On a scale of 1-5 stars (5 being the best) how do you rate The Memory Keeper's Daughter?
* Loathed it
9%
[ 2 ]
**
9%
[ 2 ]
***
19%
[ 4 ]
****
33%
[ 7 ]
***** Loved it
19%
[ 4 ]
Gave up on it (explain why below)
0%
[ 0 ]
Didn't read this one
9%
[ 2 ]
Total Votes : 21
Author
Message
sirg1006 Administrator
Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 2142 Birthday: 10th June
Location: Scottish Borders
Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:49 pm Post subject: October Book Choice - The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Discuss your thoughts on the book here as soon as you have finished reading it. Did you (not) enjoy it? Anything that struck you or maybe someone else can answer if you have a question? We're not really looking for in depth discussions...just tell us what you think of it!
For those who have finished it, please choose a star rating for the book based on how much you liked it. What did you think of it? Do you have any questions based on the book?
If you do have something to post that reveals plot details which could ruin others' enjoyment of the book, please use the spoiler function (details: http://onlinebookclub.myfreeforum.org/about12.html)
Joined: 21 Jul 2007 Posts: 676 Birthday: 2nd November
Location: Watford, Herts
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 7:46 pm Post subject:
I read this book about 3/4 months ago. I've given it 4 stars as I remember it being pretty good but I didn't think as good as Jodi Picoult (JP has a recommendation of this book printed on the front cover). I'll have a think about this book and post some further comments later. _________________ Currently Reading:
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 459 Birthday: 22nd April
Location: Devon
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:38 pm Post subject:
I've gone for "loathed it"-thought it was the most overhyped book I'd read in a long time. Was very disappointed in it, as I thought the subject matter would have been engrossing. It might have been more apt if the title had been "The Memory Keeper"! _________________ Currently reading,
"The Mathematics of Love", Emma Darwin
I read this because a friend recommended it to me and it seemed to be everywhere after R&J featured it. I thought it was ok and it did make me think about the issues parents with a child with a learning disability come up against and the impact it can have on a family. I too thought it was hyped up and it wasn't a book that I couldn't bear to put down, as many reviews suggested it would be. I'd say it was worth a read but not one of the best I've read this year so I've given it 3 stars.
This was on my wish list for months before it was released in the UK.
I was really disappointed by it. I didnt like the way the main characters were not named in the first few chapters, I didnt seem to 'bond' with them at all.
It's a great idea for a story but I just didnt enjoy it at all.
I've read many books where I didnt like the main characters (Notes on a Scandal and Hurting Distance more recently), and usually that doesnt bother me if the story is well written and gripping.
I cant put my finger on what it was with this one but it was one of my most disappointing reads this year.
Another 'Marmite' book I think - you love it or hate it! _________________ Currently reading: The Tent The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy and Granny The Pag by Nina Bawden
1001 Challenge Books read in 2009 - 3
1001 Challenge Books read in 2008 - 8
1001 Challenge Books read in 2007 - 13
Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 381 Birthday: 16th February
Location: Upper Largo, Fife
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:25 pm Post subject:
The good thing about this book is that it didn't take me long to read...so I didn't waste too many days of my life on it. If I hadn't already read Atonement I would never have read this. I thought the subject was a great one but the story lacked real punch.
Spoiler:
I found the characters really annoying. Norah, who to be fair had a terrible thing happen to her, just started to get on my nerves. I wanted to give her a shake. I realise I'm not a parent and have no concept as to how losing a child must feel, but seriously. Too much of the book was spent on how depressed she was.
David was less annoying because of this. He did a terrible thing but we have to consider it in the light of the early 60s - disabilities in general were far less well understood than today. Its the 'head in the sand' approach that we see here - institutions for those problems we can't deal with.
I liked Phoebe, Caroline and Al most of all. I was more interested in them than David, Norah and Paul. I felt the moment of revelation was a bit of an anticlimax for some reason. I guess I'd just expected a bigger or sharper response from Norah. That David was dead by then seemed a little too neat and tidy to me. I bet if he'd been alive it would have been much more chaotic.
So I gave it 2 stars because I did like the subject and the bits with Caroline and Phoebe. Other than that, I wasn't impressed. _________________ Currently reading: Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
Really agree with you nic. Caroline and Phoebe were by far the best characters and I would have preferred the story to focus more on them. _________________ Currently reading: The Tent The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy and Granny The Pag by Nina Bawden
1001 Challenge Books read in 2009 - 3
1001 Challenge Books read in 2008 - 8
1001 Challenge Books read in 2007 - 13
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 459 Birthday: 22nd April
Location: Devon
Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:08 pm Post subject:
I plodded my way through this book, and have to say I was very disappointed in it. I expected and hoped that it would focus on Phoebe and the challenges and problems she faced from childhood through to adulthood. Well, I was wrong on that assumption! Other than brief mentions, she scarcely figures in the first 220 pages. I continuously found myself feeling that a more apt title would be "The Memory Keeper", as there was precious little attention paid to Phoebe.
The characters of both David and Norah were unappealing, bland and two dimensional. I found myself being angry with both of them rather than sympathising with their traumas.I actually found myself disliking them intensely-even more so as the book progressed. Initially I hoped that Carloine would make contact with Norah, but after a while found myself urging her to stay away! Caroline and Phoebe really should have had a much bigger role to play in this novel, and the fact that they didn't is probably the main reason I found it so disappointing.
This should have been an engrossing, fascinating read, but I found it so boring.Yes, "boring", I'm afraid comes closest.An occasional poetic paragraph lent the novel a spark of life, but overall I can find little to commend it. _________________ Currently reading,
"The Mathematics of Love", Emma Darwin
This on my TBR, much like a few of the other monthly reads... I'm falling far behind! Not sure I want to read it now, I wasn't that keen in the first place...
I think if you were expecting a lot due to all the hype which bounced along with it then it was going to be a let down. I did enjoy it, but thought it was just an average book really - nothing spectacular. I agree with some of the above views and really think there could have been a lot more detail and more focus on certain characters, then I do think it could have been a really great book.
As it was, I read the book and was left feeling like I didn't really know much - more like I had read an outline for it, rather than been able to sink into it.
I totally agree! The bits I liked were about Phoebe and Caroline and I wanted much more. I wanted to know what life was like for someone with a learning disability 30-40 years ago but this was touched on far too briefly.
I was expecting it to be a bit like Jodi Picoults books which I love but I wasn't gripped and it took me ages to plod through it. The more i talk about the book the more disappointed I feel about it!
I thought I had better come back and defend the book, having said that I loved it.
Spoiler:
In terms of the characters, I did sympathise with Nora. I agree that her misery seemed to drag on, but she never got to see her daughter or to say goodbye to her. I think that David did a terrible thing, but I can see (but not understand) the reasons why he did it. The fact that general advice was to put disabled children straight into a home back in the 60’s is very upsetting – thank goodness we have moved on from that now. I was fascinated by the terrible and lasting impact that that one bad decision had on the family, including the son. Phoebe, despite being “rejected” actually had by far the better childhood than her brother (although this wouldn’t have been the case if she had stayed in the home that her father sent her to).
All in all, I found the book very moving and well written.
charlottestar Busy babbling when should be reading
Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 404 Birthday: 27th February
Location: Oxfordshire
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:44 am Post subject:
I loathed it I'm afraid. I read it...or rather skimmed through it a few weeks ago and I didn't like it at all. It could have been an interesting read because it was a good premise but frankly I was just bored by it all. I didn't feel for any of the characters and I really didn't care what happened to any of them so it was a big let down for me.
Really let down by this book.
Like some of you i expected a Picoult type book that would explore the issues and make me think.
But found it sooooooooo dull, didn't like anybody and had to drag my way thro the last half by sheer determination. It just seemed to ramble on and on and go nowhere, definately might have improved by being shorter.
Read this because i'd read Atonement 4 years ago (and enjoyed it!)
I can still remember so much of the McEwan but i don't think my memories of MKD will survive the month.
I read this book earlier in the year and I really enjoyed it. I have given it 4 stars though because there were a couple of things that I'd liked to have changed to the story....
Spoiler:
Like the rest of you I'd have liked to have heard more about Caroline and Phoebe, I felt like the focus should've been on them more. Especially Phoebe, afterall the title claims the book is about her. The only other thing I was disappointed in was the fact that David died, like nicnic said, if he'd been alive I think that things would have been much more explosive.
So other than those little things, I really enjoyed the book, although I do agree it probably didn't live up to the hype! _________________ Swap List: http://tinyurl.com/33pg6r
Currently Reading "Switchcraft" by Lowri Turner
Joined: 10 Oct 2007 Posts: 538 Birthday: 12th November
Location: In the Land of Pies and Piers
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:14 am Post subject: The Memory Keepers's Daughter
Well, I read this in June, and I've had to go back to my book journal to see what I wrote...."poignant and thoughtful".....I think it was a good book to curl up in the garden with.....so,I did enjoy it and recommended to my friends.
I am glad someone else liked it! I think that when there is a lot of hype around a book, there is more of a danger of ending up dissapointed if it doesn't live up to expectations - I felt like that about My Best Friend's Girl.
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 459 Birthday: 22nd April
Location: Devon
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:59 pm Post subject:
I agree, Maureen.But at the same time, I think the reason I "loathed it", was because it simply didn't develop in the way I had hoped. I would have been fascinated to read about the challenges and problems facing Phoebe and Caroline (in part because I had a severely handicapped younger brother, who died at the tragically young age of 5). The novel simply didn't tackle these issues in any depth, and so my (self-imposed) expectations and hopes were simply not met.
I rarely pay too much attention to the hype surrounding books, and am usually months/years behind what everyone else is reading-and for once, when I try to keep up, I get disappointed _________________ Currently reading,
"The Mathematics of Love", Emma Darwin
I really enjoyed it although I did find that I was left somewhat disappointed with the lack of information about how Phoebe and Caroline coped with her condition. However, I think if this had have been the case then it would have been a wholly different story altogether and I think this is why some people were disappointed by it. I think that Phoebe's Down's Syndrome was meant to be the justification for David giving away his daughter in such a manner and to focus too much on her would have detracted from the point of the book - mainly the ramifications of such a decision.
As for the characters I think they were written really well and quite skillfully. I felt so much for Norah watching her decline through the novel and the way Caroline was only ever really seen in context to Phoebe's development was aptly fitting, after all, her purpose in life only began when she 'adopted' her. As for David being 2 dimensional, whilst I agree that was the case, this too was fitting. He never allowed himself to develop as a rounded person and his photography obsession completely trapped him in a 2dimensional world of his own creation.
I think that if you read this book as I did with the idea of what it would be like to have your child taken from you to grow up with no knowledge of you, or how secrets and lies can bind people together and also tear them apart, then you should enjoy this book.
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