The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

1. Generally, The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards is about a 1964 couple who are pregnant with twins. While stuck in a blizzard, Dr. David Henry has no choice but to deliver his own babies. While his wife, Norah, was in labor he called upon his nurse Caroline for help. Norah first gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Paul, but when the baby girl came into the world, it was apparent that something was wrong. The baby girl was born with Down Syndrome, and Dr. Henry made a split decision that would change their lives forever. He had the baby taken immediately away and proclaimed dead before Norah found out that there was different problem. Caroline was put in charge of taking the baby, Phoebe, to the correct facility, but can't bare to leave the baby to grow up in a place with such horrible living conditions. So, she decided to keep her and ultimately start a new life she has always wished for with his baby. Ultimately, life with Phoebe turns out well. On the other hand, as life goes on for the Henry family, it isn't as fortunate. Norah is forever haunted from the daughter she lost, and finds comfort in burying herself in her job. David looks to photography and being the "memory keeper", with the secret weighing heavy on his heart. He keeps track of Phoebe and her where abouts, keeping photos from Caroline, as she grows up. Paul, the son, feels to be a disappointment to his father and looks to music for comfort. Norah and David's marriage ultimately leads to a divorce.As the secret unravels, hearts are hurt, anger lingers in the air, and a sweet reunion of mother and daughter, brother and sister brings a greater love that could ever be experienced. But after David's sudden heart attack leaving him dead, Norah discovered his memory keeping photos of Phoebe growing up which leaves her to see a side of her husband she never knew.
2. A theme discovered in The Memory Keeper's Daughter would have to be deception. Kim Edwards does a great job of showing how lies and deception can be destructive within a family. Somewhere under that decision it was for a good cause, but ultimately pulled this family apart.
3. The overall tone in the novel was very solemn, grave, and melancholy. This was an issue weighing heavy on everyone. A father deceiving his wife into believing their child is dead, and a mother going through life believing her baby girl is dead.

• "This was her life. Not the life she had once dreamed of, not a life her younger self would ever have imagined or desired, but the life she was living, with all its complexities. This was her life, built with care and attention, and it was good." (page 254)

• "Lately, the world felt fragile, like a blown egg, as if it might shatter beneath a careless touch." (page 375)

• "You can't stop time. You can't capture light. You can only turn your face up and let it rain down." (page 319)

4. Kim Edwards used literary elements and techniques that helped me to understand the theme. Edwards did an excellent job using imagery, figurative language, syntax, and symbolism. Imagery and figurative language is used throughout the book, especially in describing people and objects. When the thoughts of David and Norah were evident, being descriptive let the reader be exposed to their pain.
The author's syntax includes speaking in the first person, which allows you to see all the pain behind the characters and what they are experiencing.

•  "You missed a lot of heartache, sure. But David, you missed a lot of joy." (page 249)

• "Either things grow and change or they die." (page 376)