Memoirs Of a Geisha Trailer!

My sister's Controller

Everyday masses of people enter though the doors of the DMV and are asked the same question, “Would you like to become an organ donor today?” Many people would answer in a heartbeat without considering what they could be doing. What if an option was never given, some high and mighty power above us would make the decision for you. That’s how life was for Anna Fitzgerald, who for her whole life was never given the option, but always expected to do everything in order to save her dying sister.  Anna always knew that her sole purpose was to save her sister, that’s what she was born for “See, unlike the free world, I didn’t get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it’s gone, so are you.”

In most books there is a very clear protagonist and antagonist who push the story along and provide the book with a plot line, though this book is different, these people are not so clear. In the beginning many would say that it is very apparent that Sara Fitzgerald is the antagonist who is keeping Anna from getting what she wants, medical freedom. Though Sara is just acting upon instinct, wanting to save her first daughter, she has been blinded by Kate’s sickness, letting it control the decisions she makes. In this story, the antagonist is only the specific person who is holding back and becoming their own enemy, which makes this book very realistic. The book is told mostly from the perspective of Anna who is conflicted as to what to do, should she continue to help her sister or let Kate die? One perspective that seems to be missing through a large portion of the book would be Kate, if her perspective was present then there would be an added depth to the book.  The only moment when Kate’s voice is present is the end when she is reflecting on what happened to her life and she says, “And me, well I began to hate myself. It was, of course, all my fault. . . She would be here, and I would be the one coming back to haunt her. “

To take on the project of writing a book about this emotional issue is a feat in itself. I give the author, Jodi Picoult, all of my respect because of this. The plot at times would move at a glacier’s pace, seeming to continually repeating, though this repetition is craft fully used to show how it felt to be a part of the Fitzgerald family, how everyday seemed to blend together and never change, Kate was still always sick and dying. While this happened through the entire novel, it was a surprise to see the ending rushed through. The ending is a dramatic change of events and I believe that if it was slowed down it would give the readers more time to digest what has happened and how it has affected the story and other characters. 

                Personally, I find it difficult to rate this book on a scale because of how different it is from majority of other books I have read recently.  This book is completely an original and that makes it a hard comparison. Though I would say that this is a book that contains something every one of us could connect to, it has a little bit for everybody, and because of this it’s something all of us could enjoy. I also believe that this book teaches a lot of life lessons that everyone should read, it shows how nothing in life is guaranteed, and how things you love can easily be taken from you. I also must agree with what Sara Fitzgerald comes to realize towards the end of the book, “The answer is that there is no good answer. So as parents, as doctors, as judges, and as a society, we fumble through and make decisions that allow us to sleep at night- because morals are more important than ethics, and love is more important that law.”

Shown here are the actors who portray all the characters in the My sisters keeper  movie.

Top 5 !

When Brian Fitzgerald met Alec Rybak

One a desperate firefighter doing everything he can to keep his family together, and save his daughter, the other a district attorney who does all he can to keep certain things secrets and to keep people safe from the truth.  Brian Fitzgerald from My Sister’s Keeper acts as a type of superglue when it comes to his family, attempting to keep everyone and keep the family together. Alec Rybak is also trying to keep what’s left of his family together, all he has left is his daughter Mads, and son Thayer.  Though these two men come from two very different worlds they are both working towards the same goal, to keep their families together and to save someone. In Brian’s case he is attempting to save his daughter, Kate, who is dying of Leukemia, while also siding with his younger daughter Anna, at her trial for medical emancipation from her parents. They may have their differences but Alec is also trying to save someone, himself. His entire past is not completely known to the viewers of the show but it is believe that he caused many different things, including the separation of twin sisters, the burning down of one of their houses as a child, the killing of a boy Derek and the reason the sisters cannot find their birth mother.  His kids have become suspicious and he is also trying to keep what he has left of a family together. Both of these men also have similar morals (for the most part) even though Alec is being accused of killing someone is still on a daily basis saves people and knows that it’s the right things to do which is what Brian also does every day as a firefighter.

Alec Rybak shown with his new girlfriend Rebecca Sewell

Brian Fitzgerald shown helping his daughter Anna

The whole truth and nothing but the truth

I would like to believe that if you were to write a personal memoir then it would be of a true story, something possibly life changing that actually happened to you. Memoirs are meant to be real story’s, if you wanted to write some made up story then you can call it fiction and be on your way. Yes, memoirs may have a little bit of exaggeration and extra details added in for the sake of the story, but the general plot line, characters, and actions should be 110% true ( Yes, they should really be that true). I believe as a writer, we are all given the artistic license that allows us to change things for the sake of the story. For instance, if you would like to change the details from you were at the grocery story shopping to instead you were at a clothing store or the mall or something then that would be fine (No harm in that right?). Though if you wanted to say that instead of just shopping and maybe bumping into an old friend of yours you were really involved in the murder of the store’s manager who you physically killed yourself that then is very much so NOT OKAY. Smudging details is one thing, but completely changing the story is quite another.

I believe in order to determine whether half-truth stories are okay you need to look into what genre they were intended for. Yes, it still might be a great story and good job for you if it is but if it’s labeled as a personal memoir then that is what I’m expecting to read. Why couldn’t the author just push in into another genre in order to have a successful TRUE story? Or one that at least is what it says? So once again, the publishers in this case should have looked into it and known that the book  wasn’t what it said it was, so why not try to persuade the author to “re-label” their book in a sense. If you don’t wish to get killed by the media why don’t you just write a fiction story instead of a memoir that is less than half true?

One main example of a "half true" or "fake" memoir

Give us a chance

First off, I do not believe that genre fiction is in any way less worthy of literary fiction. I like to think that genre fiction is the literary fiction of the future. To me, genre fiction is what keeps me reading and is what fits in with our society. Yes, the classics are great, but also the new upcoming works can be considered great too. Have you ever thought about the fact that at the time all the literary fiction was written it could have been considered the genre fiction of the time? Also, I do think that popular works are able to be great. Just because something is "popular" doesn't mean it's some trashy child/teen novel about pointless drama that no one cares about. Recently, I read the book Room by Emma Donoghue and I would consider that to be genre fiction. Even though it's genre fiction to me I would still say that it could be considered great, I mean it hasn't been on the NYT best sellers list for 36 weeks for nothing! Also, as a side note, I believe that just because a book receives all these high honors and awards doesn't make it great. Each individual person can interpret a book in their own ways which is why just because one person thinks it's great and gives it an award doesn't mean that it's amazing and that everyone should read it. Going along with this, also just because a book does have a lot of awards and honors doesn't mean it's a completely boring "literary" fiction book. Get what I’m saying? I believe that you and only you are the person who gets to decide what "good" writing is. Your own personal opinion is the only one that really counts. Yes, you can use what other people have said and thought about the book to help you make your decision but you should not solely rely on their opinion to decide for you. Pick the book up, read it, and decide for yourself.

I do believe that schools should at least try to include more genre fiction works. Especially when teaching at the younger ages. While in school, kids get their first real taste at reading and picking out books and if they are only given the bad experience of reading books from literary fiction then they will be driven away from wanting to pick up another book and read it. I was raised by my mother especially to love reading, which is why as a young child I loved all different kinds of books and pretty much gave everything a chance. If we were to incorporate more genre fiction then kids would actually want to read again and the book business would pick back up instead of traveling on the failing never ending path the doom it’s stuck on now. Give kids a chance to really get into reading and to love it before you push all the classics and “boring” books on to them to read. Give us a chance.

Memoirs of a Geisha Book VS. Movie

In the book Memoirs of a Geisha I think the biggest challenge in adapting the book into a movie would be the cultural differences and plot line. Also since the book is set in Japan, the director would have to go to the trouble of creating believeable characters, and sets. In order to make the movie compleatly believeable the histroy towards becoming a Geisha would have to be reasearched so the movie would be historically correct. I think that three essential scenes that would have to be when we( the audience ) finds out how Chiyo's mother is sick and dying, when Chiyo goes into town and get hurts and Mr. Tanaka helps her, and also when she is taken from her home and to the house where she will be trained to be a Geisha. I believe that without these parts, the movie would not make enough sense to people and these scenes set up the whole pretense to the book and without them everything else that happens would make much sense because the characters wouldn't have the motive's to do what they do. There are also certain scenes that I believe would have to be cut for the movie. One of these scenes would be when Chiyo goes into town and see's the Geisha, I think that this scene is not important because in my opinion it does nothing to further the story and add details. The two others scenes I would cut would have to be when Chiyo see's her sister when she comes back from swiming in the pond, and the train ride to Kyoto. Both of these scenes also do nothing to further the story and they are like pointless side storys that are not needed.