If you like dark and dreary, cancer reoccurring and reoccurring and reoccurring, this is an okay book.
Thirteen year old Anna Fitzgerald, conceived to be a donor for her dying sister Kate, scrapes up $168 to hire a lawyer. In her short life she’s donated stem cells, lymphocytes, bone marrow, and granulocytes. Now they want a kidney. Anna rebels.
The lawyer, Campbell, takes the case, thinking he’ll get some nice publicity. He files suit against Anna’s parents, asking that she be “medically emancipated.”
There are all kinds of subplots – brother is a pyromaniac, lawyer is one-time lover of the woman appointed by the court to look out for Anna’s interests, Campbell has a mysterious companion dog by his side. The author ties it up neatly at the end.
But there are ends left flapping. Like – what about all that publicity the lawyer was supposed to get? How on earth did Campbell get the brother cleared of serious criminal charges, and did it in less than 24 hours? What of pyromania, which is a pretty serious thing. Can a severe talking-to by the father cure a kid who gets a kick out of burning buildings?
In the end, I can’t recommend this book. It’s a long way to go for not much of a payoff. And it’s all a little too dysfunctional.
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