I wanted to love this book, but I didn't. I've seen it recommended over and over again, and though it was a decent book overall, I probably wouldn't read it again. I know a lot of people love it, and it was written beautifully, I just couldn't get myself involved in the plot.Here's a quick summary of the plot. Dr. David Henry and his wife Norah have twins on one snowy evening. They are helped by a nurse named Caroline Gill that is in love with Dr. Henry. The first baby is born, a healthy baby boy. A few minutes later, the second baby is born, a girl with Down Syndrome. Dr. Henry is still haunted from the death of his 12-year old sister from a heart defect and thinks this baby girl in his arms will die too. To save himself and his wife from grief down the road, he tells Caroline to take the baby to an institution. He then tells Norah that the baby girl died and was already buried while she was sleeping. Dr. Henry thought this would save his family grief, but it only built up an unbreakable wall between Norah and himself that neither would ever be able to climb over. In the meantime, Caroline takes the baby to the institution and realizes that she can't leave it there, and disappears with the baby to raise her as her own.
The rest of the novel flips back and forth between the two lives. On one side, Dr. Henry and Norah struggle as they deal with the grief and guilt David's decision caused. On the other side, Caroline is raising Phoebe and dealing with the struggles of having a daughter with Down Syndrome. The entire story rests on the lie that Phoebe (the daughter) died during childbirth.
I don't know why, but I really just couldn't relate to this book. The plot was realistic enough (affairs, rebelling teenage boys, Down Syndrome, family problems), but it jumped around too much for me. It felt like I was jumping from one island to another without any bridge between them. I wanted to feel for the characters, but I eventually ended up despising almost all of them for one reason or another. David for giving away his daughter; Norah for never letting it go and running into the arms of another man when David's weren't around enough; and Caroline for causing Norah more grief when she finally was at peace.
So I'll leave this one up to you. It was a decent read, but I probably wouldn't pick it up again. Maybe I was just having a bad weekend, but it really was hard for me to read because of the content. I just could not imagine any father giving his daughter away and then lying about her death forever. It is beautifully written so for that I'll give it three stars.
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I reviewed this one too and thought the same thing, it was just ok.
ReplyDeleteI thought this book was good. I'm anxious to see how the movie plays out.
ReplyDeleteI must be weird, I liked this book a lot. The beginning was slow, but it was interesting to me. The movie is this Saturday on Lifetime. I'm interested in seeing it, too.
ReplyDeleteI thought this movie was done very well. I was pleasantly surprised.
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