The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Edwards
I don't know when I first heard of this book, but it has been in the back of my mind for a few months now. I picked it up over Christmas with a gift certificate and again, did not so much as read the back cover before I started reading. I finished this bok a few weeks ago, but just haven't sat down to write a review until now.
The critical decision upon which the entire plot is based happens within the first few pages of the book. The reader is immediately caught up in the moral choice of a father to sequester away a daughter born with Down Syndrome, telling his wife that this twin did not survive birth.
I had a difficult time swallowing the events that followed. Of believing that it could be so simple for the daughter to end up in another's hands, eventually skirted away to a distant city to be raised. My heart ached for the mother; completely unaware of her daughter's life, processing her grief and heartache while hr knowing husband keeps silent.
The novel takes us through two decades of time. We witness the effects of the lie, the walls constructed to protect the liar, the lie, and the truth from being set free. It is no surprise the difficulties that arise in the marriage.
What was surprising to me, however, was how the characters reacted to the truth. How the author tried to demonstrate to the reader that the father never let go of the idea of his daughter despite never retracting his lie- never giving his family the right to know. I was angered by his selfishness; angered by his success; angered at what he perceived love to be about; angered that the worst that came to him was living with the lie.
I can clearly see how the plot has attracted a readership with its uniqueness. I can see how some are drawn in to play witness to the idea of redemtive love. For me, however, it was too easy, it didn't come at a high enough price, the regret wasn't deep enough to feel tangible. It is the wife, in the end, who is left to demonstrate forgiveness, love, and innocent regret. It was never a question to me that the wife was capable of these things from the start. She was just never given the chance to be by the one who supposedly loved her most.
The critical decision upon which the entire plot is based happens within the first few pages of the book. The reader is immediately caught up in the moral choice of a father to sequester away a daughter born with Down Syndrome, telling his wife that this twin did not survive birth.
I had a difficult time swallowing the events that followed. Of believing that it could be so simple for the daughter to end up in another's hands, eventually skirted away to a distant city to be raised. My heart ached for the mother; completely unaware of her daughter's life, processing her grief and heartache while hr knowing husband keeps silent.
The novel takes us through two decades of time. We witness the effects of the lie, the walls constructed to protect the liar, the lie, and the truth from being set free. It is no surprise the difficulties that arise in the marriage.
What was surprising to me, however, was how the characters reacted to the truth. How the author tried to demonstrate to the reader that the father never let go of the idea of his daughter despite never retracting his lie- never giving his family the right to know. I was angered by his selfishness; angered by his success; angered at what he perceived love to be about; angered that the worst that came to him was living with the lie.
I can clearly see how the plot has attracted a readership with its uniqueness. I can see how some are drawn in to play witness to the idea of redemtive love. For me, however, it was too easy, it didn't come at a high enough price, the regret wasn't deep enough to feel tangible. It is the wife, in the end, who is left to demonstrate forgiveness, love, and innocent regret. It was never a question to me that the wife was capable of these things from the start. She was just never given the chance to be by the one who supposedly loved her most.
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