The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I have to admit, I liked the beginning and the ending of this novel better than I liked the balance of it. The novel opens with a lot of potential - David and Norah Henry, so very much in love, are about to have a baby. When the baby comes in the middle of a blizzard, it's not just one baby but two - a perfect boy, and a girl with Down's Syndrome. But it's 1964, and Dr. David wants to spare Norah the heartbreak of a less-than-perfect child, so he gives the girl to his nurse to take to a home for the mentally ill, and he tells Norah that the baby has died.

The rest of the novel is about how David, Norah, their son Paul, and the nurse Caroline, deal with what happened. David has his guilt, Norah has her grief, Paul has a sense of something missing, and Caroline has her own issues to deal with. I have to say I didn't find David or Norah particularly sympathetic, but I thought Caroline was a very strong character. I also found the story to be a bit trite, and found myself skimming a lot of it.

The novel ends 25 years after it began, in 1989, and I definitely enjoyed the ending. The characters had all grown through their experiences and were more sympathetic. It was a nice read, but not an amazing read.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter