The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

 – By Kim Edwards

A very touching piece of writing. When I first picked this book, I did it out of my own frustration. I was down in a pit and I wanted to get myself out of this world and the only way in which I can do that is to catch a book. I went to Crossword and picked a few books. It was a random pick and when I read the back drop, I thought, lets see! And, it made a fabulous read.

A single act out of conviction has affected the journey of quite a few individuals. Each is right in one’s own mind. One stage or the other, we each take a decision based on our own view of a particular situation, unperturbed by the repercussions. Since we cannot predict the future, we cannot undo a lot of our actions and we think, lets face the consequences and not many have the strength to do that.

This novel is about a doctor (David), who takes a decision, which he thinks is apt, considering the situation. His wife (Norah), is in labor on a stormy day and he has to deliver his own children in his office rather than the hospital as planned. Norah is carrying twins, which neither knew! The first born was a boy, healthy and fine. The second child is a girl, a child about to change the course of his life. The girl is born with the sure features of Down’s syndrome and David, not wanting his wife to carry the grief and pain of a retarded child, takes a decision of admitting his daughter in an institution for retarded children, a task he assigns to his trusted nurse, Caroline Gill. Caroline, having seen the institution, takes a impulsive decision of bringing up the child, on her own and moves out of the city, to pick her own threads from scratch, else where.

The act of David was selfish and it changes the course of five individuals. He gets caught in the moment and is never the same person again in his life. The grief, he thinks he is saving his wife from, unfortunately is a bane on his conscience and the course his personal life takes, is sad to read.
The act of Caroline, though brave and touching, was not described in a way that did justice to her character. The every day minutiae of life that describes a person was missing, making the character tad bit dissatisfying.

The novel starts of as a collection of tiny bits and pieces of the character’s lives, but fails to carry the same detail all through the novel. It describes the inner turmoil of the characters in a splendid way and in fact, many a time, we peep into ourselves, where we fight every day demons in our lives, to attain sanity.

The theme of the novel revolves round photography, a memory captured in a still, to wring your soul in future! The author uses the photography to describe David’s emotions well and the language and the style of her writing are captivating to the soul. It sure is worth a read.