Just a quick review of this book I finished a few days ago — I started the Kite Runner today and I'm enthralled. But I wanted to make sure I wrote something about Edwards' book before I got caught up in something else.
Because I'm too lazy to write a review: From Booklist: "David Henry's life was turning out as he hoped. He was a doctor, married to a beautiful woman, Nora, with a baby on the way. But everything changed overnight because of one fateful decision. On a winter evening in 1961, a blizzard brewing, Nora goes into labor. Due to the weather, they could only make it to the clinic, not the hospital, and only Caroline, the nurse, arrived to help deliver the baby. David delivers his own child, a perfectly healthy son. But when Nora continues her labor, David realizes she is carrying twins; and the second child, a girl, is born with Down syndrome. Wanting to protect his wife from the devastating news, David gives the child to Caroline to take to an institution, asking her never to reveal the secret. Caroline takes the baby and disappears. Unfolding the plot over the course of 25 years, Edwards tells a moving story of two families bound by a secret that both eats away at relationships and eventually helps to create new ones."
I thought this was a pretty decent book that suffered from too much fluff. My first gripe was that it got bogged down, especially in the middle, by really long, descriptive passages. Too many metaphors. Long paragraphs about short things. A lot of clutter. Extra characters were introduced too far into the novel. Edwards writing is strong and her prose was well-crafted, but I found myself saying, "let's get to the action!" My other gripe is that it all tied up a little too neatly at the end. Because it wrapped up so neatly, I didn't really care what happened to the characters after I turned the last page.
I did enjoy the whole book, though, especially how it dealt with actions and consequences. I liked that the characters were deeply flawed but all were redeemable in some sense.
My Rating: 6 out of 10 for being long and drawn out, but interesting nonetheless.
I just got this one from the library. Glad to hear you liked it. You should join Shelfari.com if you're not already. :) All the cool kids are doing it! ;)
I remember really liking this book, but I read the entire thing in one sitting on a flight to England so it's all a bit of a blur now.
I think I may enjoy fluff because I did quite enjoy that book. As for Kite Runner, there were difficult parts to get through but it was so worth it!
I was so excited to see you write about this book. Dr. Edwards signed a copy of this book for the state senator I work for, she's a very gracious, kind person. I had never heard about her until he shared this book with me.