sammi says

Sometimes girls just want a good cry. It's true. There are days where we just want to read a cheesy book or watch a sad movie and remember that our problems aren't so bad. Such was the case when I borrowed the book, "My Sister's Keeper," by Jodi Picoult from a friend. I remember seeing previews for the movie so I knew it was going to be a real downer. What I didn't know was that a very popular and widely received book could be so incredible juvenile.

Each chapter of the book is told from the first person narration of each character and is written in different fonts in case you needed more distinction that you're reading someone else's opinion. I've read books with two or three different perspectives...but seven different points of view? It left absolutely no sense of mystery and left nothing up to interpretation. The story itself was an interesting take on a family struggling with cancer. The main character, Anna, is admirable. So when I finally got over the cheese factor and started enjoying the book thinking things are going to wrap up just how I imagine they will then...BOOM!

It seems like Jodi Picoult consulted M. Night Shyamalan in writing the last ten pages. Picoult throws in a major, unexpected tragedy and gives us ten whole pages (from three different perspectives) to deal. Because she shocked us and made us cry are we supposed to think that this is good or worthy literature? Hardly. It's a cheap, trash novel that could have told a emotional story about a struggling family, but instead took the route of ripping our hearts out and calling it a day.

I was so furious with the ending that I immediately wanted to watch the movie to see if it would redeem itself. I had heard friends say the movie was nothing like the book, so I figured that perhaps the movie would take the high road and eliminate the trick ending while keeping the heart of the story. Well, wrong again. Yes, the ending is different but the entire movie is focused on Kate, the sister with cancer, rather than Anna, the book's protagonist. So basically they removed the only good parts of the book (Hello? Campbell and Julia!) and added a super whiny Cameron Diaz.

Boo's all around for "My Sister's Keeper."

Jonathan Safran Foer has easily become my favorite contemporary author after reading his second novel, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close." I'm a little late in the game considering it was written in 2005, but I finally got around to reading it and have no idea why I waited so long. I fell in love with his first book, "Everything is Illuminated," after reading it on a whim, mostly because I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. "Everything is Illuminated" is one of those books that isn't easy to read, I often had to reread entire chapters and found myself flipping back pages to see if I missed anything. It's told in the form of letters from a Ukranian translator (whom I can only describe as Borat-like) who is guiding the "hero" on a journey to find a woman who may have saved his grandfather from the Nazi's. Interlaced in the narrative are fairy-tale like chapters describing the mythical, confusing, and comical history of a small Ukrainian village in the 1940's. As promised in the title, everything is eventually illuminated and it makes for a rewarding story.

Foer's writing style is extremely similar in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close." It is also the story of a young boy's journey and partly told through letters. It reads almost like a scrapbook, journal or diary, with letters and photos placed throughout the narrative. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell's father died in the 9/11 attacks and so he embarks on a mission to find the lock that matches a key he finds in his father's possessions. Oskar is incredibly intelligent and always coming up with ideas or inventions that would make the world a better place. Oskar is tortured by his father's death and is having a terrible time coping. His journey to find the lock gives him a sense of purpose and he meets some extremely interesting people along the way.

There is the same sense of mystery in this novel as in "Everything is Illuminated," but I found it much easier to understand and extremely exciting. As a reader, it's an incredibly silly task that Oskar hopes to accomplish but you play along because he's a child, as do the characters in the book. As the search goes on, as expected, we learn there's a lot more to the journey than just the end result. If you're thinking this is story about 9/11 you're wrong. It's simply the event that caused his father's death and not a gimmick to gain readers. This novel is about family and serves as a reminder of the imagination, resilience, bravery and optimism of kids and our inner-child. The book is hilarious, smart, heartbreaking and uplifting. There are people that will read this book and be cynical of its motivations but I think that is the exact feeling this novel is trying to protest.