The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards - 3.5 stars

I have had this book for a few months before deciding to read it as a buddy read. I was not sure what to expect since I knew nothing about it. I found it to be a very touching story and also pretty thought provoking as well.

Set in the 1960's when women were still gassed during a delivery of her baby, a doctor finds himself having to deliver his own twins. His son is born first and he is healthy and perfect, and was thought to be the only child until his twin was born minutes later. It is a little girl who is not born perfect and healthy, but is born with Down Syndrome. The father makes a decision to have the little girl sent to an institution since her prognosis was not good in his eyes. And the story goes from there.

I think the characters were pretty well developed. I could many personality changes in each of them during the course of this story. At first I actually really despised David who is the father/doctor, and I really like Norah who was the birth mother. As I watched them develop and grow throughout the story, I saw some very distinct changes in both of these characters that made me change my mind on that. I ended up not really caring for either one of the main characters.

The twins Paul and Phoebe were also well developed although I feel like the story with Phoebe was less developed than it should have been. I saw more focus on Paul. I would have loved to see more about Phoebe in this since I thought the story was more focused on the aspect of dealing with Down Syndrome. I also found that this brings up the question, 'what would you do?' in this situation. Because of the time period, I could understand many of the sides of this story. And then on the other hand I found some parts rather unforgivable.

This is definitely worth the read, and I found myself taking my time because the story gets a little complex with different stories being told by different characters. And also some parts got a tad bit draggy and boring. It was still pretty easy to follow. I also got worried thinking that I would not get closure on a certain aspect of the story. Which is really what drove me through the book. This is getting a solid 3.5 stars from me.