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: Call Lifetime... there's a screenplay for them
Summary: 3 Stars
A lie can infect a relationship and tear it apart even if the lie is never revealed. That is the premise of this novel by Kim Edwards. In 1964, Norah Henry gives birth to twins. The first is a boy, Paul, and the second is a girl, Phoebe. But Phoebe has Down syndrome and her father, David Henry, a doctor who has been forced to deliver the twins because of a snow storm, decides to tell his wife that Phoebe was born dead. He tells his nurse, Caroline, to take Phoebe to an institution but she finds herself unwilling to do this and moves away with Phoebe leaving no forwarding address.
This is the beginning of a highly readable and yet flawed story. The book starts out very well but as the years move by I felt like I understood the characters (the Henry household, especially) less and less. Although Edwards tries to justify their behavior based on past events, so much of how they react seems melodramatic and over the top. But even worse, there is no one in the Henry household who really gained my sympathy or concern. David probably did Phoebe a favor by letting Caroline take her. Would Norah have been a good mother to Phoebe? Could David have been less self-centered and less controlling with a daughter with Down syndrome? Would Paul have been less of an idiot? It's impossible to tell based on what we learn of the characters. Caroline and Phoebe are at least sympathetic, in fact, Caroline becomes a wonderful mother to Phoebe, but the entire story seemed overly staged like a bad Lifetime movie.
But worst of all, Edwards has apparently fallen in love with her characters to the point where she never lets anything really bad happen to any of them. Norah starts a business and it is a huge success. David takes up photography as a hobby when he isn't being a doctor, and becomes one of the most famous photographers in the country. Paul takes up the guitar and travels around the world playing classical music. Caroline needs a home and a husband and finds both with ease. Ack! Life is never that simple or easy. Sometimes people try things and actually fail. But not in this book. In an interview at the back of the book, Edwards says she identified with all her characters and perhaps that is the problem. I couldn't identify with any of them, even Caroline who seems saintly for taking Phoebe but I was left wondering how she could leave Norah thinking that her baby died?
The book is a fairly good read although it drags at the end as wonderful things happen to everyone and they all get happy endings. This could have been a better book and being that there is so little fiction written about Down syndrome I wanted it to be a better book. Too bad.
Book Review: A story about EVERYTHING ELSE BUT the Memory Keeper's Daughter
Summary: 1 Stars
-- The Beginning of the Story --
This book was a drag from start to finish. You get hooked by the first few pages, SO HOOKED, in fact, that you can't stop thinking that THERE MUST BE A COMPELLING STORY somewhere in these never-ending-pages. Well, you never really find it. The story makes circles around itself and its unrealistic characters. After the book is over, you feel that the actual story was never really told to you. TOO MANY EMBELLISHMENTS and NOT MUCH SUBSTANCE.
The MOST UPSETTING about this book is the fact that it supposed to be about the daughter Phoebe, about the girl twin diagnosed with Down syndrome. That is what I really cared about in this story, and despite the endless details about other characters, I was never given enough information to understand Phoebe's world, her part in this story. She is the least developed character, yet she is supposed to be the center of the story. It felt very fake, as if the author did not have any idea what she was writing about, it made me even doubt if she ever was around a person with a Down syndrome, especially a "High Functioning" one, as Phoebe is labeled. Phoebe does not sound believable, as if not enough research went into this story and into her part in it. Very disappointing! THE TITLE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY. Out of 430 pages how many were about Phoebe?
--- The End of It ---
Finally, when after 25 years of separation the twins meet, the reader would hope to get the reward of reading about the two of them, but no. After the big secret, that has tormented so many people for years and has made enough damage, is FINALLY REVEALED, nothing really happens!!! It's like - what was the whole point in the suffering? What was the point for us to read about somebody's pain if nothing is learned, if the characters do not get stronger. As if a BAD JOKE, the point of finding Phoebe was so that the mother (Norah) could have her daughter present at her second wedding, after first husband dies?!?!?!?! Was that the whole point? Because, really, after the Phoebe is found, there is so little communication/connection between mother-and-daughter that it makes no difference to this story at all. All of those reflections, that Norah was shown capable of through-out the story, suddenly vanished and all she cared about now is to get married and fly away to Europe. Although that was the climax of the story (if there ever was one), the reader gets a few pages of blah... plain blah... Nothing really happens between the twins, their connection is not believable. It is as if the author was trying too hard to be nice-and-sweet around a topic she didn't feel comfortable writing about.
Book Review: Worst Book I Have Ever Read...
Summary: 1 Stars
The story line behind this book when reading the back cover is intriguing and it starts out ok (but honestly, what woman would not remember giving birth to a second child!!!). This book was antagonizing to finish. I hate to not finish something, so I forced myself to read it to the finish. This author tries too hard when she writes. She describes everything in minute detail so that it drags on and on. I started just skipping through the paragraphs of ridiculous and pointless descriptions to try to get to the "story". The author just tried too hard to write this book. It just doesn't flow like a natural author's book would. Like I have always said, you cannot teach someone to sing, so not everyone should be a singer. The same goes with books, even though you have a storyline, doesn't mean you have the talent to write a book. Why this is a New York Times Bestseller beats me - I honestly believe the cover art is what wins you over to buy it. The cover art is what drew me to pick it up.
The character of Norah is the worst character. Even though her husband has lied to her about their daughter, and she does not know it, she lets the death of her daughter make it ok for her to cheat on her husband several times, start drinking, and be an all-around terrible mother and wife. I could not stand this character. She was selfish, cruel, demanding - and everything turns out ok for her in the end - there were no repercussions for her terrible behavior.
The character of Dr. David Henry wasn't so bad, but just the negative impact of his wife in the book made the rest of it terrible. The author took it upon herself to try to pretend to know what a doctor sees and thinks of the world. This turned out to be the most annoying of the descriptions of all. The author would be describing the doctor hugging his son, and would have to put in how he was always in wonder about the human body and how the bones spread out like wings or when he is admiring tulips there is this paragraph long description of the lungs comparison to the tulips. It drove me nuts. The best character was Caroline Gill and her husband, but they are only a small part of the book.
I honestly wish I had never, never picked up this book. It was so aggravating and so long. I swear the descriptions that had nothing to do with the story took up at least 200 of the 400 pages. The author could have easily made this book in less than 200 pages. I am writing this review to try to keep anyone else from having to try to read this awful book.
If you want to read the best book ever written, try "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. This book is not worth the money or the trip to the library.
Book Review: Moments on Film
Summary: 4 Stars
David Henry has worked his whole life to get away from the childhood he had, where his family struggled to make ends meet and died rather early in life. He has become a physician and his young wife is pregnant. On a rare snowy night in Lexington, Kentucky, she goes into labor and delivers twins, one boy and one girl. But, David realizes just after birth that his baby girl has Down Syndrome, and he worries about her fate; his own sister died of heart problems when she was still very young. So, he tells his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her away to an institution, common during those times. Caroline brings the baby to the institution, but cannot leave her there, and instead runs away with the newborn Phoebe. David simply tells his wife that their baby girl died shortly after birth.
In the years that follow, David's carefully created family begins to fall apart, torn by the secrets each of them keep. David turns to photography, a way to capture memories on film, as a way to escape his secret and express the emotions that tear him up inside. It's not until after his death, though, that the family really understands his obsession with photography and his motivations.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a tragically realistic story of what it was like to be disabled in the 1960's and beyond. I have a sister with autism and can fully understand the difficulties that Phoebe, and the others in the story, go through. It's heart-wrenching, and you'll be willing the characters to go against their better judgment by the end. While the story was not likely meant to be inspiring, it can give an insight into the world of the disabled, whether it be individuals with Down Syndrome or other disorders that prevent them from being completely 'normal' in today's society.
While I understand the structure of the novel, I do wish we were given more insight into Caroline and Phoebe's world. There is so much left unsaid on that end of things because so much focus is on David and his wife, Norah, as well as their son, Paul. Perhaps because of this desire to know more about Phoebe, I found some of the sections about David and Norah to be dry and more difficult to get through. Even at the end, though, it's hard to really understand some of the characters, because they weren't fleshed out well. The setting is lacking, though perhaps purposefully. Though the story takes place in two distinct cities, it is told in a way that could really take place anywhere and at almost any time.
This is an excellent book to read, if only because of the insight it offers into a world many people aren't terribly familiar with.
Book Review: Slow unraveling of a marriage
Summary: 5 Stars
Kim Edwards has done a stunning job depicting how people often present different sides of themselves to different people - sometimes deliberately, sometimes unknowingly. With the marriage of David and Norah, Edwards takes this to the extreme, creating two sympathetic characters who come to know less and less of each other as the years pass.
The book begins with David, a doctor, being forced to deliver his own twins during a snowstorm. The boy arrives in perfect health, but David realizes immediately upon seeing the girl that she has Down's syndrome. David had a sister with a physical handicap that caused her to die when she was only 12, and her death destroyed his mother's life. With this memory at the forefront of his mind, David makes the immediate decision to send the girl to a home and tell his wife that the baby died so that she would be spared the crushing grief that would come when the girl died young. This well-intentioned decision marks the beginning of the years' long unraveling of their marriage.
Despite David's intention of sparing Norah the grief of losing a child, Norah suffers unbearably for years, feeling the loss of her daughter as its own presence, one that she believes she must carry quietly for fear of being ostracized for her failure to let go and move on. This grief and loneliness lead her into depression and alcoholism.
Because David knows his daughter is not dead, he does not grieve for her in the same way that his wife does, and Norah interprets his lack of grief for lack of emotion, and shuts her husband out of her emotional life, lashing out at him with rage (both hot and cold) repeatedly over the years.
Edwards has so fully drawn David that the reader is forced to see him in his entirety, rather than simply damning him for his monstrous decision to give away his baby and lie to his wife about it. The reader sees what Norah does not - that David made the decision out of love for her and feels the crushing weight of his decision daily, accepting the pain as something he must bear.
The novel is so much more than an examination of a slowly dying marriage, but the different sides of themselves that David and Norah present to each other showcase Edwards' skill in illustrating how it's possible to be a stranger to one so close. Several other aspects of the book are devastatingly and beautifully done and merit full reviews of their own. Not having that much mental energy, I'll simply encourage you to read the book for yourself. It is at turns a deeply painful yet uplifting look at how our decisions shape our lives.