2nd Reading Response

I am still reading, The Memory Keepers Daughter, but now I am almost finished with the book.

In the lives of Norah, her husband, and her son, everything is coming unraveled. Norah's Son Paul is a teenager now, and becoming ever more distant to his mother and father. Not without reason is he becoming distant though. Paul's father is obsessed with his work at the hospital and his photography, and Paul's mother is bitter and harboring the secret of an affair. Paul and his father both know Norah had an affair over their vacation. but no one speaks of it. Meanwhile, Caroline the nurse that took Phoebe, Paul's twin that was abandoned at birth, is working to steadily, but slowly teach Phoebe basic life skills. In this era of the 1970's Down syndrome is not commonly accepted.

The author of The Memory Keepers Daughter writes this book in pattern which each chapter switches the point of view. So far there has been four different point of views; Norah, Paul, Caroline, and David. I love this style of writing because you get so many different views on the story being told.

A line that I really connected with was, “Here, this did not matter. Only the dream mattered..."

The reason I loved and connected with this line, from Norah's point of view, was because I have been in countless situations where I knew I was doing something not acceptable but what mattered was the moment I was in. Norah was speaking of the moments where she was with the man she has an affair with. I never have done anything this extreme, but in moments like disobeying my mom to go to an event or friends, I did something I really enjoyed even though I knew my mom would be disappointed in me.

I decided to post this photo because Norah’s affair happened at a beach house, by the ocean.

The scenes described by Norah about her affair were very vivid, and I could feel the emotion she had when I read it.