Is Jodi Picoult a Keeper? (My Sister's Keeper)

I noticed recently on my daily commute what seemed like every woman under the age of 35 reading a novel by Jodi Picoult. There seemed to be an endless range of these books, each cover sporting a different photo of a different child or teenager looking either frightened or in distress. Was I missing something?

I kind of wanted to be part of this young, hot literary club so I picked up a used copy of My Sister's Keeper. The premise of the book seemed curious enough: 13-year old Anna is filing a lawsuit against her parents for medical emancipation. She was conceived (and genetically designed) for the sole purpose to donate stem cells to her older sister, Kate, who is dying of luekaemia. But when Anna's commitment to Kate extends far beyond cells from her umbilical cord, she decides to take action.

My Sister's Keeper is definitely an airport book-- the type of novel you can read whilst still listening for your boarding announcement--which is why I suppose it's so popular with the commuting crowd.

Picoult does a good job of introducing cryptic details and sub-plots to keep the reader gripped, yet I find her writing formulaic and clichéd. She tries too hard to end every chapter (sometimes every paragraph) on a thoughtful, philosophical point and it gets to be a bit much.

But what can I say? My fellow commuters love Picoult and, with nine books currently on release, she shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, I may even see if I can find another used copy of one of her books for my next long train/plane journey...

...Or maybe not.