The Memory Keeper's Daughter: A Novel
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Purchased from Mission Thrift Shop today.
One sign of a good novel is its ability to stay with you, and to provoke discussion. On that basis, The Memory Keeper's Daughter wins.
Dr. David Henry, running out of time, rushes his wife to his deserted clinic to deliver her baby boy. He is assisted by his trusted nurse Caroline. But then there is another birth. While his wife Norah is still under anesthesia a girl is born; a girl with Down Syndrome.
Henry makes a split-second decision. He takes the wrapped baby, gives her to Caroline, tells her to take the baby to a home for the "feeble-minded". Caroline drives the long way to the home and, on seeing it first-hand, cannot bear to leave the child there.
And thus begins a life of secrecy that affects everyone in the novel. Henry tells his wife that her daughter died and he had her buried immediately. Caroline has to make up a history in another city, creating a new life for herself and her "child". Norah feels the loss of her daughter too deeply to let go. Their "healthy" son, Paul, bears the brunt of the dissonance between his parents that arises after the secret act.
We follow these characters through the years. David's decision haunts him as he struggles with whether or not to reveal it to Norah, taking the risk of losing her for good, even though in almost every other way he has already lost her. Norah reaches in different directions to fill the gap. Paul grows up unsure of his place and of his father's love. Caroline struggles against a culture that does not understand high-functioning Down Syndrome children, struggles to educate and prepare her "daughter" for the outside world. She becomes rather over-protective at times.
Would it have gone like this in real life? Would Norah have been unable to let go of the idea of a daughter she had never seen? Is it the fact that she never saw the baby that made the idea cling to her? Would David find it impossible for years to talk about it? To anyone? I think it's possible, although honestly I had trouble accepting that Norah had almost a paranormal idea of her daughter still being alive. I just could not buy that. David was perhaps too selfish to reveal what he'd done; although he was a dedicated and caring doctor, he may have cared too much about his own needs to risk losing those he loved to the truth.
I was by turns irritated by David's reluctance and by Norah's extreme reactions to the "wall" David had erected. She blames him when he does not come home on time because of emergency surgery he has to perform. She tells him that taking photographs during a party is "rude".
David, for his part, has difficulty accepting Paul's decision to make music his career. When we know David's past we can understand it, to a degree, yet I was thrown by how both parents were so casual about having a child so gifted. Am I giving away too much? I don't know. All of these actions are ripples, as described by the author, of the one decision.
Although I had trouble accepting all of the family's reactions down through the years, I did find familiar the cultural attitude towards those with Down Syndrome. Today we are far more enlightened, not least because of a popular television series featuring an actual Down syndrome actor (Life Goes On: 1989-93), so it is hard to remember or imagine how it was before. This book does a great service in bringing this issue to light.
I didn't love it. I really liked only one character: Caroline. I was sympathetic to the rest but their actions often irritated me. I would not have been a good friend to this family.
Dr. David Henry, running out of time, rushes his wife to his deserted clinic to deliver her baby boy. He is assisted by his trusted nurse Caroline. But then there is another birth. While his wife Norah is still under anesthesia a girl is born; a girl with Down Syndrome.
Henry makes a split-second decision. He takes the wrapped baby, gives her to Caroline, tells her to take the baby to a home for the "feeble-minded". Caroline drives the long way to the home and, on seeing it first-hand, cannot bear to leave the child there.
And thus begins a life of secrecy that affects everyone in the novel. Henry tells his wife that her daughter died and he had her buried immediately. Caroline has to make up a history in another city, creating a new life for herself and her "child". Norah feels the loss of her daughter too deeply to let go. Their "healthy" son, Paul, bears the brunt of the dissonance between his parents that arises after the secret act.
We follow these characters through the years. David's decision haunts him as he struggles with whether or not to reveal it to Norah, taking the risk of losing her for good, even though in almost every other way he has already lost her. Norah reaches in different directions to fill the gap. Paul grows up unsure of his place and of his father's love. Caroline struggles against a culture that does not understand high-functioning Down Syndrome children, struggles to educate and prepare her "daughter" for the outside world. She becomes rather over-protective at times.
Would it have gone like this in real life? Would Norah have been unable to let go of the idea of a daughter she had never seen? Is it the fact that she never saw the baby that made the idea cling to her? Would David find it impossible for years to talk about it? To anyone? I think it's possible, although honestly I had trouble accepting that Norah had almost a paranormal idea of her daughter still being alive. I just could not buy that. David was perhaps too selfish to reveal what he'd done; although he was a dedicated and caring doctor, he may have cared too much about his own needs to risk losing those he loved to the truth.
I was by turns irritated by David's reluctance and by Norah's extreme reactions to the "wall" David had erected. She blames him when he does not come home on time because of emergency surgery he has to perform. She tells him that taking photographs during a party is "rude".
David, for his part, has difficulty accepting Paul's decision to make music his career. When we know David's past we can understand it, to a degree, yet I was thrown by how both parents were so casual about having a child so gifted. Am I giving away too much? I don't know. All of these actions are ripples, as described by the author, of the one decision.
Although I had trouble accepting all of the family's reactions down through the years, I did find familiar the cultural attitude towards those with Down Syndrome. Today we are far more enlightened, not least because of a popular television series featuring an actual Down syndrome actor (Life Goes On: 1989-93), so it is hard to remember or imagine how it was before. This book does a great service in bringing this issue to light.
I didn't love it. I really liked only one character: Caroline. I was sympathetic to the rest but their actions often irritated me. I would not have been a good friend to this family.
Reserved for wild release.
On the bookcrossing zone shelf.
