Book Review: My Sister's Keeper, Good Thief, Poet X

Hello! Happy early Holidays 2025!

Today I'm going to be reviewing the books My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, and Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. While My Sister's Keeper is primarily read in high schools, The Good Thief can be read with the middle grades. Poet X is also primarily a high school YA read, but there are a few inappropriate parts in the book for a classroom read.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

While the themes of family, human rights, and individualism are seen throughout the book, the book focuses on a main female character that is grappling with her own personal human rights as a 13 year old.

The book has different points of view for each chapter including Anna (main character), Sara (her mother), Campbell (Anna’s lawyer),Brian (her father), Julia (her court ordered guardian) , and Kate (her sister). While Kate is terminally ill, readers learn that Anna was conceived in order to save her sister as being an organ donor for her. At first the doctors only needed to use the umbilical cord for a simple procedure, but as time has gone on Anna has also been a stem cell donor, a donor of white blood cells, lymphocytes, and granulocytes. This leads to Kate still needing Anna to be a kidney donor in order for her to stay alive. 

The book is emotional because all of these procedures and surgeries are not fair to Anna. Anna feels as though she is solely on the planet to save her sister. It’s ironic though because Kate has directly told Anna that she wants to die, and she doesn’t want Anna to be a kidney donor. 

Anna's relationship with Campbell is heartwarming because he tells her to believe in herself and to trust that she has the right to make decisions for herself. Anna's relationship with many of the characters show how Anna's family is not perfect, but they strive to understand each other. Anna's brother Jesse is a trouble maker, and Anna's mother is the lawyer on the opposing side of Anna's court case.

The ending of the book is unexpected: Anna dies, and it shows the importance of how life is fragile and time is limited. Although I wish there was more time by the author spent describing and illustrating touching moments in the book, the book does a good job on bringing awareness to human rights, family dynamics, and making choices as an individual. 

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

The Good Thief follows a young boy who was adopted from an orphanage in 19th century England by his uncle who turns out to be his dad (Benjamin Nab). There is an adventure that unfolds with Ren, Benjamin, Mr. Ginty (the town’s factory owner who employs most of the town), and others. The story is told in third-person limited P.O.V. and follows Ren as the plot unfolds, each scene being unique as the next, with a dwarf in the story, illiterate girls who work in the factory, Ren’s best friends from the orphanage, and villains as the main adults in the story. 

The Good Thief was not one of my favorite books. Because of the way the author writes it’s difficult to understand how the main character feels. Tinti’s writing style does not include any inner dialogue from Ran (the main character). It’s difficult to read because it is written with an English style to the syntax of the sentences in the book. There is a lot of describing the plot and the action, without acknowledging the main character’s feelings. Although one could argue that the main character is happy because he is around friends and makes friends with Ben, there is no comparison in the book to what is happening in his life compared to the dream he had envisioned. Without the comparison the book is difficult to understand how Ren feels. 

Because of the lack of comparison and a full focus on the action of the plot, the book seems kind of jumpy and is difficult to follow along. I reread parts of the book in order for it to make sense. 

On YouTube, I watched a book review and the video creator said the book’s writing style is similar to that of Dickens and reminds him of Oliver Twist. To be honest, I haven’t read much of Charles Dicken’s work, but there are parallels from his work and Hannah Tinti’s book: vivid and detailed description, a fast moving plot, and a rhythmic prose to her writing. Tinti’s plot in her book is intricate and her book is plot driven compared to other authors. At times I can see a movie in my head when I read this book because it has illustrative descriptions and a fast moving plot. 

I think that this book would be better discussed with a book club or reading group rather than reading it alone. Because the action of the book changes many times, it almost feels like an adult read rather than YA.  

Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

This book is different from the other two because it’s in free verse. The themes of growing up, relationship issues, independence, and making choices are seen in the book. My favorite quote from the book is, “Hope is a thing with wings.” 

A lot of the book focuses on Xiomara’s relationship with her mom and how her mother is too strict for modern times. The book also focuses on how Xiomara uses poetry and writing poetry in order to free herself from the expectations set on her from her mom. The setting is in Harlem, New York with a majority of the book being at school, at Catholic church, or at Xiomara’s parents’ house. Xiomara gets in trouble with her mom frequently because her mom has high expectations of her, and because her mom is strict and has traditional values, Xiomara doesn't have a lot of friends or after school activities.

There is a part of the book that focuses on Xiomara’s body, how the culture of Harlem City responds to her having a curvy figure. Xiomara has to keep herself safe from others, and there are degrading terms used to describe Xiomara. It is different from the suburbs or the Midwest because it shows that cities are a dangerous place to live and people are unsafe and violent.

There are certain parts of the book that are slightly inappropriate with her relationship with Aman. There are also many pop culture references in the book with Aman’s and Xiomara’s music choices such as Nicki Minaj and Drake. 

Overall, I liked this book. At times, I did not like how the main character focused on a relationship rather than focusing on herself. The book ends with Xiomara stating that the uncertainty with writing poetry and grappling with the unknowns in the world is a freeing experience. 

This book would be a good choice for a small group with discussion questions about conflict resolution, strict parents, making your own decisions, etc. The sexual scenes between Xiomara and Aman would have to be blacked out in the books before reading the book as a group.

Thank you for reading! I hope to have more blog posts published in the next couple of weeks. Sorry for the wait on this one, I'm still working three jobs, and I don't always have time to write. Anyway, new blog posts coming soon!