Book Review: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

This book has been on my list for years. I've even given it as a gift to someone and still haven't read it myself. So, when I saw it in my grandmother's library the other week, I snatched it up and had it read within two weeks--Romeo & Juliet papers to grade or not. Waaaay to many late nights reading "one more chapter" until the words ran together, but definitely worth it.

Kim Edwards' novel tracks Dr. David Henry from his youthful marriage to Norah to his middle-aged life without her. His marriage, begun on the impulsive wings of romance, takes an unexpected turn early on when his wife gives birth to boy-girl twins. When he discovers that his daughter, Phoebe, has Down Syndrome, he makes an irreversible decision that haunts him the rest of his wife and drives a wedge in his marriage. David hands the girl to his nurse, Caroline, and tells her to take the child to a facility for the mentally ill. And that's just chapter one.

What makes the story so compelling is how the chapters yo-yo from the David-Norah story line to the Caroline-Phoebe story line, always leaving you hanging just enough to have to read the next chapter and keep you out of a plot rut.

In addition to a compelling story, the writing is well crafted and has a nice balance of accessibility and depth. Set in 1964, the story explores the hardships of raising a child with Down Syndrome, the consequences of a life stained with guilt, and the question of whether or not life's momentary choices can ever be captured.