Jul 28 2009
Book review: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
This book was interesting; it has a couple of slow parts in the beginning but it become, as one critic calls it, mesmerizing. You can’t put it down. One thing I found a little strange is even in the last 3/4th of the book there are a couple of new characters introduced. Usually you know all the characters in the first 1/2. The book is written by Kim Edwards, it is clean and even has a readers guide in the back, so this would be a great book for an high school English class.
It starts out in 1964 when a Dr David Henry has to deliver his own twins. Because of a huge snow storm they were unable to reach the hospital. He delivers his son, and then delivers the second baby, a girl. He realizes right away that she is not right, Down Syndrome. A makes a choice that were evidently common in those days; he gives the baby to his nurse, Caroline, and tells her to take the baby to a home in Louisville, KY. At the same time telling his wife that they baby has died. Caroline then disappears and raises the child as her own.
The story then goes on through the parallel lives of both families; showing the destruction that secrets can cause along with the power of love, living with the feeling of regret and being haunted by the past. You see everyone’s point of view and have compassion for Dr Henry and everyone involved; learning that back in the 1960’s and 1970’s there wasn’t a lot of understanding or resources for special needs children. This book is full of praises from other writers and publications. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a good story to read on their own or it’s a great book for discussion groups.
