The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel
by Kim Edwards
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Book Reviews of The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel
Book Review: Life is shaped by the choices we make
Summary: 4 Stars
The Memory Keeper is a camera and it was a gift to David from his wife. It seems at first that she chooses well for David finds photography a nice diversion. Soon however, he becomes obsessed with photography to the point of not quite living his life but seeing it through the lens. There are much deeper problems in this marriage however.
David, a bone doctor, drives his lovely, pregnant wife Norah in to the clinic in a fierce snowstorm. It's as far as he can make it before he has to deliver their baby with the help of his nurse, Caroline Gill. His son, Paul, is born, beautiful and perfect. A surprise, a second baby, a girl is also born that night. David can see that she has Down Syndrome. He makes a decision in that moment that will haunt the rest of his days and put a distance between him, Norah and Paul that they find unexplainable. He hands the baby girl to Caroline Gill telling her to take the baby to a home he knows of for such children.
He tells Norah about the twin but that the baby girl had died. I think that was his second mistake for Norah never stops grieving for her lost daughter even though they both adore their son Paul, the loss shadows over every day of their lives.
Caroline, on seeing the home, doesn't leave baby Phoebe there. She makes a decision to leave town and she raises Phoebe. Time moves swiftly in this story and over the years, Caroline sends letters and photos to David from time to time. Even though he deeply regrets his decision, he is never able to tell Norah what he did. He never meets Phoebe. I think perhaps he not so much as wishes to have his daughter back as to repair the damage his deceit did to his family.
Norah goes on to become successful but there are times she strays and David forgives her this because of his own guilt. Paul has a lot of anger, feeling he never lives up to his father's expectations. In the end however, Norah and Paul do meet Phoebe, life goes on. There are a couple touching moments and all are very accepting of one another.
Life is shaped by the choices we make.
The story gets more involved but I won't here. One of the parts I found especially interesting was when David went back to his childhood home to face his past.
Here is an excerpt:
"It took him nearly an hour to reach the old house, now weather-beaten a soft gray, the roof sagging at the center of the ridgepole and some of the shingles missing. David stopped, taken so powerfully into the past that he expected to see them again: his mother coming down the steps with a galvanized tin tub to collect water for the laundry, his sister sitting on the porch, and the sound of the ax striking logs from where his father chopped firewood, just out of sight...
The place was as familiar as breath but as far from his life now as the moon.
The wind rose. He walked up the steps. The door hung crookedly on its hinges and would not close. The air inside was chilly, musty. It was a single room, the sleeping loft compromised now by the sagging ridgepole. The walls were water-stained, through chinks, he glimpsed pale sky. He'd helped his father put the roof on, sweat pouring down their faces and sap on their hands, their hammers rising into the sun, into the sharp fragrance of fresh cut cedar.
As far as David knew, no one had been here for years. Yet a frying pan sat on the old stove, cold, the grease congealed, but not, when he leaned in to smell it, rancid. In the corner there was an old iron bed covered with a worn quilt like his grandmother and his mother had made. The cloth was cool, faintly damp, beneath his hand. There was no mattress, only a thick layering of blankets against the boards set into the frame. The plank floor was swept clean and there were three crocuses in a jar in the window.
Someone was living here."
Book Review: This novel is a downer in so many ways.
Summary: 2 Stars
This book is basically a romance novel masquerading as a literary novel. As such, being a 65-year-old guy, I suppose I am not the target market, so take that into consideration. But there are plenty of female authors whose work I like. My heart does not get a-fluttering with all the internal romantic drama in this book. I like romance in novels and in memoirs, when done well, but to me this is more like an overly produced daytime soap opera. All style, no substance.
Overly descriptive narration, stilted dialog, shallow characters lacking personalities. The author does have a gift for narrative description but it's on overkill most of the time - too many irrelevant things described in too much detail.
Norah, the central character is constantly nagging David - like at a party they throw. She doesn't just tell him to put the camera away and be with their guests before he has even taken a single picture; she goes on and on and over and over about it. If I'd been David, I would have divorced the bitch on the spot.
Back story of these characters is slight and repetitive so for David, for example we read over and over that his sister died as a 12-year-old of a heart ailment and he was poor, but scenes of this poverty are not many nor are they meaningful.
The plot jerks along in ways that ring false. Throughout the 25 years covered by this book that one of her twin children is born dead (or so she was told) that issue seems to dominate Norah's every moment. I just don't buy it.
There is much I don't find believable in this novel. Norah starts becoming an all-day alcoholic but then the story skips forward seven years and we're told she wasn't drinking that much any more. So what was the point of turning her into an extreme alcoholic then pretending it was just a phase she grew out of? People don't just drop addictions that extreme - it takes a concerted effort.
The male characters have no depth at all, particularly David, the central male character, although the son Paul does develop a moody personality in the latter chapters.
Every short conversation seems to be followed by paragraphs of intense yet shallow, depressing yet flowery analysis. All the characters seem depressed most of the time. Maybe this is supposed to give the book depth, but it gives me a headache. The author seems to lack any sense of humor. Yes this is a drama, but most dramas show a little humor, just as most comedies need some drama.
The premise about the Down Syndrome child is interesting and fairly well executed in the opening chapters, but after that the story becomes routine as if the author did not know what to do after that opening so she fills 400 pages with regret and depression and flowery description about hands and settings that may or may not have anything to do with the story.
The relationship between David and Norah is nothing but angst and dislike. Why do they stay together? Why did they even get married in the first place? There is one scene at their son's recital where Doctor David shows up late because of emergency surgery and the two of them snipe back and forth with all the maturity of 6-year-olds fighting over a toy.
How could this book have been a big seller? I hope to be getting out my memoir soon and so this gives me optimism. If a book like this was supposedly a NY Times #1 best-seller then there is hope for all of us frustrated writers as yet unpublished. However what that really tells me is it's who you know and not how well you write that too often determines not only what sells but what gathers a fair amount of critical acclaim. However most of the readers who reviewed this book on Amazon have it right. This novel is a downer in so many ways.
Book Review: Upside Down
Summary: 3 Stars
I find this book to be rather depressing, but, at the same time, there are also many things that I like.
David Henry grows up in an isolated subsistance farm with his impoverished family. But he is not only bright--he is also willing to work to escape the poverty of his past and he becomes an orthopedic surgeon. He establishes practice in Kentucky and marries Norah, a proper young lady from a genteel background. She becomes pregnant and happens to go into labor during a major and unusual snowstorm. Unable to reach the hospital, David takes Norah to his office and, with the help of his intrepid nurse, Caroline, delivers a baby boy, whom they name Paul. While Norah is sedated (how do you "push" under sedation?), a second baby--this time a girl (Phoebe)-- follows her twin into the world. David, noting the little girl's facial features, immediately recognizes that she has Downs Syndrome. He wishes to spare his wife (and himself) the sorrows of raising a handicapped child--especially with potential heart defects, since his own dear sister died from a defective heart--so he impulsively whisks her away from Norah's sight. He sends Caroline out into the cold and snow to deliver the child to an institution, and he tells Norah that the child has died. This sets the stage for a lifetime of guilt and secrecy on his part; and grief and sorrow for Norah, as well as anger in Paul, neither of whom know that Phoebe is alive and well and living with Caroline.
While some events and circumstances in the novel seem rather contrived, I found the premise to be quite plausible and understandable. This was 1964. Children with mental retardation were quite routinely sent away, and few of these had any contact with their parents. (Unfortunately for us all.) They were simply "forgotten"-- never spoken of. This I know from my experience working at a "state school" in Massachusetts. It formerly housed thousands of people of all ages with mental retardation and other disabilities. By the time I worked there in the early 80's we had interdisciplinary teams that designed programs for the habilitation of the residents, instead of simply ware-housing them. The communitization movement was also underway, so that many clients who were able to live on their own, or in group homes in the community, had already been moved out from this large, isolated institution. And by this time, infants were no longer sent away to places like Fernald, but rather kept with their families and various services were provided to support and help the child and her family.
Here's the thing: what Dr. David Henry did was NORMAL for that era. Persons with mental retardation were customarily shipped off basically at birth to live in institutions like state schools. It was thought to be best for both the family and the child. Society expected it. Doctors recommended it. Granted, the overall reasoning behind this practice was un-enlightened and selfish, but that was the norm, and no doubt some people felt that it was in the best interest of the child and the family. David's decision not to show the child to his wife isn't too far-fetched for this era, but his impulsive decision to lie to his wife by telling her that the child died was less than moral. But it was not evil either.
I enjoyed following the story of Phoebe's life, but I find it implausible and exaggerated that the tragic problems in the Henry family could be attributed to the loss of Phoebe. The writing has a fresh-sensory appeal, but soon becomes redundant and heavy. It would have been much better if the book could had more about the Memory Keeper's DAUGHTER and less about the Memory Keeper himself. Phoebe is real, and Phoebe is memorable.
Book Review: This Memory will stay with me
Summary: 4 Stars
Each reader's perception of a novel is shaped by his or her own personality and psychological make-up. For me to be transported to the lives of characters in a book, I have to become psychologically tied to their story, and "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards did just that. There was a completeness in the book. I lived inside David Henry's mind from the time he was a child, always living with the knowledge that his little sister June was fragile, different, and always just a breath away from dying. Combine that reality with the times he lived in (I'm assuming it was late 30's, early 40's), and we get a sense of how silent his suffering was. His parents, fraught with grief and shame over their daughter, never voiced these fears aloud to David. There was only the constant sorrow and sense of responsibility to be the child that "made things right" for his parents. He most likely never was coddled or cherished, because his parents just didn't have the energy or the time. Therefore, his decision on that winter evening, when he was delivering his twins, to send his less than perfect little daughter who was born with Down's Syndrome, off to an institution, makes sense. He wanted to spare his wife the pain his own mother lived with. He wanted to spare his healthy son the responsibility of having a little sister who wasn't perfect. Yes, it's diabolical and twisted to us, but the background and the fleshing out the author gives us from David Henry's troubled life lets us "understand".
That one decision, then, shapes the lives of Norah, his wife, and Paul, his son. The unspoken lie among them never goes away. It's there through anniversaries and birthdays, picnics and school musicals. It's there at work and at home, never spoken, but loud in its own way. Edwards never wavered in her desire to let the reader see the repercussions that continued through the decades. Phoebe, the discarded twin, was rescued by Caroline, Dr. Henry's devoted nurse. For years, she corresponded with him, telling him the sweet story of his daughter's life. He responded by sending money, until finally, Caroline boldly takes a few steps forward, wanting to arrange for him to meet this child he had only been able to see in his imagination. When she mistakes his aloofness for a coldheartedness, she immediately reverses her decision, and walks out, severing all ties. We discover that his aloofness was not coldness at all, and he does seek her out, not to meet her, but to make certain of Phoebe's future welfare. I believe the novel set out to tell a story of what one simple decision can do to the lives of all it touches, and I believe she did just that. I felt satisfied when the book ended, knowing that we all carry baggage within us. Life is shaped by this baggage, and by every tiny turn we take on the journey. I would recommend this book for those who like a story that will make you think beyond its pages.
Norah, who gave birth to the twins that night, was not aware that Phoebe lived. Since this was in 1964, mothers were still given "gas" to aid them through childbirth. So she didn't hear the dialogue between her husband and the nurse, which allowed her to believe her daughter was stillborn. That knowledge affected the rest of her life, in turn, shaping the kind of mother she was to Paul, her adored son.
Caroline, who could not leave Phoebe at the institution, raised her as her own, thus taking her life into a place she could never have dreamed.
This is a wonderful book for discussion, and for making us look deeper into ourselves and those closest to us.
CJH
Book Review: A book I definitely enjoyed
Summary: 4 Stars
I've never really been much of a reader. Being told to read a specific book for a certain class was not my idea of fun either. Eventually I started to read more books and to my delight discovered several that I couldn't put down. I definitely could not put this book down.
My mom and sister have both read "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" and recommended it to me and said that they thought I would enjoy it. My mom had said to me that she read it in three days and couldn't put it down.
As this story goes, in the middle of a blizzard, Dr. David Henry delivers his wife's twins, a boy and a girl. His son is perfectly healthy, but he discovers that his daughter has Down's syndrome. He secretly gives her up without his wife even knowing. He tells his office nurse Caroline to take her to an institution, but she decides to raise Phoebe as her own daughter.
This book really touched me and my mom and sister too. I could relate to the character Paul a lot. I am in band and I love to play my flute. Paul loves to play his guitar and if he was an actual person, you would see him with his guitar all the time. His dream is to go to Julliard and to play his music. I could totally understand Paul's point of view of his parents when he was a teenager. He would sometimes get mad and runaway. But more important is how I related to the character Phoebe. I have a cousin, now 24, who had a stroke when she was born. This affected her speech and her ability to think. Today, she still faces many physical and mental challenges. Some people don't know what its like to have a family member who has these problems and I think that it gave me a special insight into some of the challenges Phoebe and Caroline faced.
My favorite part in the book was Phoebe meeting her birth mom, Norah, for the first time. When they met, I was thrilled. I kept wondering and asking myself, "When will Phoebe meet her? And when will she meet her father David?" Even though Norah didn't know her at all, she saw her in Paul's eyes because they were so alike. Edwards did a nice job showing the family getting to know Phoebe and treating her as part of their family and as if they raised her.
I absolutely loved the characters. Each one has a truly different personality that made them unique and interesting. I could really picture all the characters' features and what they did in the story. Edwards showed that what's on the inside is just as important than the outside. She made the character Phoebe- a good and kind person. Phoebe doesn't care what other people think of her and is very open-minded. She is just being herself. Edwards tells us to be ourselves and to not try and pretend be anyone else.
There was only one thing I didn't like about this book. I did not like the scene in the hospital when David Henry just looked at his daughter and didn't just accept her for the way she is. Since she has Down's Syndrome, she needed extra care and had a heart defect. Babies who were like that were put away in institutions because people thought they that might not live long. If he didn't give her away, than we wouldn't have this astonishing story. I was sad that there had to be an end. I wanted to see more of Paul and Phoebe getting to know each other.
I found this to be a very inspiring story. I would recommend this book to teens and adults who have experienced a family member who has mental or physical challenges or have someone close to them who have experienced this. I wish there was a sequel to this book. I would enjoy reading this book again to see what other interesting things Edwards has to say.