's life.

Anna's mother, Sara

Both the book and the song are about children having to deal with adult circumstances, situations that even the adults can't handle, and yet their children are expected to display emotional maturity.

"I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry
In the middle of the night
For the same damn thing"

Throughout the book, when Anna is described from the point of view of the adults around her, it is clear she has learned to act like an adult and to hide the fear and insecurity she is really feeling. She is a good little trooper, putting up with whatever is asked of her.

This is not Anna. I am used to struggling with Jesse, to lightening Kate's load; but Anna is our family's constant. Anna comes in with a smile. Anna tells us about the robin she found with a broken wing and a blush on its cheek; or about the mother she saw at Wal-Mart with not one but two sets of twins

Anna's father, Brian

Or as the song says:

"I cannot cry
Because I know that's weakness in your eyes
I'm forced to fake, a smile, a laugh
Every day of my life
My heart can't possibly break
When it wasn't even whole to start with"

What I love best about My Sister's Keeper, though, is that Picoult does an excellent job of showing you how what seems so unreasonable from one character's point of view, is understandable and logical to another character. Yes, there is a great deal placed on Anna, but there are no bad guys in this book. Each person is honestly doing their best, making the best decisions they know how to make, while dealing with an overwhelmingly difficult situation that makes easy solutions impossible to find. My Sister's Keeper is a wonderful book, thoughtful and thought-provoking. I will be looking for more of Picoult's books.


Books: My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult
Music: Because of You, Kelly Clarkson

Catching Fire with Kelly Clarkson

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike love triangles? Well, I do.

They typically end in one of two ways:

1) Girl, being torn between Guy 'A' and Guy 'B,' watches in horror as Guy 'B' dies valiantly defending her and then shrugs it all off and marries Guy 'A.' Thereby showing how much she really cared about Guy 'B' and how much Guy 'B' really cared about her.

2) A Girl 'B' inexplicably enters the picture and leads Guy 'A' off to his happily ever after...which shows us how Guy 'A'  really felt about Girl 'A.' This is generally not played off well, and although it tends to mollify the reader it is rarely delivered without a large amount of cheesiness.

Either one of these scenarios happens after a long, exhausting book where we are shown how truly indecisive and fickle Girl is, how selfish and self-serving Guy 'A' is, and how inhumanly wonderful Guy 'B' is.

I tire very quickly of books like this.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is a book like this. Except... I wasn't so annoyed by it this time.

Katniss isn't so much fickle as she is trapped, Guy 'A' isn't so much selfish as he is trapped and Guy 'B' isn't so much inhumanly wonderful as he is... well okay, he's still inhumanly wonderful (in a last-man-standing don't you dare think of hurting her or I'll rip your throat out sort of way) but he's also trapped.

Here these three people are, thrown together by circumstances not of their making who never really get the chance to explore their feelings in a healthy manner. Katniss and Guy 'B' spend two books trying to save each others lives from murdering madmen while Guy 'A'  as loving is forced to stand by watching (no really he's required to watch) as the girl he's grown up loving falls for someone else.

It's a gripping, heart-wrenching story (one of the reasons I hate love triangles... the heart-wrenching part) and it becomes unclear which guy should prevail.

So... add to all of this that if Katniss doesn't do exactly what she's told to do, to the convincing of her adversaries, Guy 'A' and Guy 'B' might die.

   When we reach the square, it's clear somethings happening, but the crowd's too thick to see. [Guy 'B'] steps up on a crate against the wall of the sweetshop and offers me a hand while he scans the square. I'm halfway up when he suddenly blocks my way. "Get down. Get out of here!" He's whispering, but his voice is harsh with insistence.
   "What?" I say, trying to force my way back up.
   "Go home, Katniss! I'll be there in a minute, I swear!" he says
   Whatever it is, it's terrible. I yank away from his hand and begin to push my through the crowd. People see me, recognize my face, and then look panicked. Hands shove me back. Voices hiss.
   "Get out of here, girl."
   "Only make it worse."
   "What do you want to do? Get him killed?"
   But at this point, my heart is beating so fast and fierce I hardly hear them. I only know that whatever waits in the middle of the square is meant for me. When I finally break through to the cleared space, I see I am right. And [Guy 'B'] was right. And those voices were right, too.
   [Guy 'A's] wrists are bound to a wooden post. The wild turkey he shot earlier hangs above him, the nail driven through it's neck. His jacket's been cast aside on the ground, his shirt torn away. He slumps unconscious on his knees, held up only by the ropes at his wrists. What used to be his back is a raw, blood slab of meat.
   Standing behind him is a man I've never seen, but I recognize his uniform. It's the one designated for our Head Peacekeeper. This isn't old Cray, though. This is a tall, muscular man with sharp creases in his pants.
   The pieces of the picture do not quite come together until I see his arm raise the whip.

Yeah, that's a real problem.

It's always hard to decide between two men when everyone keeps trying to kill them.

Kelly Clarkson seems to understand the situation pretty well too.

Remember all the things we wanted
Now all our memories, they're haunted
We were always meant to say goodbye
Even with our fists held high
It never would have worked out right, yeah
We were never meant for do or die...

I didn't want us to burn out
I didn't come here to hurt you now I can't stop...

I want you to know
It doesn't matter where we take this road
Someone's gotta go
And I want you to know
You couldn't have loved me better
But I want you to move on
So I'm already gone,

I'm pretty glad I don't have to choose between men like women in books seem to always be doing, especially Katniss.

If you haven't read the Hunger Games trilogy then you are in for a doozy of a series. In my review for the first book I said that I wasn't sure how I felt about the book. Well, Catching Fire is incredible.

It's been a long time since I consumed a book so quickly, less than twenty-four hours, and it was worth every second. I am, however, super glad the last book has already come out so that I don't have to wait, because 'Catching Fire' leaves you hanging by a fraying vine over the side of that proverbial cliff.

And you still aren't sure which guy you're rooting for.

---
Books: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Music: Already Gone by Kelly Clarkson

Mistborn

On my short list of kick you trash female characters you would find these three women:

Eowyn from Lord of the Rings
Aviendha from The Wheel of Time
Vin from Mistborn

Many of you may not have heard of Mistborn (that's okay, I'll forgive you), but if you keep up on the Fantasy/Science Fiction scene at all you'll know the name Brandon Sanderson from his incredible work finishing The Wheel of Time Series for the late Robert Jordan.

If for some reason you follow F/SF and still don't know the name. I gotta tell ya... you need to go down to your book-store/library/internet book provider right now. You are missing out.

Brandon Sanderson is going to become one of the greatest fantasy writers of all time. He's that good.

Mistborn is that good.

This story breaks free of all the conventional themes of fantasy into a realm entirely new and thrilling. The magic is fresh, exciting and thorough. The story leaves you guessing until the very last chapter. 

And really, Vin just kicks some serious tail end. 

From the book:

Vin cried out, Pushing herself off the bronze roof in an arcing jump. She landed in the very center of the surprised group of people, then thrust her coin pouch upward, ripping it in two.

Coins sprayed into the air, reflecting light from the window below. As the glistening shower of metal fell around Vin, she Pushed.

Coins zipped away from her like a warm of insects, each one leaving a trail in the mist. Figures cried out as coins hit flesh, and several of the dark forms dropped.

Again :

"I think I did something bad," Vin said. "I... kind of killed [a Mistborn]"
"You did what?" Kelsier asked as Sazed tisked quietly. . .
"[There was a] Mistborn. We fought. I won."
You killed a fully-trained Mistborn? Kelsier thought with shock. . .

Kelly Clarkson has a song called Miss Independent, that I think fits Vin's character perfectly. Beyond the lyrics, the tone of the song adds a certain sass to the words that goes very well with the way I see the book in my head.

Miss Independent:

Miss independent
Miss self-sufficient
Miss keep your distance, mmmm

Miss unafraid
Miss out of my way
Miss don't let a man interfere, no

Miss on her own
Miss almost grown
Miss never let a man help her off her throne

So, by keeping her heart protected
She'll never, ever feel rejected
Little miss apprehensive
Said ooh, she fell in love

From the book:

"I don't care about that anymore..." [He] took a step forward, bringing them even closer together. Vin could feel his breath. He stood there for a moment before speaking. "I think I'm going to kiss you."
Vin shivered slightly. "I don't think you want to do that..."
"Why?"
"How much do you really know about me?"
"Not as much as I'd like to," he said.
"Not as much as you need to, either," Vin said, looking up into his eyes.
"So tell me," he said.
"I can't. Not right now."

I can almost see Vin hopping over buildings her cloak flapping in the mists behind her. Searching the darkness for enemies while mulling over the man she never anticipated falling in love with.

... I think I'm going to go read the book again.


Book: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
Music: Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson