Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
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The Memory Keeper's Daughter
The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards
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It is a good book that brings up some important points. It looks at it from more than one point of view.
I thought it was okay. Just really slow in places.
Krissy, I agree, it was very boring in spots. I especially found Norah's stories (after 1970) to be the most dull. I loved Phoebe's stories, and actually found myself weeping a little bit at the end of the book. The entire thing was this weird mixture of extreme sorrow and delight. I thoroughly enjoyed Caroline's story line. I gave the book a 4/5.
This one was just OK for me. I really didn't like the character of the mother (I can't remember her name).
I read this book a few years ago, but I had seen the movie first. If I recall correctly, I actually preferred the movie because it was a little faster-paced. I loved the concept of the story and thought it brought up some really important ideas.
Jody, I'm with you. The mother was obnoxious to me. She was kind of a waste of good paper space.
And the thing is, she should have been a sympathetic character, given what happened. But she really wasn't!
I just read this for week 27, a book with a beautiful title.This book was so different from anything I have ever read. At points I kept asking myself "what is the point to this book?" Other times I loved the issues it brought up with down syndrome and the struggles families face because of it. I didn't love the book, but I didn't hate it either. Although, I did hate Norah. I know I should have been more sympathetic, but she was just so...ughhh.
I gave it a 3/5 and am really happy its finally off my TBR shelf.
From the GR synopsis:
On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this story that unfolds over a quarter of a century - in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night. Norah Henry, who knows only that her daughter died at birth, remains inconsolable; her grief weighs heavily on their marriage. And Paul, their son, raises himself as best he can, in a house grown cold with mourning. Meanwhile, Phoebe, the lost daughter, grows from a sunny child to a vibrant young woman whose mother loves her as fiercely as if she were her own.
I am reading this one for week 5 (my second selection), a book that starts with the same letter as your first name. I am starting this one tonight. I have been meaning to read it for awhile now, and finally remembered to put it on this years list. I don't know how I feel going into this one, because based on name and cover, I am immediately put off by it, but as soon as I read the description I am interested again. I am looking forward to it, and it seems like a lot of people have really enjoyed this book.