Hello people! Watched the ‘Avengers Endgame’ yet? Don’t worry I won’t give away the spoilers in this blog, so you can scroll down without any worries or anxiousness(I know how hard spoilers hurt)!
So this blog is officially my first book review. I hope you guys don’t judge me too harshly…
Before beginning I just want to point out the title of this book, hands down, is too interesting and complex to comprehend in one go and gives you varied ideas. I had so many ideas that I don’t even remember which I settled on before starting to read this book. Let me know which all ideas you had (if you have not read the book yet). So coming to the theme, it is no doubt a great theme to write a book about, but I feel the execution could have been a little different and a little more focus could have been on Pheobe, the memory keeper’s daughter. Nevertheless it’s a great novel to read and book lovers can be assured that your weekend will be well spent, it you decide to read this book in one go.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards is a story of complex human actions, emotions and relationships. It is divided into five time periods; 1964, 1965, 1970, 1977, 1989.It begins with Dr. David Henry, an orthopedic surgeon forced to deliver his twins in a desolated hospital (wow, what an adventurous way to be born! Sorry let’s get serious again…) with the assistance of hospital nurse, Caroline Gill. Dr. Henry’s twins turn out to be a perfect, healthy boy Paul and a baby girl Pheobe born with Down’s Syndrome and has bleak chances of survival. To protect his wife, Norah from the grief of losing a child, he decides to send to an institution with Gill’s assistance while declaring the infant dead to the world. Unable to leave the little girl to fend for herself in the institution, Gill decides to shift bases and raise Pheobe as her own child away from the prying eyes of the world…
Talking about the characters, it’s a tough one as each character has a story in itself. David (on whose daughter the whole story should have been weaved , but never mind!) the doting husband before the birth of his children, struggles with his demons and is never able to conquer them after that life-altering event. He shoulders his responsibility of being a father perfectly, but somewhere fails himself as a husband and a protector of his children. You should definitely read this book to understand his dilemma,his choices and his deep rooted sense of being a protector.
Norah the ideal wife and mother who never could get over her daughter’s death. All her attributes find roots to one event of her life. Her ability to feel something amiss in her life, yet her inability to see it makes her strong and vulnerable at the same time.
With her determination to raise a baby with special needs, alone and set everything right makes Caroline Gill outshine throughout the book. Both her inner conflict and comfort are reflected through out the novel through her actions (for many its through expressions, hence the point). We need more courageous characters like her to inspire us in our lives.
Both Paul and Pheobe are different yet same in one and all ways. Both have a determination to prove their mettle to the world, to accept, to forgive but the author never allows us to get a satisfying glance in their world. (sad, no?)
All the other characters help to take the story forward in justifying manner. Nevertheless, I loved each character to the core and I feel, it made my read worthwhile.
The plot twists and highlights of the novel are surely one of its strengths although a little more focus should been on Pheobe (as said before). The conclusion of the novel is intense and gives rise to various emotions in the reader’s mind at the same time, rendering it useless for him to decide how the scheme of things which characters are victims of self guilt and which ones are of circumstantial brutality. The novel hit the emotional and physiological corners of my soul and made me question whether protection ultimately leads to hurt and pain?(Too deep, right?) It provides to right dose of happy moments, moments to be proud of, moments to smile about, melancholic moments and most importantly moments to be remmeberd for a lifteime.
So for me, this book is definitely 4.1/5 for me and should defiantly be on your book shelf. (Two many definitelys in one sentence, pun intended! )
Go ahead and read this book and my book review and be a kind-hearted while judging the two things!
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Cheers!
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