The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Published in 2005. 401 Pages.

http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Keepers-Daughter-Kim-Edwards/dp/0670034169

http://www.memorykeepersdaughter.com/


First sentence: The snow started to fall several hours before her labor began.

Last sentence: He walked across the grass and touched her shoulder, to take her home.

What it’s about: (taken from amazon.com) The book opens during a snowstorm in Lexington, Ky., in 1964. Norah Henry goes into labor and because of the weather, the doctor can't make it, so her husband David, an orthopedic surgeon, delivers his own twins. Norah gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but then gives birth to another child, a girl with Down's Syndrome.

While his wife sleeps, David hands the baby to his nurse and asks her to take it to a home for handicapped children. When Norah awakens a few minutes later, he tells her their second baby was stillborn.

The novel moves through the next 25 years. The story runs along parallel tracks that don't converge until the very end: The first follows the picture-perfect Henry family, three healthy, talented people separated from one another by the secret that only David knows. The other track follows David's nurse, Caroline, who couldn't bring herself to follow his instructions that night. Instead, she left town with his baby, struggled through a series of part-time jobs, battled an unresponsive school system and managed to hammer out a joyful life. Those two sets of lives make for a thought-provoking contrast, a study in what really determines a family's happiness.

Why I read this book: I had read the cover in a bookstore and was intrigued. Then I found it in our local library and brought it home. It sounded like a unique story line.

My thoughts about this book: I was really moved by the story line. At times it is difficult to feel connected to the characters and because it covers a span of 25 years, you do not know all the small details. Overall, it was a sad story but also uplifting in some ways. There were a lot of editing errors, which for me always distracts from the story. I liked the comparison of how the two families lives turned out and to think about what really determines a person's happiness.

When I finished it: February 19, 2008