What's the Fuss All About?
into trying new things, a fiction reader, avid reader, college student, Open-minded, philosophical, ULTIMATE book lover
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AUG
23
2008
This book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, is a book that I found when a used book store by my old campus was shutting down one location to move to another. They had a ton of books for sale, all with deep discounts (think 60-90% off at times). It became an addiction to go see what else they had and I ALWAYS came home with at least $30 worth of gear (usually about 15 books or so). With so many books, it became impossible to read them all and so they became, like I said, massive decorative objects. After moving across the country and into a new dorm, I figured I should split the collection up a little bit and bring some with me. Since I'd heard some quite wonderful things about this novel and it had great reviews, it made it into the heavy box that eventually was lugged up those horrible three flights of stairs to my room. I wanted something light but deep, which is how this book had been portrayed, so I picked it up and began reading it.
The story was interesting, I suppose, nothing really new was here but that's not always a problem. Shakespeare rehashed old stories and made them into the plays of epic weight because of his intense and on-point characterizations. I figured, if Edwards can pull off the characters right and really get me to love them, she'll have done it- she will have made this a book for me to love and cherish.
But she didn't. Others say that she did, that the words she put down in that novel were so moving that it stirred them to tears and shook them up. That wasn't the case for me. The plot line was not inventive, really. The basic premise is that a woman gives birth to twins but because of a case of Down's Syndrome, the person delivering the babies, the woman's husband, saw the second one come out with the tell-tale signs of the syndrome and asked the nurse to take her to a home far away. His story to his wife is that the second child died at birth. After arriving at the home, the nurse found it impossible to leave the child there. Thus begins the unraveling and rebuilding of lives. The main issues are how will the family who believes the child has died respond and the second is how will the nurse and the child respond to their situations. At first I was a little curious as to how the story would unravel, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to get too exciting. There were never any page-turning moments or places where it felt like the words were my own and I could really own the story. Every once in a while I would stumble across a sentence or two (I've got a thing for sentences) that would make me pause and consider their significance, but in the end, it was just a story. I was always hoping for more, it just never quite made it.
With that said, though, it was a pleasant story that was interesting. The characters were appealing, but I never really connected with them. Some irritated me when they were clearly supposed to be immensely lovable and vice versa. It was just ok.
Now my only dilemma is what to do with a book I don't really want anymore! I guess this will go in the sell-on-Amazon for gas money pile. Oh well, at least it looks good in the stack.
One last thing, actually, the stuff about photography is really quite pleasant. Nothing exceptional but David was my favorite character and just wished he felt more real.
Last edited on Aug 23, 2008
Kim Edwards - The Memory Keeper's Daughter is recommended by richelmore
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