Hooray! You have added the first book to your bookshelf. Check it out now!
[−]
  • Search Digit-count Valid ISBN Invalid ISBN Valid Barcode Invalid Barcode
Blog this item

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

By Kim Edwards

(360)

| Others | 9780143038139

Like The Memory Keeper's Daughter?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Sign up for free

Book Description

From Publishers Weekly
Edwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. A snowstorm immobilizes LexingtonContinue

From Publishers Weekly
Edwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. David's undetected lie warps his marriage; he grapples with guilt; Norah mourns her lost child; and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well. Though the impact of Phoebe's loss makes sense, Edwards's redundant handling of the trope robs it of credibility. This neatly structured story is a little too moist with compassion.
Copyright ⓒ Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
[인터파크 제공]

Critics

  • Life class

    The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards 408pp, Penguin, £7.99 A New York Times number one bestseller, Kim Edwards's debut is a skilfully packaged debate-provoker that is perfectly attuned to the era of the book club. Like Jodi Picoult or Anita Sh ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • The Best Reviews: Kim Edwards, The Memory Keeper's Daughter

    "Beauty Hides In Different Forms!" Staring at beautiful tulips, David, an orthopedic surgeon with a terrible secret he has chosen to forget, explores "...this idea that the body was, in some mysterious way, a perfect mirror of the world." But what Da ... (read full critics)

    thebestreviews published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

26 Reviews

Login or Sign Up to write a review

  • 3 people find this helpful

    This is another book which I do not know what the hype is all about. It is quite easy to read though.

    The story is too hackneyed - I have seen similar plots in a few movies in the 1950s/60s. Twins - one healthy and the other born with Down Syndrome - were separated since birth due to a decis ... (continue)

    This is another book which I do not know what the hype is all about. It is quite easy to read though.

    The story is too hackneyed - I have seen similar plots in a few movies in the 1950s/60s. Twins - one healthy and the other born with Down Syndrome - were separated since birth due to a decision made by their physician father who would regret this for the rest of his life. Torn by grief and guilt, this family would never be the same again.

    There is nothing wrong with the plot. It's just that it is far too long and quite boring. The characters are abominable and none of them has my sympathy - they brought upon themselves their misery.

    Compared with The Kite Runner, a masterpiece on guilt and redemption, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is just an entry-level novel. Not recommended.

    Is this helpful?

    Tracy W said on Jun 19, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • 2 people find this helpful

    Kim Edwards’s stunning family drama evokes the spirit of Sue Miller and Alice Sebold, articulating every mother’s silent fear: what would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? In 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins, he immediately recognizes tha ... (continue)

    Kim Edwards’s stunning family drama evokes the spirit of Sue Miller and Alice Sebold, articulating every mother’s silent fear: what would happen if you lost your child and she grew up without you? In 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins, he immediately recognizes that one of them has Down Syndrome and makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and to keep her birth a secret. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is an astonishing tale of redemptive love.

    Is this helpful?

    meganzing said on Jul 3, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Suuuch a downer. I understand that some people may have really liked it and thought it was a very moving emotional journey of a book but if I hadn't been stuck in an airport for seven hours I would never have finished it. Uber depressing, if you like stories about angst and maternal joy/suffering ... (continue)

    Suuuch a downer. I understand that some people may have really liked it and thought it was a very moving emotional journey of a book but if I hadn't been stuck in an airport for seven hours I would never have finished it. Uber depressing, if you like stories about angst and maternal joy/suffering than this is right up your alley.

    Is this helpful?

    Sarabear135 said on Feb 25, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Same love in contrast

    The story started from Lexington, KY some twenty years ago. Dr. Henry told a white lie to his wife that they gain one health boy but lost another girl. This lie brings twenty years of loss and regret and built up a wall between him and his family. He has to isolate himself so as to keep the deep ... (continue)

    The story started from Lexington, KY some twenty years ago. Dr. Henry told a white lie to his wife that they gain one health boy but lost another girl. This lie brings twenty years of loss and regret and built up a wall between him and his family. He has to isolate himself so as to keep the deep secret in mind. He didn't know how to love the family members nearby but cannot help thinking about the ones he thought he lose long ago. The story has lots of contrast: healthy Paul and unhealthy Phoebe; the one he admires and the one admires him; the decent life he owns and his poor origin (he even changed his name to get rid of it); his generosity to unknown and his isolate to family members.

    Another features of Kim's work is 'regional.' Her description about this area is so detailed and real as if you were on the street or sitting on Dr. Henry's passenger seat. Having lived in PA-OH-WV area for two years, I can even remember every exits on I-76 by reading the book. Not to forget that Caroline lived in Oakland area of Pittsburgh for years. Luckily I lived in the same lovely area for two years. With Kim's words, I can virtually traveled back to Pittsburgh.

    Is this helpful?

    Yi-Jie Eugene Chen said on Dec 28, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Twins -- one born healthy, the other with Down Syndrome. This was 1964 when the life expectancy for a Down Syndrome child was short (largely because they were locked away in institutions that assumed they couldn't learn or function). The father was a doctor and ended up delivering the baby himself w ... (continue)

    Twins -- one born healthy, the other with Down Syndrome. This was 1964 when the life expectancy for a Down Syndrome child was short (largely because they were locked away in institutions that assumed they couldn't learn or function). The father was a doctor and ended up delivering the baby himself with no one but his nurse and wife present. He told the nurse to take the baby to a specific institution and he told his wife the baby had died. The nurse, upon seeing the inside of the institution, couldn't bear to leave the baby there, so she ran away with her and raised her as her own child. She fought to get her daughter the rights that other children have to a decent education, and she organized other parents in the battle for justice. Throughout the book we watch the two families, one torn apart by the loss of child they had never known, and the other blessed by the presence of that child.

    Is this helpful?

    Missmath144 said on Aug 31, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • Dramatic

    The beginning is what captured me the most; it was very well detailed and everything.

    Is this helpful?

    Merest Red said on Apr 9, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

Improve data of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780143038139 Others $11.60 $9.49 The Book Depository
Other editions →
+ 26 copies tradable: 2 in USA →
Added to Shelf Added to Wish List

Inline Translation Mode

Left click to navigate, right click to translate.

inline translation guide

or close

Inline translation is not ready for this page yet.

Inline translation mode.

Share this page with your friends.

The viewport has not loaded.