The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – A Book Review

I was traveling by train when my eye caught a co-passenger engrossed in a novel. I fixed my gaze on her until I got the name of the book and the author and noted it down. Next thing I remember was checking reviews on Google about Kim Edwards’ work and that’s when I came across ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’. I couldn’t help but head to the nearest Crossword store and get a copy.

‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ is a story of a doctor (David) who gives away one of his twin babies (Phoebe -the daughter) right after her birth (without the knowledge of his wife, Norah) when he realizes the daughter has Down’s syndrome. David asks his nurse (Caroline, the only other witness to the unexpected birth of his second child that night) to take away his daughter to a place meant for people like Phoebe; to an institution that helps people suffering from Down’s syndrome survive for however long they can take the beatings of life. However Caroline, a single woman with no children of her own, decides to keep the baby in the hope that David would soon realize his mistake and would ask Phoebe back.

But the author had some other plans to take the story to the next level. So while presenting the other twin (their son) to his wife, David lies to her about their daughter being born dead. It is later revealed in the story how David was haunted by the memories of his own kid sister who had Down’s syndrome and died at the age of twelve leaving a void in his and his parents’ life forever. He didn’t want his wife to go through the pain of loss.

The story progresses with the twins growing up at two different places without the awareness of the existence of the other but yet connected in some strange way. The secret of Phoebe’s existence stays strictly guarded between Caroline and David. Edwards has beautifully captured the emotions of Caroline (the nurse) - the feeling that she experiences of being connected with the man she clandestinely romances, through this one secret which no other person is privy to keeps her going fighting all odds.

In this poignant tale of two families, each one raising one of the twins, the novel captures the impact of the choice made by David on everyone involved. The story touches the heart in a manner that you can feel the incongruous emptiness felt my Norah, the remorse mixed with vulnerability experienced by David and the hopefulness and fear with which Caroline raises Phoebe.

When I was reading the book I remember thinking that this story could be made into a movie for Kim Edwards has painted every frame so vividly that one can’t help but imagine the story reel by reel. It was only later I realized (Thanks to Google again!) that there is, in fact, a movie made on this book in the year 2008 with the same title as the book.

As for the writing style, Ms. Edwards has generously demonstrated her talent of capturing human emotions. She has penned down rare as well as day to day common emotions brilliantly. She has also provided the reader with a sneak peek into the world back in 1960s referring to the attitude of people towards Down syndrome, and the hardships that families had to go through to protect their children from the cruel things the world was capable of throwing at them.

Towards the end, I felt, the story drags a little when every experience and every emotion relates back to that one secret of giving Phoebe away. But I guess, that’s the author’s take on showcasing how life has a way of teaching things. And all of it gets justified in the end as you read along.

The book is high on emotional melodrama and the nuances of it and is a powerful tale of how people do things in life which need not always be right or wrong. The author has presented a 360 degree view of the prime characters as the narration keeps changing from David’s point of view to Norah’s point of view to Caroline’s point of view.

After having read the book, when I put it away – I couldn’t say whether I was happy or sad or indifferent but yeah it took me a little while to get the characters out of my mind.

There is a Kim Edwards interview at the end of the book where she talks about her experience while writing this book. Overall a good read :)