My name is Clare. I live in suburban Chicago. I read a lot, when I’m not messing around in my garden. I’m a geek, of the role-playing comic-book-reading perl-programming linux-command-line-using variety.
Right now I’m working part-time and hanging out at home with my daughter JB, who is cute but very time-consuming.
Dear Clare, I read and disliked The Memory Keeper’s Daughter…or rather I read it as you did, in a chair at Border’s last night, in dutiful preparation for my 23-year-long book club’s monthly meeting…with some care for 50 pagers, then skimmed to the end. Every one of your criticisms were dead-on. I’ve taught college comp and lit at our community colleges for 25 years, and been in a book club for 23…this was the worst choice yet (not mine!).
There was a New Yorker cartoon years back depicting a man alone at a podium in a large empty space, and on the podium, the banner “Club Who Did Not Like ‘Dances With Wolves.’” This novel made me feel similarly alone. But, not that many people appreciate Silas Marner, either.
Thank you for your review.
Julie Sandblom
I don’t understand the current enthusiasm for Memory Keeper’s Daughter. It seems like a lot of classes are reading it on assignment, and it’s such a mediocre book. There have to be better choices for classes, even among current bestsellers.
I think that there’s a certain group of people who know ahead of time that they’re going to hate MKD and so don’t read it, but I only know one other person who actually read it and disliked it.
More people should read Silas Marner. The payoff at the end after the long slow setup is one of the most joyful things I’ve ever read. I wasn’t expecting anything so flat-out happy, and I loved it.