Excellent book! If you're looking for a heart-tugging novel which pulls you into the emotional whirlwind of the character's lives, this is the book for you.
The ink spilling out of an author's pen, spreading on a blank piece of paper, fresh, spontaneous, like the accidental pattern footprints make on the clean slate that is a sandy shore. Each individual pairs up words with their own finesse, secretly wishing a successful outcome. American author Kim Edwards excels in her first novel "The memory keeper's daughter" in more ways than one. With the intriguing plot, mesmerizing descriptiveness and as a whole the heartwarming message the story leaves behind.
David Henry, a work-driven doctor has the miraculous ability and luck to deliver his own twins from the love of his life, Norah. When the second baby, a girl, is delivered, due to his lucid knowledge on medicine, he instantly realizes the peculiar features which make her fit into the category of a baby with down syndrome. With the intention of sparing her wife the pain, he gives it to the nurse Caroline and tells her to take her to an institute for mentally challenged children, planning to tell Norah the baby girl was a still birth. When Caroline arrives to the institute, she makes the decision of keeping the baby, Phoebe, due to the pitiful conditions of the institute. This turn Caroline takes leads to every possible problem that could have ever been thought of.
From the very first page of this best selling novel, I was captured by the story, feeling and anticipating what each character was going through. With the plot revolving around such a delicate subject, children with Down syndrome, the powerful, emotional blizzard the author strikes us with is inevitable. Another key element that propels this book is the change in character perspective the author lets us perceive. With the conflict having two completely different angles, through perspective alternation we get to live beside different characters struggling with different aspects of one same problem. This novel also helps us as the readers, get the flexibility of supporting whichever side of the conflict we best relate with, not only with what the usual one-voice narrator or speaker is expressing.
I also praise Kim Edwards greatly for her incredible vocabulary. The way she uses words to drown the reader in her story is impressive and not very common in novels. While reading the back of my book before actually starting to read it, I noticed how all the reviews from the most acknowledged sources esteemed Edward's way of describing to the finest detail each aspect, character, setting and situation of her story. She proved them right, and satisfied my expectations.
Last but not least I can't ignore the deep message this novel conveys. From beginning to end the story circles around this one innocent little girl, tagged by society as a mongoloid, or a child suffering from Down syndrome. With David, the main character and her father, giving her away, various conflicts appear as a domino effect, deceit, affairs, redemption, secrets and more. The resolution to all this conflict leads to the simple lesson of love before interest.
In conclusion, I recommend this phenomenal piece of work to all in search of a thrilling novel full of emotion, description and intriguing moments. Kim Edwards' way of writing is hypnotic. I assure anyone who succumbs to reading it will not be disappointed.
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback.
Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.