Books of 2011: #5
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
by Kim Edwards
401 pages
I started reading this book in October, so technically it is a book of 2010 and 2011. But, reading regularly has been one of the goals I've been doing the best at, so I finally finished it this month. Go me!
This book took awhile for me to get through because I wasn't that into it. It seemed to drag for me. The book is about David Henry, a doctor who delivers his own twins in a snowstorm. The only people present at the birth are David, his wife Norah, and his nurse, Caroline. Norah is pretty knocked out and when David sees that one of the twins, the girl, Phoebe, was born with Down syndrome, he gives the baby to Caroline and tells her to take her to an institution. He tells Norah that the girl baby died and they go home with the healthy boy baby, Paul. Caroline takes Phoebe to the institution but decides she can't leave her there, so she takes her to a new city and raises her herself. She eventually tells David this and they correspond about it but David never tells his family the truth, resulting in his having a strained relationship with his wife and son.
The problem I had with the book is that none of the characters are very likeable. It's hard to feel any sympathy for David given his terrible choice and failure to own up to it. You want to like Caroline, but she doesn't really do the right thing either. You feel bad for Paul, but he winds up being pretty whiny. Norah also starts out as pretty whiny, and also kind of flat as a character. Anyway, I just couldn't get into it but kept reading to find out what would happen. The last third of the book, where the storylines start to come together, was pretty good, but I still basically give this book a Fair. I think it was made into a Lifetime movie, and I would have rather just watched that I think.
by Kim Edwards
401 pages
I started reading this book in October, so technically it is a book of 2010 and 2011. But, reading regularly has been one of the goals I've been doing the best at, so I finally finished it this month. Go me!
This book took awhile for me to get through because I wasn't that into it. It seemed to drag for me. The book is about David Henry, a doctor who delivers his own twins in a snowstorm. The only people present at the birth are David, his wife Norah, and his nurse, Caroline. Norah is pretty knocked out and when David sees that one of the twins, the girl, Phoebe, was born with Down syndrome, he gives the baby to Caroline and tells her to take her to an institution. He tells Norah that the girl baby died and they go home with the healthy boy baby, Paul. Caroline takes Phoebe to the institution but decides she can't leave her there, so she takes her to a new city and raises her herself. She eventually tells David this and they correspond about it but David never tells his family the truth, resulting in his having a strained relationship with his wife and son.
The problem I had with the book is that none of the characters are very likeable. It's hard to feel any sympathy for David given his terrible choice and failure to own up to it. You want to like Caroline, but she doesn't really do the right thing either. You feel bad for Paul, but he winds up being pretty whiny. Norah also starts out as pretty whiny, and also kind of flat as a character. Anyway, I just couldn't get into it but kept reading to find out what would happen. The last third of the book, where the storylines start to come together, was pretty good, but I still basically give this book a Fair. I think it was made into a Lifetime movie, and I would have rather just watched that I think.