Reading Response 1/13/13

I am still reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter and it is getting good!  When I started reading this week, the book was set in March 1965.  We get a slice of the daily life of Caroline, the nurse, and Phoebe, the baby with down syndrome.  So far in the book, the author has described Caroline struggling to  raise a baby with down syndrome and her feeling alone.  But now Caroline has a friend Sandra, who also has a baby with down syndrome, and they are able to talk together and support each other.  I think that this is a good step for Caroline, so that she is able to accept that she needs help raising this baby, especially since it is a secret to Phoebe's mother that the baby is even alive.

I hope that just as Caroline is getting support for her struggles, the father of Phoebe, David can confide in someone the truth until he is ready to tell his wife that their baby is still alive.  You can tell that the guilt is now starting to eat him alive from the words the author writes.  "He must tell her; the words filled his mouth.  I love you, I love you so much, and I lied to you."  He knows that no matter how truthful about everything else he is, he will always have lied to his wife about one of the biggest parts of their life. Guilt is an awful thing.  It will never go away unless you tell the truth.  For the rest of his life, he will have guilt about not telling his wife that the baby is alive.  For the rest of his life, he will have to face the guilt of giving his baby to a nurse to take away, and not making the decision with his wife.  Even if he tells the truth, nothing will ever be the same.  He will have to regain the trust of his wife, and that may never happen.  Hopefully, David will get the help that he needs to learn how to break the truth to his wife, and their relationship will be ok.

1/9/13- 30 minutes, 10 pages
1/13/12- 2 hours, 67 pages
Total- 2 hours, 37 minutes, 77 pages