The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel by Kim Edwards
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.35 You Save: $14.65 (98%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel
Book Review: What if ... ? What if ... ? What if ...?
Summary: 5 Stars
This story gripped me and had me in tears. I was pulled into the lives, suffering, frailties, and imperfections of people changed and torn apart by a series of decisions that made me pine for answers to what would have happened if only ...
But this is how it happened:
On a heavily snowy night in 1964, Dr. David Henry delivers in own twins in his clinic because the storm prevents them from reaching the hospital (the first of many "what ifs"). Norah Henry gives birth to a healthy boy, and the unexpected twin -a girl with Down Syndrome. David, haunted by his own childhood, tells his beloved wife Norah that the girl died at birth. David decides to spare his family the pain of raising a child that he believed would die young, like his own sister had.
So David hands his newborn daughter, Phoebe, to his Nurse Caroline Gill and tells her to take the infant to an instution. But Nurse Caroline, arriving at the bleak institution (and observing a sad scene here with an adult resident), makes her own decision in the moment -- to turn and run away with Phoebe and save the infant from that desolate life.
And as readers, we experience the impact of these decisions over the next 25 years.
David Henry is buried in his lie, while Norah Henry mourns the baby she believes is dead. Baby Paul - the twin they brought home, grows up in the distance and secrets that tear his parents apart. And baby Phoebe, worlds away from her twin, struggling against her syndrome, thrives with Nurse Caroline, who fights to give Phoebe every opportunity in life.
Each chapter is told through the perspective of one of the characters - David, Norah, Caroline, Paul, and Phoebe. This has stirring effect. Because more than a few times we see what the characters do not - that it was only misunderstandings that caused such suffering.
And throughout these 25 years in time and through a multitude of perspectives, the world changes. Vietnam, the Sexual Revolution, Women's Lib, Civil Rights, and certainly, progressive attitudes towards the disabled ... all of these weave flawlessly, and importantly, into the story. With so much time and so many perspectives, every sentence carries so much.
What a lovely, beautiful, and very sad book. I read it in one sitting - all 400 pages. I could not put it down.
Book Review: Delicately, Profoundly Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
It takes Kim Edwards a little longer than some others would have taken to tell the same tale, but it is in the delicate details of this novel that lies the true beauty of The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Utterly beautiful descriptions of emotion and art and pain and love made me savor the story through to the very last words.
The decisions we make affect other people- some we know intimately and some who will always remain strangers. Some readers will see David as having made a terrible, unforgivable decision when he sends away the baby girl. Thank you Ms. Edwards for shining light on how our choices affect others, and how the decisions we make when we are younger may not be completely realized until many many years later.
This novel also shows that being different is beautiful, and that Phoebe was so much more than what the doctors predicted she would be. Bravo for bravely shining light on how choices of abortion or "getting rid" of a predicted burden can cause so much more loss and pain than giving a child a chance to live... and how those who embrace life for all persons with gifts share in an unexpected bounty of love. The life or death choices we make for the unborn or those with disabilities are not our decisions to make. Ask Caroline, ask David, ask Paul, ask Norah, ask Phoebe.
Seizing the day, claiming your life and what Truths you believe in... and pursuing those things are what matter. For David and Norah, their intimacy and connection suffers immeasurably because of the things left unsaid and unexplored. Though all is not lost and both find happiness and personal fulfillment; it is impossible not to wonder what graces they might have shared had their decisions been different, their communication more open. This story is about love that crosses borders, love that is misdirected and mistaken, love that remains lost, and love that blossoms. Kim's book brings to mind the word "delicate," touching in soft ways that you don't necessarily realize, but when taking a step back are profound and unexpected, like a beautiful photograph or admiring fine piece of china. This goes on my list of really well written fiction I've read recently- a book that is thought provoking, rich in emotion, and written with beautiful language by a talented author who speaks directly to the heart.
Book Review: The Memory Keepers Daughter
Summary: 5 Stars
Reviewer's Name: Nicoole Ropey
Book Title: The Memory Keepers Daughter
Author: Kim Edwards
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copywrite Date: 2005
Total Number of Pages: 401
The Memory Keepers Daughter
It's said that one of your happiest days is when your child is born. But is it? What if he/she doesn't have ten toes or the doctor tells you it's mentally ill, and will never pursue life as a normal kid?
Throughout most of the book it takes place in Lexington, Kentucky. Beginning in 1964, during a snow storm. The main characters include; David Henry, a doctor and father, Norah Henry, David's wife, Caroline Gill, David's nurse/secretary, Phoebe and Paul Henry, David and Norah's twins. It all began when David delivered his own set of twins and found one healthy (Paul) and one with Down syndrome (Phoebe). Not thinking, David sends Caroline to give Phoebe to an institution before Norah notices, and tells Norah the baby girl died. This eventually gets out of hand toward the middle to end of David's life. After David dies Caroline tells Norah and Paul about Phoebe, and if they'd like to meet her, of which they ended up doing.
My favorite part of The Memory Keepers Daughter is when; Paul and Phoebe finally meet (Phoebe not knowing/understanding). And Paul being relieved to find how much more normal Phoebe was then what he originally inferred. This made him instantly want to get to know her, eventually. Overall, it gave me a sense of relief and was quite uplifting.
I think the main idea or theme of this book is, to not make up a huge decision too fast where you don't have enough time to think it over twice...give it time/give it a try first(attempt to make it non-regrettable).
The Memory Keepers Daughter is especially good with describing "all", the characters emotions/feelings. And transitioning into the next scene or time period. Something I'd change about this book is the amount of times Norah and Henry argue and fight. And how it doesn't say how Phoebe ends up in the end, for instance who she ended up with and where she lived after Caroline Gill died.
Book Review: A must read!
Summary: 5 Stars
Every year I seem to find a novel that defies adequate description; one where the prose is lyrical, the plot is scintillating and after it has been read, you can't shake it from your heart and mind. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards is just such a novel. It is my favorite read in 2006.
New to Lexington, Kentucky in 1964, Dr. David Henry is an orthopedic surgeon and single man. While shopping he sees a young woman, Norah, who catches his eye. He follows her, stumbles and bumbles his way into a conversation that results, three months later, into a loving marriage. A year later, David and Norah are awaiting the birth of their first child.
Norah goes into labor during a rare Kentucky snowstorm. The couple is unable to make it to the hospital in time for the birth so a call is made to a colleague and nurse to meet them at the clinic. The nurse arrives but the doctor's car lands in a snow bank. David and his nurse, Caroline must deliver the baby themselves.
Shortly after David and Norah's son is born, it is evident that she is carrying twins. Norah is sedated during the birth of her daughter who has Down's syndrome. In a split-second decision, David asks Caroline to take the baby to an institution and tells Norah the baby died.
Caroline is unable to leave the child Norah named Phoebe at the uninviting institution and she too makes a split-second decision. She disappears with the baby and travels to another town where she raises Phoebe as her own.
The lives of all the characters are intertwined from beginning to the end as Edwards fills in the blanks of the lives of David, Norah, Phoebe, Caroline and the children.
This is a story of family secrets, where lives are changed in an instant and impact everything else, forever. It is also a story of love, sacrifice, compassion and forgiveness and Edwards tells it with a gentle and understanding hand.
Armchair Interviews says: If you want an exceptional read, The Memory Keeper's Daughter will keep you turning the pages while your heart grieves one minute and sings the next.
Book Review: Freeze Frame
Summary: 5 Stars
On a snowy winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced to deliver his twins and makes a split-second decision that forever alters theh lives of everyone involved. When it is apparent to him that his daughter has Down's Syndrome, he asks the nurse to take her to an institution, without telling his wife. The nurse, Caroline Gil, complies, but upon arriving at the institution, she does not have the heart to leave the girl there and winds up raising her on her own. Meanwhile, David has told his wife that their daughter died at birth, a lie that grows between them as the years progress.
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter" is episodic in nature, moving through spans of years from the 1960s to the 1980s, with four main characters acting as narrators: Caroline, David, his wife Norah, and their son Paul. Each character is forever affected by that one snowy night. Norah cannot get over the loss of her daughter and Paul wonders what his sister would have been like, at times feeling himself to blame for the loss. David knows that he can never share this secret and set things right, as he desperately longs to do, further building the wall that grows between his family members. Caroline wonders what her place in all this is, and whether or not she should reveal the secret or even allow David to be a part of his daughter's life.
Edwards is a gifted storyteller, sketching each character completely, making the time and story come to life. Yet sometimes her prose is a little too heavy-handed in all its detail; certain attempts at being poetic are too dense, and some images are repeated causing them to lose their effect. After a tremendous buildup, the ending feels slightly rushed. While it may be hard to imagine a proper ending for a story of this magnitude, almost too little was done to wrap up some loose ends that remained. All in all, "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" is quick-paced and engaging, a vividly drawn and truly enjoyable read.