Dear Jodi Picoult,
When I was in the eighth grade, 13 years old, I read your book, My Sister’s Keeper. It was the kind of book that I don’t come across often—it deeply affected me emotionally, I thought about it for the longest time after I finished, and I was able to relate to it a little bit.
My mom was the first one to read My Sister’s Keeper in my family, when I was nine or ten years old. Obviously I was way too young to read it then, but I remember my mom crying one day when she had finished. I had the same reaction when I finished it, too, almost exactly one year ago from now. I sobbed for so long, even though my mom had told me the ending and I had been expecting it. For some reason it hit me really hard how horrible it is to lose a sibling, to lose a sister.
I am two and a half years younger than my older sister. My mom always jokes that I’m the “nice one”. She says that “if Catie would just be nice to Grace, Grace would be the best, most loyal, loving friend.” And I think that’s pretty true. For some, rare moments, I love having a sister. When she’s actually acting decent towards me, it’s really nice—we crack up at stuff together, and sometimes even have serious conversations.
But for eighty percent of the time, I can’t help but absolutely hate my sister. She can be so nasty, unhelpful, and mean to me at times—for no reason! I’m not an annoying little sister, or mean to her, and I don’t mess with her stuff. I just feel like I’m her punching bag whenever she’s in a bad mood. She knows how to make me hate myself, and bring out pure hatred for her.
Reading your book really made me think what would happen if I lost my sister, or what would happen to my sister if I died. It’s not the most pleasant thing to think about, but it was inevitable when I was reading My Sister’s Keeper.
I’ve never really lost someone in my life. The death of my great-grandmother a few years ago didn’t greatly affect me because we were never very close, and I was only six when my grandma died. I know that I can’t even fathom what it’s like to lose someone, and I probably won’t know until one day—hopefully many—years from now. When I was little I used to think a lot about what would happen if I lost my parents, but I never thought about losing my sister. I always thought that siblings were like married couples. You grow old—not necessarily together—but at the same time. The major difference is that you have each other since birth. That’s a lifetime, and until I read your book, I didn’t think about how easy it is for that to be taken away.
Even though it sounds like a stupid, feeble comparison, I couldn’t help but thinking that, if I was sobbing for a fictional character in a fiction book, how would I feel if I lost my own sister? Before I had said that I can’t fathom what it’s like to lose someone, but your book gave me a small insight. Even though sometimes I hate my sister, I still love her to death, and hope that when we’re adults we’ll be best friends. I learned from your book that you can’t take anything for granted, like a sister. I’m lucky to have a sister, and I realize that now.
Thanks for the amazing book,
Sincerely,
A fan
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