inspired

It is very rare that I read a book that truly inspires me. It’s weird, too, because it took me a while to really get into the book, but then once I picked it up, and started to really read it, I was drawn in. What book am I talking about? The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards.

The book weaves the perspective of four people whose lives are tied together by events that occur on one snowy winter night in 1964. The secret of the events that occur on that night changes the paths their lives go down and culminates in an understanding between the characters for each other 25 years later. Amidst this, the author explores the prejudices and hardships children with Downs Syndrome and their families have to face, and she also explores the sanctuary one man finds in documenting life through photography – two topics very close to my heart. The first made me think back to the days of working in my college laboratory, looking to find interventions to allow children with DS to achieve more normal lifestyles. The latter reminded me of how much I miss working in a darkroom and made me wish to have one of my own.

In any case, Kim Edwards was able to take on and demonstrate so true to life each character and truly make them human. Give it a read when you have time. It’s touching in a way that’s not forced but natural. (I cried on the PLANE reading it. How embarrassing.)