Has anyone read The Memory Keeper's Daughter?

[Chinese Pistache]

I just finished this and I really loved it. The writing was beautiful. The story was heartbreaking. It left me with a few questions that I'd like to discuss if I could figure out how to use those darn spoiler tags.

[domesticzookeeper]

I've read it I think the spoiler tag looks like this...

[ spoiler ] insert spoiler here [ / spoiler ]

Remove the spaces so that it looks like:

Warning :: Spoiler Ahead! Highlight to read message!

---

insert spoiler here

---

[candipooh]

Yes I read it. I didn't like it. Yes the writing was beautiful but it was just way to frusterating. Sad and frusterating.

[Chinese Pistache]

Warning :: Spoiler Ahead! Highlight to read message!

---

does this work?

---

[Chinese Pistache]

So, my questions (and spoilers):

Warning :: Spoiler Ahead! Highlight to read message!

---

Why doesn't Norah get angry with Caroline after all those years? After all, she could have told Norah about Phoebe, too, but she didn't until after David was dead.

Do you think Phoebe will be allowed to marry Robert? I hope so. Just as Phoebe was told she couldn't have a cat, she is persistent about Robert and will likely prove that she is independent enought to handle it.

What do you think of Norah going off to France? I couldn't understand why she went. She seemed distressed about leaving Phoebe, but not enough to actually change her plans. I thoght it was kind of selfish.

---

[Chinese Pistache]

Originally Posted by candipooh

Yes I read it. I didn't like it. Yes the writing was beautiful but it was just way to frusterating. Sad and frusterating.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. I agree that it was very frustrating. I still liked it, though.

[monkeys4mama]

I read this. I had very mixed feelings about the book. I can't figure out how to read those blacked out "spoiler" things in the messages though. What is that? How can I see what's written? I would love to discuss this.

[domesticzookeeper]

Highlight it with your cursor.

I really should be writing my paper : so I'll come back later with more thoughts...

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by monkeys4mama

I read this. I had very mixed feelings about the book. I can't figure out how to read those blacked out "spoiler" things in the messages though. What is that? How can I see what's written? I would love to discuss this.

Highlight it, like you are about to copy.

It just blocks out text so people who don't want to be spoiled are not.

[paisleypoet]

I read it, and I thought it was OK. It was well written. I too wondered why

Warning :: Spoiler Ahead! Highlight to read message!

---

Norah wasn't angry with Caroline.

---

It's not a book that I am likely to read again, I guess, although there was some good writing and descriptions.

[serenetabbie]

I just finished reading this and felt that it was just ok. It was a quick, easy read.

Warning :: Spoiler Ahead! Highlight to read message!

---

I think the reason Caroline did not tell Norah was because of several reasons. First, she thought she would be a childless old maid with no one to love. She had a huge fear that either they would take Phoebe and either keep her or send her to a home. Second, the baby brought her and Al together. Third, David and Norah had a funeral for the baby already, so I think that in Caroline's mind they were giving her leave to be free & take the baby. I did like the premise of the story, and the part where Norah was going through David's photographs at the end... where she realizes he was in pain all those years also. But, the book seemed to skip over so much and left me unsatisfied in the end.

---

[JessasMilkMama]

I also thought it was just ok. There were some very eloquent and emotional parts in it, but it just didn't do it for me. Maybe it was too depressing for me and I was already depressed enough

[madskye]

I just finished this. I think the writer did gloss over Norah's anger at Caroline, but perhaps that is because the big picture is that Caroline (in some scenarios) could have saved Phoebe from spending her life in an institution.

If she had never agreed to take the baby to the institution, that might have been best, but David might have just found someone else to do it

If Caroline had brought the baby back to Norah, that might have been the best thing, but it would probably have destroyed Norah and David's marriage, and David had told Caroline that Norah wouldn't be able to handle Phoebe's certain death.

Melodrama!! But I liked it. Nicely written, but basically a pot-boiler with a lot of literary trappings...WHEN WILL THE SECRET COME OUT!

I couldn't believe Phoebe stayed a secret as long as she did.

Also, I thought Norah went to France because she realized (as did Caroline) that Phoebe was ready to have her own life now, with her husband. And she accepted that their mother/daughter relationship had been lost forever.

I cannot imagine if my husband gave my baby away. ugh.

[ananas]

I'm going to have to read it again, it looks like I'm not remembering some things.

I thought it was a very good read, though.

[TranscendentalMom]

Good idea for a story, terrible writing. By the end of the book, I still didn't care for the characters.

[HipGal]

I liked the writing. It seemed less "contrived" than other fiction I have read - which is all metaphor after metaphor to a ridiculous extent.

I think part of the reasons people did certain things (that we may not understand) was related to the time they lived in. People viewed so many things differently back then.

[BookGoddess]

I didn't think the writing was terrible. It was quite poetic in parts. Take the opening page with its description of the falling snow. The first 100 pages were interesting. Then came the middle sections that seemed to go on and on.

I thought Norah's reaction is rather muted.

Al's character isn't that well developed. I didn't really get a sense of who he is. It seemed all too easy for him to find Caroline after she took off. Pittsburgh is a big city and the story isn't set that long ago.

The concept for the story is wonderful. I'm sure even in this day, this book opened people's eyes to the possiblities and potential of a child like Phoebe.

[Mamamazing]

I, for the most part, liked the book, but it was missing something that could have made it great.

[becoming]

It was fantastic at the beginning but really lost me by the end. After the first few chapters (which were told from David's POV), I found myself wondering if the author was *ever* going to show David's thoughts again. I think I liked the parts of the book best that were told from his POV. I was disappointed by a lot of things in this book -- mostly the affairs, divorce, and death before the secret came out. I also thought the author "fast-forwarded" through a lot of important years. And the whole Rosemary (was that her name?) thing was just weird, IMO.

[3_opihi]

I liked it. Really, I loved the parts about David's internal struggle the best - how he was actually a somewhat good person and it ate him alive...I think in the end, he had the breakdown and found Rosemary. He was able to come half circle and right some of his wrongs, so to speak, and he gave up all the false pretenses and was just who he was. I think he was the most interesting character, by far.

Norah just seemed to cookie cutter for me. Too cliche.