The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Per. 1 Sum/WW – Heather Kinney
Ok, first post.
Words to Watch -
aberration – the act of departing or deviating from the normal, ordinary, or usual (David describes his family as being an aberration)
ossification – the natural process of bone formation (“I’m just an orthopedic surgeon,” he reminded her. “I could tell you the ossification pattern for fetal bones, but that’s about it.”
March 1964 -
Dr. David Henry and his very pregnant wife, Norah, live in Lexington, Kentucky. There is a sudden, unexpected blizzard about three weeks before Norah is due, but the baby decides to be born right then. Since the roads are dangerous, David can’t continue driving to the hospital, and pulls off into his clinic. He delivers the fraternal twins himself, and right away can tell that Paul is perfectly healthy, but Phoebe has Down Syndrome. He doesn’t want to ruin his wife’s life, so he gives Phoebe to the nurse to take to an institution. The nurse, Caroline, just happens to secretly love David. Whoo-hoo. David tells Norah that Phoebe died at birth, and she is depressed.
1965 -
David and Norah drift apart from each other. Now, Norah wants another kid, but he doesn’t. David has a difficult past, with poverty, and the death of his sister to a heart defect. Norah has a drinking problem, but stopped after she crashed the car. She buys David a video camera, which soon becomes a new obsession for him.
Caroline couldn’t bear to leave Phoebe at the institution, and now claims that she is her baby. She frequently sends letters and pictures to update David on Phoebe. David sends them money to help support them, and sort of tries to find where they live. Caroline meets Sandra, a woman who has a four-year old son, Tim, with DS also, and they become friends.
What was your first reaction when David gave up Phoebe because she is mentally disabled? Do you think he made the right choice? If no, what should he have done or told Norah?
Category: Summarizer/Word Watcher 2 comments »
March 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I disagree with David’s decision to give up Pheobe, just because she had a mental handicap. She was Norah’s baby as well, and I believe she should have had some say in the matter. If every parent would give up their children because they were different, no parent would have any children because everyone is different. David should have told Norah and because he didn’t, I predict it will come back to haunt him. If he truly loved his wife, I would think they would be able to have a perfectly honest relationship. I see this is not quite the case, which then leads me to question the strength of their relationship with each other.
~Megan Douglas
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I think it was wrong to just send Phoebe away and tell Norah that she had died. I think that Norah should have had a say in the decision. On the other hand, you can’t really say that David doesn’t truly love Norah because he thought he was doing what was best for their family. Finally, I agree that David’s decision will come back to haunt him.