The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall, this was a good book. It took me a long time to read, but that could be due to my busy schedule. But then, I'm one heck of a procrastinator, so if a book isn't so intriguing that I'm not putting things off to finish it, it's not going to be up there with my favourites.

One of the downfalls is something that many people praise in literary fiction. The imagery. Yes, it was beautifully descriptive. But sometimes the characters were so caught up in their little moments that I found my eye wandering down or across the page to the next bit of action.

The next thing, is that it's one of those books that has a few protagonists. I find these books really hard to read, and a books has to be really, really well written for me to be engrossed by every single protagonist.

My favourite story line in the book followed Caroline and Phoebe, maybe because I identified with Caroline the most, and thought she had the most to fight for in her story. Maybe because David was a self-involved piece of work and I just didn't CARE how much he was suffering with the decision he made. And Norah was insufferable too, but I tolerated her more because it wasn't her fault, and her character evolved enough that in the end I liked her.
In fact, considering what happens to David, I wondered why he was needed at all. Yes, it was his decision that the novel hinged on, but it was the way the other characters dealt with it that was more fascinating to me. The parallel stories of Caroline and Norah would have been sufficient for me, and maybe I would have liked the book better.

Anyway, good things. This book made me cry, and that says something for Edwards. And I was fascinated by what snippets were given to Caroline's fight to give Phoebe a fair life as a person with Down's Syndrome.

I do recommend this book to people interested in unlikely parents - I know I love this kind of story.


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