The books basically about a child who was genitally made in order to save her older sister, who has leukemia. It raises several different & difficult issues regarding morals & ethics surrounding things like test-tube babies, stem cell research, etc.
The book overall, I thought, was good in that it taught me a lot about the legal issues regarding morals & ethics, as well as the medical concerns about things such as stem cells, as well as how diseases like leukemia are treated.
The only problem I had was that you could see the logical ending to the book, which stopped me from enjoying it as much as I could have. However, it was very well written & because there were a couple of unanswered questions which did keep me reading 'till the end.
One thing that I did really enjoy about the book, was that the father was a keen armature astronomer & every now & again, it would tie-in a story about greek mythology.
One of the stories I enjoyed most, I have decided to share here;
Fire & hope are connected. The way the Greeks told it, Zeus put Prometheus & Epimetheus in charge of creating life on earth. Epimetheus made the animals, giving out bonuses like swiftness and strength & fur & wings. By the time Prometheus made man, all the best qualities had been given out. He settled for making them walk upright, & he gave them fire.
Zeus, pissed off, took it away. But Prometheus saw his pride & joy shivering & unable to cook. He lit a torch from the sun & brought it to man again. To punish Prometheus, Zeus has him chained to a rock, where an eagle fed on his liver. To punish man, Zeus created the first woman - Pandora - & gave her a gift, a box, she was forbidden to open.
Pandora's curiosity got the best of her, & one day she opened that box. Out came the plagues & misery & mischief. She managed to shut the lid tight before hope escaped. It's the only weapon we have left to fight the others.
This, I like. I think the Greeks had a lot of really cool stories to explain things they didn't understand. I might have a look at some more sometime.
Whaddya think?
xo