The Memory Keeper's Daughter | Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper's Daughter | Kim Edwards | The Memory Keeper's Daughter

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The Memory Keeper'...

	The Memory Keeper's Daughter Kim Edwards Penguin (Non-Classics), 2006 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 863 reviews view larger image
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Kim Edwards?s stunning family drama evokes the spirit of Sue Miller and Alice Sebold, articulating every mother?s silent fear: what would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? In 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins, he immediately recognizes that one of them has Down Syndrome and makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and to keep her birth a secret. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper?s Daughter is an astonishing tale of redemptive love. BACKCOVER: ?Edwards is a born novelist. . . . Rich with psychological detail and the nuances of human connection.?
?Chicago Tribune

?Unfolds from an absolutely gripping premise, drawing you deeply and irrevocably into the entangled lives of two families and the devastating secret that shaped them both. I loved this riveting story.?
?Sue Monk Kidd

?Anyone would be struck by the extraordinary power and sympathy of The Memory Keeper?s Daughter.?
?The Washington Post

?Kim Edwards has written a novel so mesmerizing that I devoured it. . . . The Memory Keeper?s Daughter has it all.?
?Sena Jeter Naslund

?Kim Edwards has created a tale of regret and redemption, of honest emotion, of characters haunted by their past. This is simply a beautiful book.?
?Jodi Picoult

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A real page turner

I am so stunned by all of the negative reviews on this book! I think I tend to be very critical of books, and have a very short list of favorites. I absolutely loved this book. I thought the characters were very well-developed, and the author's writing positively flowed. The relationships portrayed were so realistic and believable that I was not surprised to read the interview with the author at the end of the book that said it was based on a true story. I usually dislike books that jump from year to year, as I feel some of the story can be missed and unanswered questions will remain. Although this was true in some cases, Edwards did a nice job of providing a synopsis of what happened with the characters during the years the readers weren't "with" them. I will say that I enjoyed the beginning and middle of the book more so than the end, which I felt was maybe a tad neatly tied up. However, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone.

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The Memory Keeper's Daughter

This book is about a doctor named David Henry, he delivers his own twins. His first child, Paul, is healthy. But his second child, Phoebe, has down syndrome. So David makes a decision that will haunt him forever, he hands Phoebe to his nurse, Caroline, and tells her to take Phoebe to an institution (I think thats what it is?) but instead Caroline takes Phoebe away to raise as her own. David tells Norah (his wife, mother of Paul and Phoebe) that Phoebe died at birth.
So David lives with this secret.
Its a pretty good book, it travels through the years as Paul and Phoebe grow and shows the importance of that moment. It's well written, very powerful. But the ending, I don't know. I guess it just doesn't tie everything up. It's not an ending where you think about it all night (like I regularly do) you just kind of read the last page and it feels like you still have to finish the book. And you think the book could end well at a certain point, but you look and theres still 2 or 3 more pages. Edwards keeps dragging the ending out (not through the whole book, just the last few chapters) like she doesn't want to let go of writing this book. And another thing about the book, it feels like some of the characters are just dropped.
But don't read this and not want to read the book, its worth reading just be prepared for a little less than perfect ending.

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A truce for those readers on opposite sides...

First, let me say that I understand how some readers were unable to finish the book, as quite a few readers really appreciate something that is a quick read and all story. For me personally, I loved the beautiful passages in this book, the descriptions, they are poetic and moving. I can certainly understand how it turns some readers off as it isn't particularly important to the actual story. I appreciate their comments.

Second, the story; it is indeed a fantastic premise for a book and I will assume that you already know what that premise is and if you don't you can read the synopsis on the back cover. As far as the telling of the story goes, on this point, I agree with some of the readers who have already commented that the characters themselves were frustrating. I tried to care about these people, I tried very much to like them and to understand them, but I could not. The husband, David, is so detached from his emotions, before and after, he decides to give his daughter away that I could not relate to him, even in his recollections of his sister, who he professes to love dearly, there is resentment there. He was difficult to love, however, I do believe he loved his family, he just did not know how to show them that he did, the frustrating part of it, is that he never made the effort.

As far as Norah, I could not stand her from the beginning and then she only got worse. She is extremely narcissistic, spoiled and unhappy, and instead of trying to make herself happy, she puts all the blame on her husband. She married a man she barely knew and spent the rest of her life envying everyone around her because she felt trapped and she had no freedom and her life wasn't fun, so she starts sleeping with any man that will have her, even after she finds out that her teenaged son knows this. She was so incredibly selfish...I found myself really annoyed with her. I never found myself caring about her at all. It was too difficult. So in that aspect, I agree with what some of the other readers have said in regards to the characters. As far her finding out that her daughter lived, by the end of the book, I didn't really care. I truly believe that it wouldn't' have changed things at all for this woman. And I think that is where the difficulty comes in as far as the resolution of this conflict is concerned.

And then there is Paul, the son. To me, the most obvious love David was ever able to show was for Paul, and Paul ends up feeling as if he's had this horrible childhood and his father never loved him and he can't even bother to show up for David's funeral. David was a good father to him, he wasn't perfect by any means, but if wanting your son to do more with his life than pursue a career in music is bad parenting, than shame on the world, that is a natural albeit wrong thing for parents to do, impose their own dreams on their children it certainly isn't child abuse. Considering all three of them, especially Norah and Paul who spent their lives feeling sorry for themselves and blaming it all on David (even before they knew of the "secret), for me personally, I felt more pity for David himself, having to spend his life loving (although not knowing how to show it) these two people, who could have ever cared less about him.

Now, the good points...Caroline Gill, who takes the twin sister and raises her is someone you can care about, someone you can get behind and you root for her and Al...and of course Phoebe. But these people are not in the book as nearly as much as the other three.

That being said, I believe this book deserves to be read, if only for its incredibly beautiful language. Edwards was born to be a writer, she has an incredible natural story telling talent. It's not by any means a terrible book and I don't think it deserves a one, but I can understand those reader's frustrations.

Hope this helps.

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Good story idea...just average execution

I should probably start my reviews by letting the reader understand my reading style -- basically, I like a good, entertaining book that will allow me to escape for a little while. Books with great imagery and compelling stories suck me in. Nothing better than a good page turner!

With that said, I had been eyeing The Memory Keeper's Daughter for a while at my local bookstore. I found the idea of the story interesting. After a few months, I finally purchased on Amazon. The story outline is good: A doctor delivers his twin children in the middle of a snowstorm. The boy is normal but the girl is born with Down's Syndrome. He asks his devoted nurse to take the child to the local institution but tells his wife that there were 2 children and the girl died. The story continues to depict how that one decision changes so many lives.

Really great idea! The problem with this book was in the execution. I did not find the way it was written to be all that engaging. Part of what drew me to the book was the complimentary review from Sue Monk Kidd, author of one of my most recent favorite reads "The Secret Life of Bees." Kidd's book is written in a style that draws you into the story, into the characters and is written with such vivid language that I could actually see the house where her characters lived. I expected the same of "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" and found little of that kind of language in there. Sure, I wanted to get to the end of the story to see how it was all resolved, but I found getting there to be a bit tedious. I think the author tried to make what was in essence a novella or short story into something longer.

So, not the worst book I've ever read, but not the most engaging. If you're looking for something you can read a chapter or 2 before you go to bed at night and not have to worry about staying up all night because you can't put it down, then this is your book.

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