my sister's keeper

a few years ago, i was browsing amazon.com for new authors and new books to read when i chanced upon jodi picoult. being a fan or romance and chicklit rather than general fiction books, i'm not quite familiar with her. but with the great reviews for her book, i decided to give her a try. the first book i bought was salem falls. i liked the book and finished it in one day. i went to her website www.jodipicoult.com and read up on the reviews of her other books.

the next book i purchased was my sister's keeper. i remember that when i was in powerbooks, the only available version was the large print, and it cost also P800! but i bought it and started reading it. by the end of the day, i was crying. i couldn't believe it! this was the second book (only! - the first one was kiss an angel by susan elizabeth phillips) that i read which moved me to tears. i quickly recommended the book to my equally book-loving cousin, C, and my good friends L & B. They too loved the book! C, being a mother herself, loved it because she could understand the family drama of the story and because the ending was totally shocking! L & B, loved the book and made them instant fans of the author, even buying also all of her books in the bookstore. unfortunately, only 1 other novel was as impressive as my sister's keeper - the pact, which talked about the tragic story of two childhood sweethearts. the others were just plain boring (ex. keeping the faith started strong but fell flat in the end while the tenth circle was a drag).


and so i was excited when i heard that my sister's keeper will hit the big screen. i like the cast.. at first i didn't expect cameron to be the mom, but she was not bad. i love abigail breslin and i'm glad she got anna's role. alec baldwin as campbell alexander made sense. i read somewhere that the ending will be changed in the movie, i speculated that both will live but to my surprise they went the hollywood route. the movie had a different approach from the novel which made the comparison harder for me. first, the characters. the parents were the same. jesse was more of a delinquent in the book than the movie. i didn't like the way they portrayed jesse, and his scenes were like shooting a music video..of him sitting outside a seedy club, of him looking at hookers passing by, mostly nonsensical scenes. campbell was the same, with his dog but they left out the subplot with him and julie. the movie also failed to show the close relationship between anna and campbell. in the book, the main character was anna but in the movie, it focused on kate and her nonexistent boyfriend (in the book, that is). in the movie, kate was dying but in the book, kate was merely sick and in need of surgery. and where are the court scenes? the court scenes came out at the end of the movie when in the book, a large part was held at the court, with all characters debating the case heatedly.

of course, the ending. in the book we find out that the reason anna sued her parents was because kate asked her to. anna won the case with campbell as her legal guardian. but then on the way home, they had an accident and anna died. campbell, as legal guardian, donated her organs to kate so she may live. in the movie, the reason was the same, except that here, kate died naturally before the verdict was handed out. then the next scene shows campbell telling anna she won the case (but then what was the point when kate died anyways?).. while the book's ending was a total shock (no one expected anna to die.. it was as if she was the "neglected one" and yet she was the one who died rather than kate) and elicited lots of tears from the readers, the movie was more into showing the mom's acceptance that kate is dying and showing flashbacks and waiting for kate to die, which then elicited the sobs from the moviegoers. two different approaches, yet heartbreaking all the same.

overall, i give the book 5/5 stars while the movie 3/5 stars, because the movie dragged at some parts and didn't totally show the whole story. nevertheless, if you like a good cry, i suggest you gather your gal pals, bring kleenex and watch the movie.

sidenote... i watched this in greenbelt 3 with my friend, L. most of the people were girls. i started crying early in the movie. midway, the two girls beside me were sniffing and pulling out tissues, then we heard a girl blowing her nose loudly.. and near the end of the movie, one girl was heard sobbing which made a lot of people (including me and my friend) laugh out loud! when the lights were back on, you can see all the girls with red puffy eyes and even the guys looking subdued.