The Memory Keeper's Daughter

This book is a book club favorite and all members of our group liked it as well. There was much discussion about having developmentally challenged kids and how to be sure they will be cared for after their parents are dead...who will take care of them. Our group also talked about developmentally challenged people growing up to lead a "normal" life getting married and having children of their own, for example.

Regarding the ending, one of our members said it, "wrapped up neatly." And that Nora was able to forgive David Henry after he died, in order to get on with her life.

One of our members posed the question, "what if the tables were turned, what if Nora was the one to give away the baby instead of David? Would the reader have felt the same way about Nora, as we did about David?"

Someone liked this quote on page 193 of the book, "Life had gone on, it was full and rich; he was in all visible ways, a success. And yet at odd moments--in the middle of surgery, driving into town, on the very edge of sleep--he'd start suddenly, stricken with guilt. He had given their daughter away. This secret stood in the middle of their family; it shaped their lives together. He knew it, he saw it, visible to him as a rock wall grown up between them. And he saw Norah and Paul reaching out and striking rock and not understanding what was happening, only that something stood between them that could not be seen or broken."

The Memory Keeper's Daughter is an excellent book for a discussion.

It was a pleasure to welcome two members to our group this month. Welcome and keeping coming.

For October we will be discussing, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again next month.