Author Kim Edward’s style of writing is quite lovely. One line in particular stayed with me throughout the entire novel,
“Later, when he considered this night- and he would think of it often, in the months and years to come: the turning point of his life, the moments around which everything else would always gather- what he remembered was the silence in the room and the snow falling steadily outside.” This one line laid out the entire story in such a gentle way that I could not forget it. The story starts on a winter’s night in 1964. During a blizzard Dr. David Henry is forced to give birth to his own children; fraternal twins, Paul a boy and Phoebe, a baby girl with Down’s syndrome. After seeing his
daughter’s disability, David Henry instructs his nurse, Caroline, to take Phoebe to a facility for people with Down’s syndrome. However Caroline disappears and raises the baby girl as her own. I was eager at first to read The Memory Keeper’s Daughter after hearing so many positive reviews about it. This novel is filled with regret, compassion and forgiveness. Heavy emotions are handled with gentle hands, a bit too gentle and repetitive in some sections though. It is constantly stated that David Henry regrets his decision to abandon Phoebe and lie to his wife, but his emotions don’t seem to show anything other than regret. Even if he did seem like more of a flat character, I couldn’t help but hope for him to be truthful with his family. David Henry’s family seemed almost heroic. They lived with a man who never revealed his true emotions about his daughter. Even though their ways of coping with her loss were definitely not helpful, they still found a way to forgive and accept the truth. To me Caroline was an underrated character. She was a lonely woman living in a dream world and Phoebe snapped her back into reality. Caroline took charge of her life and found love. I only wish that her and Phoebe’s piece of the story was more developed. Twenty five years pass during this novel, but it seems that key pieces are missing. The gap between years is often put too abruptly. Though you can make sense out of what is going on, the years lack fluidity. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter gives food for thought in a modest and refreshing way. The author Kim Edward used her descriptive style to ‘take a picture’ of the lie that consumed a family. It shows that our past, no matter how much we regret it, will always be a part of our future.