What readers think of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, plus links to write your own review.

I did what I always do with movies and books…I will read it or see it through hoping it will get better.
I was so hopeful that MKD would be better written, developed and more believable and was disappointed to find it wasn’t. There were so many opportunities to make it better. The photography, bee stings, Caroline and Al, the many affairs of Norah, breast cancer, etc. were merely written, really just jotted down to pull you in. A good novelist would know how to do this in a connective and intriguing way. While not understanding how a brilliant and loving doctor and husband would give away his child so quickly, I still followed that premise in ernest because in 1964 Down syndrome was something to be hidden…but not so quickly and not for the reasons as to not upset his wife and his own childhood memories! I felt none of the characters were developed effectively to warrant gut wrenching sympathy. I did not like Paul being in constant anger mode with his father [edited to remove potential plot spoilers]. I saw my husband in both Al and David, myself in Bree and Norah and that was good but not enough and thought her style was weak in character development.

The reality of life being drawn out over 25 years was intriguing but poorly done in my opinion. The writing was difficult to follow as she starts chapters with information whose contents must be deciphered by the reader without the punch of drama and anticipation ..... I felt she was just putting pieces together to create a plausible story and not a novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a sister of a mentally challenged sibling and as a Nurse I could relate entirely to this book first hand. It did portray well the impact of the birth of this child with downs syndrome upon the father. He did want to protect his wife from the challenges and the heartache which accompanies raising a mentally challenged child. Speaking first hand this experience is one which either brings a family very close together or the marriage often does not last. It also has a profound effect upon the other children in the family as well. He was hoping to act in the best interest of his family but in doing so he had to live with the secrecy and guilt of his action, which led to the distancing and eventual estrangement and later divorce.

David then dies without ever being able to tell his wife or son that their daughter Phoebe was in fact still alive. My parents also eventually divorced and my father died a broken man at an early age guilt ridden all of those years as my sister was injured in an auto accident and he was the driver. I also had survivors guilt as I was also in the accident and was unscathed. My mother suffered a nervous breakdown and couldn't care for us. My maiden Aunt came to live with us to care for my sister for awhile which ended up being 30 years as my father didn't want my sister being cared for in an institution. My parents divorced, My father died, upon his death my mother was still mentally unstable.My younger brother died at age 29 in an auto accident drugs and alcohol related. My youngest brother turned to alcohol after the death of his father and brother but thankfully successfully completed rehab. My sister eventually was placed into a group home for mentally challenged adults and is thriving well there. The group homes of today are nothing like the Institutions of yesterday giving their clients the opportunity to live as independently as possible in a community setting.

I found the Memory Keepers Daughter very easy to read and interesting... it only took me 8 hrs to read. the imagery was fantastic...great book... keeps you on the edge of your seat and full of surprises...in a few weeks I will be meeting Kim Edwards.

I thought that this book was well written and an extraordinary look into the treatment of those with disabilities in the mid twentieth century. I found it to be compelling and, being that I love symbolism within texts, I loved the imagery of photographs to hold time at a standstill. I highly recommend this book and I want to one day incorporate it into my high school teaching syllabus.

This is undoubtedly the best book I have read for years. I am an avid reader - and I was unable to put this book down. No-one was fed and no housework was done until I finished this amazing book.
I have been a Nurse for over 40 years, and when I started Nursing in 1959, children with Down Syndrome (it was called Mongolism then) were mostly put in an institution and many were kept a family secret, so I found this book totally believable.
I loved every page of this book, and am eagerly awaiting the next novel that Kim Edwards writes.
I have passed this book on to family and friends, and everyone has agreed that this book is AMAZING. Thanks Kim - and hurry on with your next novel.

I struggled with this story and the amateurish writing style. Basically I felt that I had overpaid for my entertainment. I took some time to go back and read other reviews to see if I was being too harsh but after reading 10 or 15 reviews, I was more steadfast in my opinion. There are so many great books written in the last decade that I hope more people will avoid this one and get a book with a plausible plot and characters that you can believe in.

Edwards describes the surgeon as a brilliant and gifted doctor but I found myself trying very hard to understand why a a "brilliant" surgeon would be otherwise so cavalier as to give away a baby daughter he had only looked at for a moment. This was not believable. In addition, if he loved his wife as much as the author suggests he does, he wouldn't have been able to take the course of action he did in the name of love. I did find myself, however, enthralled with how the action he took affected the lives of so many others.

I think this book was a very good one I'm only 13 and I don't read much and I have to find the right book or I cant follow along. This BOOK was amazing