Charles Tan
Leave a message for me!
Ike Baron
Welcome to my blog.
Baxter Springs, Kan.
Looney Tunes-My fave!!!
Madness Combat-TRUE madness
Yvonne Lim aka Fyn
Fun Ecards
Harry Potter Wizard Challenge
Internet Movie Database
Simpsonize Yourself!
Yearbook Yourself!
Got a Jam? Jam it in here!
Karaoke Party
Katy Perry!!!
Deal Or No Deal (High Quality Game)
naked bb
tagboard: JamesHoKS
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
May 2006
July 2006
August 2006
March 2007
November 2008
December 2008
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
September 2009
November 2009
January 2010
February 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
August 2011
February 2012
July 2012
Powered by TagBoard Message Board
Monday, November 02, 2009
First of all, I read the book and it was so beautiful, so touching, so riveting, then came the ending which really f***ed me over. *** SPOILER ALERT - IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK, DO NOT LOOK BEYOND HERE *** To refresh our memory, at the end, after Anna wins the lawsuit and everything, she dies in an abrupt car accident. Instead, Kate survives with Anna's kidney and lives a seemingly normal life and the tables are turned. I hated this ending because of 2 reasons: 1) It spoils the initial read and anticipation of the plot. Sure, it might be a surprising, creative twist as Anna, the sister who should not die, dies. But this is a sad and wicked turn of events, and most importantly a bit unbelievable and laughable that after so much fighting for medical emancipation, she could just die off like that. It is as if we have read the story thus far to see a happy (or if not at least a credible ending like if Kate dies) ending, and then Boomz - our protagonist dies? Also I believe it is entirely unnecesary twist, and comes across as more of the author's lame attempt to pump up the tragic factor of the story. Well Jodie, you win. Wouldn't it be better if Anna decided on her own free will to donate the kidney to Kate, and they both lived happily ever after? Or maybe Kate dies, the family moves on and learns riveting lessons about life, and Anna is freed but Kate remains forever in her heart. I believe that these 2 endings could be used and still have the same heartwarming effect that the story has on readers. Just imagine: In the epilogue, Kate narrates the aftermath of Anna's death and brings the story to a tearful end. WHAT IF they switch roles, Anna narrates Kate's death? I imagined that many times and the emotional effect, in my opinion, is just as touching. Hence I say that Anna's death is unnecessary - many other successful endings could be considered and put to the same good use (as seen in the Movie's alternate ending) 2) It also is rather unrealistic on how an individual (Anna) could suffer so much in her life of pain. It almost mocks the natural order of how things work and destiny. Jodi Picoult sends out a gloomy message that Anna is forever Kate's noble "keeper" right from her birth till the day she dies in the accident. It is evident that Anna leads quite a sad life as seen in many other parts of the book, especially the poetic extracts Jodi includes in the book, whereby Anna and Kate are compared as fire and water respectively, and they cannot exist together, and one will cause the other's death eventually - these are all forebodings that one of them will die at the end; the shocker is that many expect sick, bedridden kate to die, but it is anna instead. To the author, why kill off your star character after she has just guided us through the whole lawsuit avalanche? Why not kill off Kate? Not that I hate Kate and want her dead, but it's just that it's so unbelievably ludicrous that the healthy person dies and yet the person they have been fighting for and just about to let go - lives. Perhaps Jodi wants us to understand the ironies of life and how unpredictable it is, and that is a true moral I live by... I have learnt to accept this ending already, as a series of most unfortunate but ultimately true-to-heart events. But deep in a corner of my heart, there is a sense of emptiness and loss that brings me back to when I just finished the book and asked myself one question: "What meaning can we then make out of Anna's life?" Perhaps it's just part of Jodi's further intricacies and higher level musings, and I appreciate that. I was just wondering if any other people feel the same, or otherwise? Please share your rationale, I am especially interested to know from the people who actually like such an ending. Thanks P.S: you know, usually when there is a movie adaptation of a book, it cannot be compared to the book. But I am safely going to say that the movie's ending sure beats the book's hands down. It's much more logical, believable and yet has the same emotional effect. Why complicate matters when the subject of medical emancipation is already so complex in the novel? I am happy for kate, but Jodi also did not state clearly if she is free of her API disease now. As i see it, she only went for a kidney transplant, nowhere in the novel was there any literary or scientific evidence that receiving anna's kidney immediately meant that Kate was cured and healthy. For Good. need to clear that up too
Ike yiked at 5:59 pm