First Book Rant of 2014!
Kim Edwards' first novel,
The Memory Keeper's Daughter, begins on the night of a blizzard in 1964 and Dr. David Henry and his young wife, Norah, are settling in for what they think will be a comfortable evening at home. That is, until Norah goes into labor. Yup. And during a blizzard. David, calmly, rushes her to the hospital where he works. It's no biggie; another doctor will be meeting them there and all will be well. Except the blizzard and its homies, Mother Nature and Fate, have other plans and the doctor can't make it. David is forced to put that MD license to use and delivers his own children. With the help of a nurse, Caroline, Dr. Henry's fraternal twins are born--a perfectly healthy boy named Paul and a girl with Down Syndrome, Phoebe. Dr. Henry makes a knee-jerk decision, one fueled by a painful past, to send his daughter with Caroline to be dropped off at an institution. Caroline leaves immediately. When she arrives, she realizes that she cannot leave the baby girl at the institution and takes her away, raising Phoebe as her own. In the meantime, Dr. Henry tells his wife that their daughter died in childbirth . . .
The premise of this novel is what initially drew me in. I continued reading, eager to follow the Henry's--David, Norah, and baby Paul--on their painful journey of grief, loss, and devastating secrets, as well as Caroline's struggles to successful raise a child that is not her own and has special needs. There was so much potential for an amazing novel and I was excited to keep reading.
Unfortunately, there were a few "irks" that stood in the way of my truly enjoying the novel as I had hoped.
1) What I liked best about Edwards' writing is also what stood in the way of my enjoyment of the story. I found her writing to be mesmerizing, full of great sensory language that is almost poetic. It gently draws you in--deeply, without your even realizing until you're in too deep to back out.
While I appreciated this style for describing the physical setting, I didn't enjoy it as much for the description or portrayal of deep emotions. I think every reader can attest to the fact that we'd prefer to be SHOWN how a character feels, rather than TOLD. I felt that Edwards didn't allow me to make my own decision about whether or not to empathize with the characters. Instead, I felt force-fed to believe certain things and feel a certain way. No, just no.
2) The effect of being told instead of shown how much the Henrys' and Caroline's lives changes after that night in 1964 is that all of characters (with the exception of Caroline) became caricatures and unrealistic. They lacked depth and authenticity, flat characters who didn't exhibit much change over the course of the novel. At least not in ways I felt meaningful. When I finished the novel, I didn't care about them any more than I did when I opened the book. Actually, I may have cared about them less.
3) Phoebe. The role of Phoebe in the novel, other than being the source of a secret, is unclear. On one hand, she and Caroline seem to be the core of a message for the treatment of and expectations for individuals with disabilities. On the other hand, she seems completely unimportant as an individual and more a character for which other characters react to. That lack of clarity, of purpose for Phoebe's character made it difficult to truly care or believe her. (Does that all even make sense?)
3) What happened to the climax?! It was so weakly executed that I nearly missed it! For all the commotion surrounding the secret, its reveal was anti-climatic, as was the characters' reactions that doubly suffered from being cliched.
4) Unrealistic, fairytale-esque ending. It sure sounded pretty. And my gut reaction was "Aw, that's nice and sweet." But then I thought about it. What the hell? There is no way that their lives can just continue so simply! It was a big freaking deal, wasn't it? Dr. Henry sent his
daughter away to an institution to
die and lied about it for
25 years!
Final Verdict:
 |
| Princess Reads A Lot isn't too sure about this book. She didn't like it, but she didn't not like it either. She knows it's one she won't ever re-read and that makes her a little sad. |
Kim Edwards is a pretty good writer, as to be expected from someone who holds a MFA in fiction and an MA in linguistics. So, the writing style of the novel is one readers can appreciate. The potential for a great story and interesting character development initially hooked me in. However, I was left disappointed at how the story falls short. More attention seems to have been given to the structure of the writing rather than to the development of the story and characters.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a fairly good read if there's nothing better in your
Planning to Read queue.
Have you read
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Secretly Yours,
Fatuma
Kim Edwards' first novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, begins on the night of a blizzard in 1964 and Dr. David Henry and his young wife, Norah, are settling in for what they think will be a comfortable evening at home. That is, until Norah goes into labor. Yup. And during a blizzard. David, calmly, rushes her to the hospital where he works. It's no biggie; another doctor will be meeting them there and all will be well. Except the blizzard and its homies, Mother Nature and Fate, have other plans and the doctor can't make it. David is forced to put that MD license to use and delivers his own children. With the help of a nurse, Caroline, Dr. Henry's fraternal twins are born--a perfectly healthy boy named Paul and a girl with Down Syndrome, Phoebe. Dr. Henry makes a knee-jerk decision, one fueled by a painful past, to send his daughter with Caroline to be dropped off at an institution. Caroline leaves immediately. When she arrives, she realizes that she cannot leave the baby girl at the institution and takes her away, raising Phoebe as her own. In the meantime, Dr. Henry tells his wife that their daughter died in childbirth . . .
