Do we need a different book?

I know everyone is very busy. Shall we try again with a different book? I sure do wish there was a way we could be connected. Love to all, Aunt Pat

Which character do you identify with?

I was reading the interview with the author and thought this was an interesting response to the question about the difficulty of not getting depressed when you write a story like this. Here is what Kim Edwards had to say:

"Well, the characters all struggle, don’t they? They walk through a lot of darkness. Yet I never found writing this book painful. In part, I think, because I identified with all the characters in this book: the one who keeps a secret and the one from whom secrets have been kept; the parent who longs for a child and the child who longs for harmony and wholeness; the wanderer and the one who stays in place. I recognized their journeys of self-discovery, in any case. I was interested in them, and I wanted to know what happened to them, and who they were. The only way to discover all that was to write the book. Also, because the novel is told through four different points of view, moving from one character’s mind to another, I was able step back from one point of view and work on another whenever I was stuck. This was very liberating, and allowed me to attain a certain level of detachment from one character while working on another."

I liked this method of using different points of view.

I asked the question but I'm not ready to answer it yet..... Aunt Pat

PS-When using a blog you can either leave a comment or create a post. To leave a comment, just click on comment after you read a post. You also have to click on comment to read the comments that have been made. To create a post, look at the top right corner where it says New Post. Click on that and you get a box with a Title spot and a place to write your thought or question. Hit publish at the bottom and you are the author of the newest post! Don't feel shy about asking for help if you need it. It can be frustrating at first.

Thanks, Bethany!

I think we are set up so hopefully all can begin to contribute. I am curious to know if you enjoyed the book and which questions you want to respond to. If the posts here don't get you started, go to the discussion questions at the back of your book or the ones Bethany directed us to. Love to all of you! If this shows up signed by Pat and Bo that means I am still working on the separate log ons. I'm a bit boggled by Google on all this.

Blogger Confusion

Blogger was bought out by Google recently and now is offering to upgrade to new Blogger accounts. The new blogger accounts have some cooler options but everyone would have to create a new account to access the Brockman-Yates Book Club blog if I upgrade it. Does anyone mind if I switch to the new blog accounts? Is this all too complicated? Let me know and we can just leave it be.

Discussion Questions

Here is the link to the discussion questions: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/memory_keeper.html
The questions are at the bottom of the page after an interview with the author Kim Edwards.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Even in the midst of Jay's visit I have lost myself in The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I hope everyone at least has a copy by now (Katy-I will get you one, and Bethany, you too if you weren't able to get it at the library) I find it captivating at many levels-being a wife, being a mother, how quickly our lives pass, the things we keep secret from the people we love most, the different way men and women deal with emotions, insight into the feelings of our children and how they watch us and take to heart our every word and action, Much more but that is all I will say for now. Bethany is going to send a web site book clubs use for discussion questions. I got the book from the library so I don't have the discussion questions that are at the back of the paperbacks from the bookstore. But if anyone wants to jump in with something that is there from the first chapter or introduction please do. Let's plan on getting the first section read by end of month at least. That is about 70 pages and is the part called 1964. I think you will find, as Shanna did, that you are so drawn in you have to keep reading! She had to know what happened so started at 7 p.m. and stayed up til she finished! Those Yates have always been fast readers. Pat Brockman