The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards was a tough one for me. My mother recommended it as one of those books that I'm supposed to read to get in touch with my feminine/motherly side. I have that side; it doesn't really need to be touched. I expected to not like the book. And I didn't like it when I first started because I didn't like David Henry for te choice he made.

I can't imagine looking at my newborn and deciding that the rest of the family would be better off not knowing she ever existed. Maybe it's because I grew up in a different time. Maybe it's because I've known people with Down Syndrome. I don't know, it just seemed like a stupid decision. I wanted to keep reading to find out the consequences of his decision but I kept finding more stupid decisions.

The prose typifies what I consider "chick lit". It speaks in way too many metaphors. Something always relates to something else and nothing is simply what it appears to be. Everything has layers. That's fine in moderation but not everything is an onion.

In the end, none of the characters were really likable, the climax was kind of anti-climatic and I wish Phoebe had been explored more. She was central to what everyone was going through but Edwards never tried to show things from her perspective. It's possible that she didn't feel her talents were up to writing something from the perspective of someone with Down Syndrome but I was hoping for at least one chapter where she at least tried. Without that I didn't see Phoebe so much as a person but as a plot device.

The book was OK, not great and I don't think it lived up to the hype that I've heard surrounding it. I can understand the fears of both David Henry, who gave Phoebe up, and Caroline Gill, who fought for Phoebe's life but I don't feel like I really got to know anyone any better than when I started the book. I'm giving it a 3.