There was a sense that there was a lot of word of mouth happening with 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter,' even in hardcover.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Writers are rememberers.
I love 'Memory Keeper's Daughter,' but in some ways I think 'The Lake of Dreams' is a stronger book. I was able to tell the story I wanted to tell. That's all you can ever do as a writer. From there on you have no control over it.
I was an early reader, and my grandmother, who as a child had been forbidden to read by a father who believed books to be frivolous time-wasters, delighted in putting her favorite volumes into her grandchildren's hands.
Memory is the personal journalism of the soul.
I had a great life even before 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' took off. I really enjoy teaching.
After you've read a novel, you only retain a vague memory of its contents. You remember the atmosphere, the odd image or phrase or vivid cameo.
When I was young, all the books were about a Mary Jane and the football player and the prom and ending up with the quiet guy and making your mom happy.
When I was little, my grandma used to get romance novels, and she would get hundreds of these, and she'd read a dozen a month.
My grandmother could never have written a memoir, so 'The Gravedigger's Daughter' is a homage to her life, and to the lives of other young women of her generation, which are so rarely articulated.
Memory is a fiction we tell ourselves: just a piece of the truth.