Jessica McCorrister
EDUC
2530 - Mike Link
March 20, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
The Memory Keepers Daughter is a moving fiction novel that follows the life of two
twins who were secretly separated at birth by their father. The daughter has
Down syndrome and her father decides to send her away without his wife knowing.
This book is brilliantly written by Kim Edwards. The Memory Keepers Daughter highlights the importance of making
correct decisions in life that will not impact peoples lives in a negative way.
This book captured my attention within the first chapter, so once I started
reading it I couldn't stop.
The book is spilt into seven
sections. The first section of the story is set in Kentucky in 1964. Norah is
in labour with her and David’s first child. David, who is a doctor, is forced
to deliver his own child with the help of a nurse named Caroline. Norah gave
birth to a boy and named him Paul. Not long after Paul was born Norah continued
to have contractions and she gave birth to another child. The child was a girl
named Phoebe. David immediately knew that the child has Down syndrome. David
takes the baby to the Caroline and asks her to talk the baby to an institution
and to not tell his wife about the baby. The next day Caroline drives away with
the child to an institution, but upon their arrival she decides to talk the
baby back to Kentucky with her. Meanwhile David told his wife Norah that Phoebe
died when she was born and throughout the rest of this section Norah suffers
with the loss of her daughter. Caroline decides to keep Phoebe and move to
Pittsburg. The next section is set in 1965. The Henry’s move into a new house
hoping that it will help with the grieving of losing their daughter. On David
and Norah’s anniversary, Norah bought David a camera, which had “The Memory
Keeper” written on the box. Caroline and Phoebe are now settled in Pittsburg
and Caroline writes a letter to David stating that Phoebe and Caroline are both
all right. The next section is set in 1970. Paul and Phoebe are now six years
old. Norah and David’s marriage is in trouble and Caroline worries about
Phoebe’s future. The next section is set in the year 1977. David continues to
use the camera Norah got him for their anniversary. Phoebe and Paul are now
thirteen. In this section Paul finds out that Norah is cheating on his father
with another man and Paul rebels on his parents. The next section is set in
1982. David is now a professional photographer and his presenting at a museum
in Pittsburg. Caroline finds out about his presentation and decides to go see
David. The next section is set six years later. Paul is now in Julliard and
Phoebe meets a boy named Robert. During this section David dies of a heart
attack. The last section of this book is set the following year in 1989. Paul
and Phoebe are now 25 years old. Shortly after David’s death, Caroline visits
Norah and explains the whole situation with David giving away her daughter to
Caroline. Norah is mad at David but now understand why he acted the way he di
throughout their marriage. Norah and Paul decide to meet Phoebe for the first
time in Pittsburg. Paul and Phoebe become close quickly. Back in Kentucky Norah
is getting married and Phoebe attends the wedding. After Paul drives Phoebe to
Pittsburg, but stop along the way at their father’s grave.
I went through so many emotions
while reading this book. I felt that what David did what so horrible because he
gave Phoebe away for the wrong reason. As a result of this decision, David
suffered his whole life with the guilt of giving away his daughter. I liked how
this book jumped from different years of the twin’s lives because it showed it
was nice to see the difference in their lives. The Henry’s started as a happy
family and turned into a struggling family who is suffering from the loss of
their daughter. This book was very descriptive when describing scenes and
character. By doing that Edwards made it very easy for the reader to imagine
the story in their minds.
In conclusion, The Memory
Keepers Daughter is a great book to
read. It is very interesting and entertaining. It will draw you deeply into the
lives of two families who are molded by a huge secret. I highly recommend this
book for anyone who is working in the education profession, so they can teach
their students about the importance of making the correct decisions in life.
Works Cited
Edwards,
Kim. The Memory Keeper's Daughter.
New York: Penguin Group, 2005. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment