Blog 5 pages 255-358

These one hundred pages carry many controversies and secrets that help develop the story. While looking for Caroline, David gets the idea to visit his old house which leads him to the discovery of the 16 year old pregnant run away named Rosemary. She ran away from home after becoming pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, so David decided to bring her home to give her a place to live as well as somewhere to raise her soon to be born child. The next chapter opens up explaining how Norah has had multiple affairs on David starting with Howard and then having 4 others. Throughout the rest of the passages, David moves out into a split house with him on one side and Rosemary on the other, Norah falls in love with a french man named Frederic and Paul does tours across the US playing the guitar at random clubs. One significant passage in this section is, "I gave away our daughter. He signed and put the pen down. He couldn't do this; he could hardly imagine anymore what his life would be without the weight of this hidden knowledge." This quote occurs when David goes to his old house, Norah's current house, while she's in France to look around. He ends up fixing the pipes downstairs and something tells him he should leave a note telling her the truth about her daughter who is currently still alive. Although he ends up chickening out and leaves a note that says, "I fixed the pipe."

Blog 6 pages 359-401

During this last section of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, all the events come together and all of the mysteries are solved leaving the reader feeling satisfied. Norah goes over to David's house to collect any of his belongings she wishes to keep because he sadly passed away. While looking through things he finds his photography of random women and children and she gets very upset causing her to bring them outside and burn them. While this occurs Caroline comes over to David's house and welcome's for Norah to be able to meet Phoebe so they can connect after all their years apart. As far as Paul's world go, him and Michelle are martial issues concerning having child though both of their careers are just taking off. He leaves her and goes to visit her mom and help her clean out her dads stuff. It's here that they decide to visit Caroline and meet Phoebe for the first time. In this section of the book one of the most significant quotes is, "Phoebe took hold of Caroline's hand. "This is my mother," she said" (page 387). The reason why this quote is significant is because even in the presence of her real mom Norah, Phoebe's mom that has helped her grow and become who she is today is Caroline. This deeply affects Norah and it makes her question David's decision to give her up in the beginning leading to many questions that will never be solved as a result of David's death. 

Blog 4 pages 189-254

During this section in the book many important events occurred that helped shape the novel and give it more things to analyze. For example Paul grows up and decides he wants to make his own life decisions and wants to attend Julliard for his musical talents on the guitar. While back in Pittsberg, Caroline talks to Al about what will become of Phoebe's future and as to how she will manage it. A few years later Caroline goes to David's photography show where he was scheduled to show off his artwork. Him and Caroline talk and she agrees to stay after the show so they can catch up and go to dinner although she breaks his promise and he never hears from her again. One quote that is specifically important is when Caroline thinks, "She'd spent too much of her young life waiting-for recognition, for adventure, for love. It wasn't until she'd turned with Phoebe in her arms and left the home in Louisville, not until she packed up her things and moved away, that her life had really begun." This quote symbolized that she no longer needed the support of anyone but herself to live a stable life and care for Phoebe and her needs. Her life was in her own hands and no one would be able to take this from her. I feel that her life officially started with the addition of Phoebe and her challenges, which gave her something to live and care for therefore improving her life. 

BLOG 3 pages 123-188

Many important events occur in this section such as: Norah gets a job, Paul attends school, Caroline continues the fight for equal education for specially challenged children, Al asks her to marry him and after the third time she agrees AND while Norah and David are on vacation with much older Paul, they meet a man named Howard who Norah begins to fall in love with. One quote that sticks out is when Norah is explaining how see feels when she's hugging Howard, "Norah let her breath out, slowly, slowly, wondering if Howard could feel the wild rapid pulsing of her blood." The fact that Howard is making Norah's pulse increase shows that she has feelings towards him and that she feels connected to him in more ways than just a friendship. It's significant because David is not the loving affectionate guy she fell in love with oh so long ago and it shows that she wants someone else in her life. Throughout the remainder of their vacation Norah secretly sees Howard at his vacation home and they continue to get closer and closer. This leads me to wonder how far their "friendship" will last especially since Howard is in the middle of a divorce himself and Norah questions daily why she is still married to David. 

BLOG 2 pgs. 70-122

"But what if they simply erased those growth and development charts, with their precise, constricting points and curves? What if they kept their expectations but erased the time line? What harm could it do? Why not try?" (page 98)

In the section titled March 1965 it begins with Caroline who ended up being a nurse for a retired doctor in Pittsberg. Doro, Leo March's daughter, was a PhD and was one of Caroline's only friends in this new town. When Phoebe ever has problem's Doro is always there to help out and cure her. The next day her friend Sandra comes over so Tim, her son, and Phoebe can play. Caroline met Sandra once while intensively studying about Down's syndrome and getting extremely frustrted in the process. Ever since they decided to have playdates and learn more about this disease to improve their children's mental health. This is nicely described in the quote above. 

BOOK REFLECTION

For outside reading I'm reading a book called The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. The main reason why I'm reading it is because it has been sitting on my book shelf for a really long time and I've always been curious about it. My mom has been recommending it for about a year but I always get sidetracked by other random novels or the novels that we have to read for school. On both the front and back covers of the book are quotes from other authors praising the book. Also, this book is extremely worn in for the amount of times my mom has read it so from the first section it's already promising to be a great read. 

Outside Reading: Blog 1

For outside reading, I'm reading a book called The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. This novel is about a doctor by the name of Dr. David Henry and his wife Norah who live in the year 1964 in Lexington, Kentucky. One day during the middle of a blizzard, his wife starts to go into labor causing them to drive to his clinic that he works at to deliver their child. The doctor they called in got stuck in the snow leaving just Dr. Henry and his nurse that works for him to deliver this baby. Unknown to him, his wife had twins but one was born mentally challenged which he didn't want to have to struggle with during his life so he gave the baby to Caroline, the nurse, and told her to take it to a clinic. In the mean time he has to tell his wife that one of the twins died. She decides to have a church service for it and invite all her friends to mourn the death of the baby. When she tells her husband he replies, "You're making a mountain out of a molehill, Norah. Which, I suppose, its understandable." This quote symbolizes that Dr. Henry thinks his wife is making a big deal out of nothing when really it is totally understandable since she needs a way to overcome the death of a child.