The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The latest book I've read is 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' by Kim Edwards. I picked it up because the title seemed mysterious, and the back cover synopsis, tragic. What I liked very much about the book is that the secret it deals with throughout, and the secret every character's life is shaped by, is given to the reader in the first chapter. What is also dealt with extremely well is how shocking the secret is, how much it weighs on the people who know it, and most surprising to me, how it changes so many lives without their even being aware of it. It is a very human story. Edwards is especially good at not only telling the story, but also sharing with the reader the character's thoughts, and thereby revealing even more about the person.

After that first chapter, knowing the secret, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, as it were. I kept assuming highly dramatic tragedies to unfold. The book disappointed me each time, which is why I liked it very much. The story is very real, probably because each person in it is deeply flawed, but at the same time good. It also has its shares of 'life lessons', which I'm sure a reader will discern for themselves.

While one key character in the book is disabled, the book is not in this sense in the league of other excellent books like 'The Speed of Dark' and 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'. Overall, I would recommend it as a good read.

3 comments:

chica said...

Sounds good! I have avoided this book thinking it might be a bit depressing , but now I'm really keen to know what this secret is!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I'm starting to read this book right now! I too was intrigued about the cover art. I choose a lot of books based upon the cover art and this one was one of them. I recently did a posting on my blog about Sold by Patricia McCormick and how I chose that book because of its cover art.

Josette said...

Who is the memory keeper? I have this book in my TBR pile...will get to it when the time comes.

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