The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I can see why people like this book. I liked it. But I think because I read it immediately after I finished Drowning Ruth it had less of an impact on me. Both books were about secrets and the cancer they cause in their own lives and the lives of those around them. Both books make dramatic chronological jumps in time to progress the age of the characters. When this book did it, a bit of the intimacy you feel with the charaters dies. The writing is very vivid. The first paragraph about the snow is so descriptive that I felt cold.

The end seems out of place. I've never even attempted to write a story so I don't know how hard it is to finish one but I find endings disappointing more often than not. This book's ending was unfulfilling. I don't really know why. It's like the revelation of the daughter, Phoebe, somehow makes things alright for the mother and twin brother. Both seem ready to "try" to be happy now, something that evaded everyone in this novel. Perhaps that is what would happen. It seems more complicated than that...like other, less altruistic emotions would somehow prevail.

Definitely worth reading. I love looking into the lives of families and marriages. This is an interesting look.