I've only read the summaries of the book and the film, but I'd still say I agree with this. The book's ending was particularly awful in my eyes - a Diabolus ex Machina that renders the whole story pointless is the most frustrating type of ending ever. The Debate and Switch makes the author look like a huge coward that shouldn't have tried to portray an ethical dilemma. I mean, if you have the courage to portray a moral dilemma, please have the courage to resolve it properly. You'll tick off some people, but you'll also use your story to make a statement (also, keep in mind that Debate and Switch endings frustrate some people without letting you make any statement). If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything.
Picoult has a bad habit of writing contrived tragedies for the sake of an ending which is meant to evoke sympathy for the Well-Intentioned Extremist that really just results in Family-Unfriendly Aesop. I didn't care for the film, but the fact they sensed how incredibly WRONG the novel's ending was and had the friggin human decency to change it despite Picoult's wishes shows me that sometimes film adaptation can be much better than their source material.
And trust me, if you thought the mother of this book was bad, try reading Handle with Care.
I feel I'll regret asking, but... what's so bad about Handle with Care?
I've never really gotten to indulge in this since the premise alone is so out there. Even if they try not to, a good number of parents have a favorite, but this whole have a child just for the sole purpose of saving another is just so...warped. Just skimming over the trope page, there's a lot of downright medical malpractice.
In Handle with Care, Charlotte needs money for Willow's (her Ill Girl) medical bills and sues her OB/GYN (who's also her best friend) for failing to inform her in advance that her daughter would be born severely disabled. However, this means that Charlotte has to say in public that she would have terminated the pregnancy if she'd known about the disability in advance. She wins the lawsuit, but it almost destroys her marriage, ruins her best friend's reputation, and her other daughter gets bulimia and cuts herself often due to the neglect. Then Willow randomly drowns in a pond, and Charlotte buries the cheque with her (because that money totally couldn't be used for anything else, right?).
I can't decide which one is the worst, but both are certainly among the worst I've ever seen.
Sorry about double posting, but I'd say that My Sister's Keeper has the worst ending of the two. At least the mother in Handle with Care kind of loses in the end, and the consequences of her decisions are shown. In My Sister's Keeper, it feels like the author had a proper ending planned out (Kate dying to free Anna), but realized that she'd have to show the consequences of it, so she chickened out and Diabolus ex Machina'd her way out of it.
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Absolutely Vile
This is a review solely of the book, since I haven't seen the movie and don't ever intend to.
I had to originally read this novel a few years ago for class, and I distinctly recall loathing it but at the time I couldn't remember why. So recently I decided to reread it entirely, because I thought I had unfairly judged it and disliked it because I was forced to study it. Nope. One of the most repulsive pieces of literature I've ever had to sit through.
The main reason for this is the mother character. Good GOD, I never thought one character could sour an experience so much, but this bitch takes the cake. And believe me I actually did like a few characters in this, like Anna, Jesse, and Campbell, they managed to be funny, sympathetic, generally enjoyable to read. But Sarah...I have never had a character act so vile, so callous and cruel and never get called on it. Give birth to a child just so she can be a walking organ bank for your sick daughter? A-okay to her. Downright neglect you firstborn and leave him to spiral into a criminal lifestyle without bothering to so much as talk to him? Fine in her book. Your daughter files a lawsuit against you for being the most vile mother this side of Cinderella's wicked stepmother? Well clearly its all the daughters fault.
I mean my god, this character just made me sick to my stomach, and I wanted so dearly for someone to sock her in the jaw or say that she's a complete bitch. Nope. And even in the end, when she should have lost, the 'shocking twist' of the story renders every single prior page of the book entirely pointless. Anna is killed off in a callous and downright mean spirited way just so the author can dodge answering the moral questions raised in the book. It just ruined everything, made the entire book completely pointless, and Sarah was able to get off scott-free for years and years of emotional, mental and physical abuse.
I just felt ill after. Good thing the pages are so good at soaking up vomit and bile.