Book review.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

I know this book has been around for a couple of years and I think it has been recommended to me a couple of times, but I finally picked it up at the library last week. I was hooked from the beginning and just couldn't put it down. Seriously one of the best books I've read in a while. Here is the synopsis from the official website.

This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love.

I was just horrified the whole time at the choice this guy made, but the plot is just so rich beyond that. There are so many subplots and mini-stories throughout the book and so many characters to care about. You know how irritated I get when a character is overdone and turns into a caricature (maybe you don't know this about me, but oh it's a big pet peeve people), but I didn't feel any of this with this book. The characters all seemed true and real, they make terrible mistakes and deal with things awkwardly. I just love it when things don't necessarily wrap up all neat and tidy at the end. Good, good book.