This Deal Is Getting Worse All The Time
The Memory Keeper's Daughter / TK
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is based upon the book of the same name, written by first-time novelist Kim Edwards. Directed by Mick Jackson (whose bizarre resume includes The Bodyguard, L.A. Story, Tuesdays With Morrie and a bunch of TV stuff), it tells the story of a well-to-do couple in Lexington, Kentucky, during 1964. Gretchen Mol stars as Norah Henry, a pregnant housewife who is rushed to the hospital during a snowstorm by her doctor husband David (Dermot Mulroney). Once there, he hurries to deliver the child with the assistance of his faithful nurse, Caroline Gil (Emily Watson), only to discover that there is a second baby in there! Now, I will fully admit to being ignorant about medical history, so maybe some of our clinically inclined readers can help me out on this, but does it not seem odd that a woman (even in 1964) whose husband is, you know, a doctor, would be completely ignorant that she was having twins? Although they must have been teeny-tiny twins, since Mol appeared to have nothing more than a throw pillow under her shirt.
But I digress. The first twin is a healthy baby boy, who they name Paul. The second, however, is afflicted with what we now know as Down syndrome, or as Dr. Henry charmingly says, “She’s a mongoloid.” Not wanting to live with the stigma of having a defective child and fearing his wife would be devastated, he asks Nurse Gil to abscond with the baby and take it to a local home for such outcast children while he tells his wife the child died during the delivery. However, Caroline discovers that the home is little more than a Dickensian hellhole, where the children are strapped down to the beds and threatened with violence if they misbehave. Since Caroline is a compassionate soul, she cannot bear the thought of leaving the baby in this fetid dump and thus decides to adopt the child as her own. She moves to Pittsburgh after falling for a kindly truck driver to begin life anew. As time passes (the movie covers the characters’ lives from 1964 until the mid-’80s), we see Caroline and her boyfriend raise the girl, Phoebe (Krystal Nausbaum), as part of a happy family, while David struggles with his guilt, affecting his relationship with his wife and son until his entire family descends into a murky mess of alcoholism, infidelity and divorce.
Clearly, I am not the target demographic for this type of film, nor do I have any intention of reading the book. In fact, the most recent book I read was about a wizard private detective who saves the world from vampires. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy something that’s different from my regular genres… if it’s good. And despite the luminous presence of Ms. Watson in this, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is decidedly not good. In fact, it’s downright terrible. It’s the kind of ham-fisted, overly emotional filmmaking designed to make the ignorant masses feel like they’ve just witnessed something important. It is completely lacking in subtlety, style, tone and anything resembling skillful directing. It’s certainly not helped by the fact that the writing is lazy, stupid, and frankly, boring. Whether that parallels the novel, or whether the novel was victimized by John Pielmeier’s teleplay adaptation, I’ll certainly never know. Honestly, I’m completely OK with that. In fact, let’s get this review rolling so that I can finally kill my memory of it with Scotch when I’m done.
When I say that it suffers from lazy writing, I mean it. The first sign appeared seven minutes into the film, when I realized I had already seen the third flashback. While I’m generally not a big fan of the flashback as a storytelling device, I can understand the occasional need for one to provide some simple exposition. However, by switching to these gauzy, black-and-white clips, the movie disrupts itself, and shows that it’s fundamentally just too goddamn lifeless to think of a way to give the characters any backstory, instead relying on these shameless ploys to bring you up to speed.
Equally annoying, the film is filled with the kind of coincidences and forced characterization that can be infuriating about television in general. After Caroline decides not to abandon the child, her car runs out of gas in the middle of a blizzard. Fortunately, there is a kindly trucker named Al who picks her up … and her house happens to be on his route … and they eventually fall in love and move to Pittsburgh together and live happily ever-fucking-after. It’s the type of weakly thought-out plot contrivance that you see coming the moment the truck driver steps onto the scene. Caroline and Al go on to live in bliss with their wonderful adopted daughter, fighting the good fight for children with Down syndrome and trying to get her a place in public school. Meanwhile, David grows increasingly distant from Norah, obsessing over his photography hobby more than his family. Norah retaliates by sleeping around and drinking too much vodka. Instead of making an attempt to make the characters seem real, the writer(s) seemingly painted them with the broadest possible strokes. Everything about Al and Caroline — from their loving glances at each other, to their charming doting over Phoebe, to their gosh-darn blue-collar pluckiness — is designed to screech at you at the loudest of volumes, “CAN’T YOU SEE WHAT NICE PEOPLE THEY ARE?!” It’s an easy way for the writers to show them as the protagonists. Amazingly, despite working low-paying jobs and having a child with special needs, the couple never fights, never disagrees about anything, and Phoebe is shown as an absolutely perfect angel. I’m sorry, but I’m calling bullshit. I’m not saying that a child with Down syndrome is any better or worse than a child born healthy, but don’t try to tell me that raising that child doesn’t come with its share of stresses and difficulties. In fact, showing that side would simply have humanized them more. But instead the film would have us believe that their lives consist of nothing but dancing, sing-alongs, and starry-eyed, love-filled gazes.
At the same time, David and Norah are even more cardboard than Al and Caroline. Just as Phoebe’s adopted parents are sweet, kind and loving, Paul’s parents are thoughtless, distant and unpleasant. During a vacation on a beach somewhere, a stranger has to merely leer at Norah and creepily rub her hand a bit, and in the next scene she’s inelegantly stripping for him and boffing him in his beach house. David is making passes at Norah’s friends and ignoring his son, leading the son to fall and break his arm (you see what happens when you’re neglectful?!). Norah is a shrill, whiny nag of a woman who’ll nail anyone with a pulse while she drinks herself into submission. It’s just all so trite and obvious. Norah hates her husband. David hates his life. David wants his son to be a doctor, and his son — hey man, he just wants to play his music, man, you know? And thus, inevitably, Paul hates his father. He stumbles across his mother cheating so that, of course, he can hate her, too. The family is never shown to have even a single moment of joy or intimacy. It’s all over-simplified and completely pre-packaged for smooth and easy digestion. Don’t worry, folks! This way you don’t have to think about who’s right and who’s wrong! Just follow these simple cues and we’ll do it for you!
I realize that criticizing the plot and character development of a Lifetime movie is a bit like shooting fish in a teacup, but I can’t help myself. This movie fails on so many levels it’s almost farcical. Mol delivers a stunningly overwrought, shrewish performance that is the housewife equivalent of a mustache-twirling villain. Halfway through the movie, I wanted David to abandon her at the Arkham Asylum for the Disabled shown at the beginning. Mulroney apparently has two modes in this — “Frowning” and “Somber,” and literally nothing else. I think he smiles twice in the whole film. The various actors who play Paul are pretty much all the same annoying, bratty, “I learned it from watching YOU!” kind of after-school special character. About the only interesting thing about his character is witnessing his awesome hairstyle choices over the decades.
If there is a bright spot to be found in this godforsaken, sinking trash barge of a film, it’s Watson. I don’t know whether she’s short on cash or just bored, but she is completely out of place in this film. Fortunately, that’s a good thing. She succeeds in being the best part of a bad movie, and apparently is the only actor in the film who understands the word “subtlety.” She quietly takes over every scene she is in, conveying a sense of kindness and motherliness via subtle cues and softspoken lines. Yes, her character is just as obvious and one-note as the rest, but she still manages to make Caroline at least feel like a real person. Interestingly, perhaps the only other decent character is that of Phoebe, who is well-portrayed by Krystal Nausbaum. Sadly, the character of the adult Phoebe that Ms. Nausbaum plays is underused.
OK, so it’s a Lifetime movie. I’m probably not supposed to like it. I get that. But the saddest part is that there is actually a decent point to be made on this subject. It could have provided some insight into the difficulties in raising a disabled child, or dealing with the sense of loss when a parent gives one up for adoption. It could have shown some of the deficiencies that our educational system has when it comes to disabled kids (something that is addressed in a throwaway scene for about three minutes). But instead it goes for the cheap, affected story, relentlessly pulling at the heartstrings of those whose idea of good storytelling is the latest Danielle Steel novel. As a result, instead of delivering any semblance of a message, we are spoon-fed a dull, poorly acted, carelessly plotted microwave dinner of a film. It’s lukewarm, it tastes like wet Styrofoam, and I felt vaguely ill afterwards.
TK can be found wandering aimlessly through suburban Massachusetts, wondering how the hell he got there while yelling at the kids on his lawn. You can find him wasting his time at Uncooked Meat, where he is currently even more murderous than usual.
DVD Releases 04/16/08 | | How Bad Did Your Prom Suck?
Comments
I read and liked the book - it has a lot more characterization than it sounds like the movie had. I watched about 10 minutes of the movie before realizing that watching it would completely destroy any fondness I had for the story. This was the LAST thing I expected to see reviewed on pajiba, but I'm glad to read that I didn't miss much by changing the channel!
Posted by: harvette at April 16, 2008 1:19 PM
In fact, the most recent book I read was about a wizard private detective who saves the world from vampires.
Do tell...
Posted by: Shadows of Dakaron at April 16, 2008 1:29 PM
But the saddest part is that there is actually a decent point to be made on this subject. It could have provided some insight into the difficulties in raising a disabled child...
Great review as usual TK, and so true. My 7 year-old cousin has cerebral palsy, and though his mental capabilities are only slightly affected he's very physically disabled. Every day is a struggle for my aunt, and yet he provides more joy in her and my extended family's lives than we could ever have imagined. There's so much more to raising a disabled child than "Schmoopy schmoopy life is hard" overly sentimental proverbs.
Posted by: Julie at April 16, 2008 1:31 PM
Well, TK, look what they did to the Harry Dresden novels when they tried to make those into a television series? How you can possibly fuck-up a story about a wizard private detective is beyond me, but go, SciFi channel, go.
Ugh. Don't remind me. -TK
Posted by: insertclevernamehere at April 16, 2008 1:32 PM
I can't fucking believe you watched this. A Lifetime movie? Really? Oh, TK, your poor, poor manhood. How it suffers.
Posted by: Kolby at April 16, 2008 1:34 PM
I sat through all four hours of "The Capture of the Green River Killer" and was pleasantly entertained. That guy killed like over 70 people! I had no idea.
Riding on this Lifetime Movie Network high, I was quite close to watching this Memory Keeper movie (esp since I heart Dermot Mulroney).
Thanks for taking one for the team and warning us that Lifetime movies still employ "lazy" writers.
Posted by: Teresa at April 16, 2008 1:40 PM
Well, TK, look what they did to the Harry Dresden novels when they tried to make those into a television series?
So it wasn't good? As you said, the premise is great, but I haven't gotten around to reading/watching yet.
Dammit, I just really want more Garth Ennis/Warren Ellis Hellblazer to exist.
(still scared shitless that that HBO "Preacher" mini will be made and be horrrrrible. plus I'm still pissed that I can't find a FUCK COMMUNISM Zippo. Who has fallen down on their licensing job here????)
Posted by: Jay at April 16, 2008 1:44 PM
My favorite Lifetime movie is called "A Moment of Truth: Stalking back"-it's about a young girl Larissa who is stalked by a slightly older guy (Curt) who was an umpire in her softball league. It is SO FUNNY. We watched it in college and by the end we were cheering for Curt. It gets bonus points for featuring a young, long-haired Paul Rudd.
Posted by: Julie at April 16, 2008 1:45 PM
"wizard private detective who saves the world from vampires"
Yes, DO tell!
Posted by: Bev M. at April 16, 2008 1:47 PM
I'm disappointed A) that this book was made into a Lifetime movie and B) that the Lifetime movie sucked as badly as Lifetime movies tend to.
From your review, the movie sounds like it followed the plot fairly closely... albeit superficially. The book was excellently done. It struck a particular note with me because a close friend of the family had a brother with Down syndrome who was put into a facility when he was five and was never spoken about again.
Posted by: Pea at April 16, 2008 1:50 PM
I do still love John McCain's SNL, including his Lifetime movie.
I saw a little web ad for this somewhere recently and thought "wait.......does that say Lifetime? This is a TV movie? A Lifetime TV movie? These people showed up for it? Who's moving up and who's moving down here?"
It was a very puzzling moment.
TK, just keep thinking of the scoundrel. That'll help smooth this over in your head.
Posted by: Jay at April 16, 2008 1:50 PM
I had the misfortune to start reading this book at the Shore last summer. It is, without a doubt, one of the most trite, terrible pieces of trash I have ever subjected myself to. I never like to just quit on a book, but with this one I had to, if not solely to protect my sanity. I'm not surprised the movie version blows, too; if you try to polish a turd, you just end up with a shiny turd.
Posted by: thejodester at April 16, 2008 1:53 PM
Ooh ooh ooh!
Sorry to multi-post:
has anyone else here seen "Babycakes"?
College girlfriend and her friend just loved it to death and watched their taped-off-Lifetime copy all the time. I finally watched it and had to agree with them. Lifetimetastic with Ricki Lake AND Craig Sheffer, people. Plus I'm still convinced that Stephin Merritt sang the theme song.
Posted by: Jay at April 16, 2008 1:54 PM
This is a book I picked up in an airport a year or so ago. While the book wasn't the best I've ever read, it wasn't terrible and definitely raised some intriguing issues. The book definitely has better character development than what you describe from the movie and the character's lives were more complex and less black and white. The nurse's life with the truck driver and adopted daughter is not all tra, la, la if I am remembering correctly.
I briefly stumbled across the movie the other night and was irritated enough to turn the tv off once it landed on a commercial. Some Lifetime movies are so bad they are entertaining (Dying to Belong springs to mind but that may have originated somewhere else and just show up there every so often) to laugh at but this just looked painful.
Posted by: soulfusion at April 16, 2008 2:03 PM
reeling with jet lag, I allowed myself to sit in front of this last Saturday (I still can't explain why, I'd like to plead Emily Watson, but I knowingly watched a Lifetime movie so I should be whipped). It was so awful and not awful in the usual so terrible it's good way. Just awful. The fact that the adopter couple were show so happily all the time made the line about "I don't want to raise another child" completely ridiculous. But absolutely, the best thing as TK says was the boy's hairstyles. I especially loved his senior high school hair style which made him look like a cross between cro-magnon man and Larry, Darryl and Darryl from the old Newhart show.
Posted by: PaddyDog at April 16, 2008 2:15 PM
that's really too bad, having worked with children with Down's Syndrome, it sounds like the move had potential to give some insight to the lives of those with Down's Syndrome and their loved ones
oh well, I suppose I don't really expect anything better then "meh" now-a-days
but the real question (as posed by a few others already) is
In fact, the most recent book I read was about a wizard private detective who saves the world from vampires.
I am pretty sure if you don't give up the title and author you will have a minor mutiny on your hands here.....
Posted by: Bethy at April 16, 2008 2:16 PM
"I am pretty sure if you don't give up the title and author you will have a minor mutiny on your hands here....."
Jesus, alright already.
Jim Butcher. The Dresden Files novels. Ignore the Sci-Fi channel series. Pretend it never existed. The books are a blast.
Posted by: TK at April 16, 2008 2:19 PM
As Mr. Prisco (a bad pun generator in my head always wonders if he's motorin. But I keep that to myself.
Aw, shit) inferred, it's novels about a character named Harry Dresden collectively known as The Dresden Files, written by Jim Butcher.
Posted by: Jay at April 16, 2008 2:19 PM
Not defending the movie... because the book was bad too... but it is very possible to "miss" a twin pregnancy, even these days. It's not common, but my mother's midwife had one case of "undiagnosed twins" at a birth she attended, and there was a case at our mid-sized hospital last year as well.
And in the 1960s? Very very possible.
Posted by: J at April 16, 2008 2:22 PM
People! The series is called The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The first book is Storm Front. There are about ten of them.
The books are fucking awesome. A potent blend of humor, action, and mystery. But the television series is tragically bad. Read the books.
Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire in the phone books. But while magic is a real part of the universe, nobody else believes in it. So he operates like a gumshoe, only he's treated vaguely like a psychic. He works with the Chicago PD when "weird shit" happens. He battles vampires, faeries, other wizards and shit, but it's done in the style of a murder investigation.
You will love the hell out of them.
Posted by: insertclevernamehere at April 16, 2008 2:26 PM
I own the book, and I read it twice. I knew the movie would be crap, because a) Lifetime and 2) book adaptation.
The only reason I read the book a second time was to evaluate if my initial negative reaction was a fluke. Maybe I had PMS, maybe I was feeling stabby, etc. No. It's just mostly tripe. It's got a great, heartbreaking, exploratory premise at the center, but it gets caught up in the adultery, the ridiculously staged meet-cute in the grocery store, the kindly older friend who gives a house to a family, blah blah blah whatevercakes. In short, I'm not surprised that the book translated poorly to the screen, because it translated poorly to my brain.
Posted by: Nicole at April 16, 2008 2:26 PM
Oh, shit, forgot to include this:
My aunt gave birth to twin girls in June 1974. Nobody knew there were two until Colleen followed Christine out.
Posted by: Nicole at April 16, 2008 2:28 PM
Jay, I have seen Babycakes at least 5 times. It's one of those movies that comes on at 2AM when they don't want to show a fuzzy screen. But you know what? Despite it's cheesiness, I love it. It's so fucking cute in it's 80's humor (albeit unrealistic) that I always watch it from beginning to end. Damn my feminine weakness.
TK, I was hoping this movie would be good because I haven't had time to read the book. What really saddens me is a brilliant actress like Emily Watson is relegated to shit like this. She was incredible in Hilary & Jackie and it seemed like her star was on the rise. I hope she gets better roles in the future.
Posted by: Brie at April 16, 2008 2:33 PM
Nicole,
'It's got a great, heartbreaking, exploratory premise at the center, but it gets caught up...'
EXACTLY.
Posted by: thejodester at April 16, 2008 2:36 PM
Count me among those had a lukewarm reaction to the book. It had its moments, and a good premise, but...meh, it was pretty mushy.
It did seem a pretty prime candidate for a Lifetime Movie adaptation.
Posted by: MO at April 16, 2008 2:40 PM
cool, thanks TK and insert, I've been looking for some new books to delve into, these sound like they will fit the bill perfectly
Posted by: Bethy at April 16, 2008 2:42 PM
Good lord, why is this even getting a review. I start convulsing any time I even channel surf through a Lifetime movie.
And, I've never read the book. I kind of make it a rule to skip any book I see more than 3 people reading on public transportation. Excepting HP.
Posted by: tt_marie at April 16, 2008 2:43 PM
Most recently seen for a third time? That book called Eat. Something. Pray. You know what I'm talking about.
Yup, I'll never read that.
Posted by: tt_marie at April 16, 2008 2:44 PM
The part about Watson being totally out of place made me remember that I saw a preview on PBS last night for My Boy Jack on Masterpiece Theatre. Starring Daniel Radcliffe as Jack and . . . wait for it . . . Kim Catrall as his mother!!!! WTF???
Kim Catrall is on Masterpiece Theatre, y'all - the countdown to 2012 has officially begun!
Posted by: SCG at April 16, 2008 2:47 PM
in regards to Kim Catrall on Masterpiece Theater:
I actually heard her talking about the movie on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me the other day (yes, we stream NPR in my office, shut up) and I think I might give her the benefit of the doubt on this one
She used to be a semi-decent actress before she became a joke on Sex and the City, so perhaps with the right material she will suprise us
or I could have just typed the stupidest comment you would have read all week.....
I suppose only time will tell
Posted by: Bethy at April 16, 2008 2:58 PM
Most recently seen for a third time? That book called Eat. Something. Pray. You know what I'm talking about.
Yup, I'll never read that.
Eat, Pray, Love. And DON'T, tt, I had to read it recently for my book club and it sucked my ass.
Posted by: Julie at April 16, 2008 3:07 PM
Tags!
Posted by: Julie at April 16, 2008 3:07 PM
Hell yes to another reader of the Dresden Files- Jim Butcher is one of the most entertaining authors out there. Also, another great review TK.
Posted by: Ryan at April 16, 2008 3:17 PM
My mother forced me to read the book over Christmas break last year. Surprisingly not too bad.
One thing I actually liked about the movie was they used an ACTUAL handicapped person to play a handicapped character. Not that you can really fake Down Syndrome with a clear conscience, but my sister is Autistic and over the years I'm amazed at how many parts in movies and tv shows that should be played by people with mental/physical handicaps just use "normal" people.
I actually LIKED Johnny Knoxville's "The Ringer" BECAUSE they showed handicapped people could laugh at themselves and were capable of an acting range. Even though the movie wasn't that great I don't think I'm alone here.
Posted by: scorzi at April 16, 2008 3:19 PM
It's got Gretchen Mol in it. How good could it be?
Posted by: KateNonymous at April 16, 2008 3:24 PM
Guesw I'll be deleting this from the TIVO.
I quite liked the book and had hoped they wouldn't completely screw the pooch on this one. On well...
As far as him being a doctor, though, I think he's in orthopedics. Best I remember, he only delivers the babies because the OBGYN was in a car accident in the snow.
Posted by: superEdna at April 16, 2008 3:25 PM
Detested the book, especially the Paul/father tension. Really, you're pissed-off because your son wants to go to motherfucking Julliard? It's not as if he's pinning his fortune on a garage band or something. It just didn't ring true to me.
Much like Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper", TMKD had a great idea at its center and that was about it. A good idea is as a good idea does, I suppose.
Posted by: samantha t at April 16, 2008 3:41 PM
ON-TOPIC: My roomates and I used to turn watching Lifetime movies into a drinking games. Anything with Tori Spelling ("Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?", I'm looking at you!) used to just anniliate our livers.
OFF-TOPIC: What does it take to get me to de-lurk after 4 years of cruising Pajiba reviews? The motherfrelling Dreseden Files, y'all. Great characters with actual growth, interesting situations and world-building, and Chicago - part of the reason I came here for grad school. (Well, not really, but it's fun to read the books and know what/where Butcher is talking about.)
Posted by: rebexas at April 16, 2008 3:43 PM
scorzi, I liked "The Ringer" too and agree.
Posted by: Jay at April 16, 2008 3:59 PM
"That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger."
...or is it more bitter? I can never remember how that cliché goes.
Posted by: karabee at April 16, 2008 4:37 PM
Oh, and I rather wanted to see this in a vague sort of way. Lifetime movies were a staple of my middle and high school years. I would watch them on sick days in the afternoon, high on a combination of over the counter medicines and the general other worldliness that comes from being ill. Their awful/fabulousness can best be appreciated through the haze of the flu and procrastination on homework dutifully sent home by teachers. My favorite of all time was Dying to Belong. It starred a pre-Oscar Hilary Swank and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as plucky college reporters trying to bust up some evil sorority girls who KILL people with their hazing. One of the sorority girls? Sarah Chalke. I watched it with a friend at 2am last year (and a little bit of liquor), tipsy and in the middle of the night it is every bit as wonderfully awful as I recalled. Especially as we cheered on Sarah Chalke who completely stole the show.
Posted by: libraryliz at April 16, 2008 4:53 PM
Lifetime is just godawful. My mother and sister watch it. All. The. Time. They adapted four Nora Roberts books. Those books are funnel cake for my brain. Do not mess with my funnel cake.
Thanks for the heads up on Eat, Pray, Love. Everyone I know insists I have to read this, but it looks stupid. "Look at me, I'm traveling around the world to eat, pray, and love, but in the countries in which those things are respectively done best!" Please. I can eat, pray, and love in my living room.
Posted by: Nicole at April 16, 2008 4:59 PM
Ugh, I saw the title "Eat, Pray, Love" and knew I would hate the book. Confirmed when somebody described the premise to me.
Posted by: samantha t at April 16, 2008 5:25 PM
Yes! I've just discovered Mr. Dresden and the series is fabulous.
Posted by: Agent Scully at April 16, 2008 5:36 PM
I read the book,was underwhelmed. Figured the movie would suck, being on Lifetime. Did you know there is a Lifetime Movie Channel? 24 hours of crappy movies!
Posted by: rlr260 at April 16, 2008 5:42 PM
Rebexas, welcome to the un-lurky pajiba. Good luck and we hope you're good at scrabble. That said, I like you just because you used the word motherfrelling. Anyone who incorporates Farscape in their lives is a friend of mine.
I love watching Lifetime movies, they're so hilarious! My sisters were once crying through one of them...a dog died or a woman had cancer or both, whatever. I was giggling through the whole thing. They think I'm evil. But seriously, I think the dog actually died of sadness...which was way funnier than it sounds.
Posted by: Joker at April 16, 2008 5:45 PM
I just finished both "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" and "My Sister's Keeper" this past week, actually. "MSK" was better written, although "TMKD" definitely had some moments that approached something special as well. Overall, it wasn't a bad book, but it's definitely Lifetime material, whether the final product turns out to be relatively good or bad. And this may be off-topic, but can I just say that the ending of "MSK" was a total cop-out? ::SPOILER ALERT::
I'm not even talking about the car crash, although that was lame; I'm referring more to the great courtroom reveal that it was Kate who had put Anna up to it. That completely negates the entire issue! Picoult basically used it, and then the accident, to avoid having to actually tackle the issue of Anna's right to say "I am an autonomous being, not a storage unit." It really annoyed me, more so than the actual ending.
Posted by: Geetch at April 16, 2008 6:19 PM
samantha t, I hear you on "Eat, Pray, Love". Sounds gag-tastic.
Worst book you've ever read on someone else's suggestion, anyone?
A friend with a jones for self-help books wanted me to read his favourite (so he'd have someone to discuss it with, I guess)...anyway, he was an emotional wreck from a recent break-up, so I took pity and gave it a whirl. "The Four Agreements," I think it was. Oh my god. Ridiculous. Then he tried to get me to read "The Secret". Lucky for me, someone else wanted(!) to borrow it, so I gave it back to him without reading it, with a clear conscience.
Posted by: MO at April 16, 2008 6:21 PM
I sense there should be an Afternoon comment diversion about Lifetime movies....or the movies you used to watch when you stayed home sick as a kid.
I was a TCM channel freak. To this day I have a massive crush on Ava Gardner.
Posted by: frogirl1978 at April 16, 2008 7:18 PM
Maybe I'm feeling stabby today, but this?
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter is decidedly not good. In fact, it's downright terrible. It's the kind of ham-fisted, overly emotional filmmaking designed to make the ignorant masses feel like they've just witnessed something important. It is completely lacking in subtlety, style, tone and anything resembling skillful directing. It's certainly not helped by the fact that the writing is lazy, stupid, and frankly, boring."
Pretty much describes the book, too. It looks like a lot of us here are in book clubs. In mine, for every Alias Grace, there's a Memory Keeper's Daughter. In fact, I think we've got another schmaltzy one coming up next month...
Damn.
Posted by: Rebecca at April 16, 2008 7:26 PM
I often get books from the library that I would not buy to read at the hairdressers so I won't have to tell people what the book is about. Eat,Pray,Love is one of the worst books that I have ever come in contact with. I used to be an English graduate student,so I know whereof I speak.
Posted by: Arkansan at April 16, 2008 7:33 PM
I read the book also. I found it to be very well written, but I was more interested in the part of the story about the daughter with Downs Syndrome . The other characters bored me.
Now, TK, the next time you review a Lifetime movie it should star Tori Spelling.
Posted by: greer at April 16, 2008 7:53 PM
I really liked this book, but it sounds like the movie is not worth a viewing. I can easily see how it would become Lifetime fare in the wrong hands.
I have to say, though, that as someone who works with special needs for a living, children with Down Syndrome do come with different challenges, but I'm not sure I'd say it's harder. Personally, I find almost all of them very enjoyable and often far less obnoxious than regular ed kids.
Also, I second the sentiment about The Ringer, scorzi. I loved how many of the characters were played by people with disabilities, and how realistic the portrayals were. It also showed how hilarious and fun people with special needs can be, and showcased that rather than the adversity they face.
Posted by: Sarah at April 16, 2008 8:24 PM
Loong time Dresden Files fan here. The books are as good as others here have described, and better. I just finished the paperback of White Night two days ago, and it was immensely enjoyable.
The television series was a fucking disaster. The writers/producers had no real understanding of the characters, and for a show about a fucking wizard, it had piss-all for actual magic in the show.
Fuck. I could go on and on about how fuckingly asstastic the series was. I actually danced a little jig when it wasn't renewed. I'm glad Butcher got some cash out of it, but there's a reason Alan Moore had his name taken off a few projects. Jimmy boy shouldn't have let the dollar signs in his eyes convince him to release all creative control.
Okay. I'll kindly shut the fuck up now.
Posted by: Spork at April 16, 2008 8:39 PM
Book was awful. awful awful awful. Overwrought, contrived, sickening, inauthentic, emotionally-manipulative garbage. I think I threw it across the room in a rage after I'd finished, just to punish it for taking a few hours of my life away - the damn thing actually seemed to get worse as it went on! In good news, it sounds like they did an unfortunately accurate job in the above mentioned filmification...
Posted by: Layla at April 17, 2008 1:00 AM
I'm intrigued by how this book is considered good. Everyone who has described it, even the ones who like it, make it sound god-awful.
My pet peeve is how book and movie disabled children are depicted as painfully Good and Precious, With Something To Teach Us All. I suspect it to be part of a vast pro-life conspiracy.
Posted by: Janis at April 17, 2008 1:51 AM
I beg to differto anyone that really liked the book. I found it really difficult to finish. In trying to make the book too emotionally wrought the author goes overboard. It's still lying on my bookcase after several attempts to finish it. I just cant.
I hear they're making Piccoult's My Sister's Keeper into a movie too. Lifetime much???
I'll pass on the movie too. Ta TK.
Posted by: Jean at April 17, 2008 4:31 AM
My sister-in-laws are twins. Their father was a medical doctor. 36 years ago, my mother-in-law and those around her (in the european metropolis where they lived)were not certain that her ginormous swollen belly was not indicative of a horribly wrong hydrocephalic sort of nightmare pregnancy until they went to a specialty hospital for a then-seldom used ultrasound and saw two fetuses.
Also, the last time I was pregnant my OB/GYN had me up in the stirrups and for comic relief told me a funny story about being a newbie doctor in rural Turkey and delivering suprise triplets for a cranky farmer's wife. They just kept coming! She said.
Posted by: AdaHaze at April 17, 2008 9:55 AM
I'm sorry, I just could never understand how someone could pick up a book entitled something like "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" or "Eat, Pray, Love" without knowing that it will be vomitous.
Posted by: Alexandra at April 17, 2008 1:31 PM
I'm sorry, I just could never understand how someone could pick up a book entitled something like "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" or "Eat, Pray, Love" without knowing that it will be vomitous.
AMEN
I pretty much try to avoid anything I can imagine Oprah gushing over. She may, in fact, be the Antichrist
Posted by: gunter at April 17, 2008 3:24 PM
Re hidden twins, I asked my pregnant friends and apparently it's possible to miss one at 12 weeks, because once they see one baby they stop looking, and if the second one is kind of hidden round the back (whatever that means in anatomical terms) the extra heartbeat might also be hidden. (But no excuses for Padme's suprise twin, they must have had much better scanning equipment than us).
Also a friend had twins and at 7 months she really wasn't particularly big.
Posted by: ChrisD at April 17, 2008 3:38 PM
Love the snark, love the scathing-ness...however
"I'm not saying that a child with Down syndrome is any better or worse than a child born healthy, but don't try to tell me that raising that child doesn't come with its share of stresses and difficulties."
When did Down syndrome = not healthy?
Posted by: Melanie at April 17, 2008 7:17 PM
TK, I don't think you really grasp the full godawfulshittiness of Lifetime movies. Expecting subtlety, style, tone, decent acting, or quality direction from them is like expecting good sushi from a Krystal drive-thru. Watch some Lifetime tripe staring Valerie Bertinelli and Rick Springfield, probably titled 'Daddy, May I French-Kiss Danger?' and then we'll talk suffering.
Posted by: Kris at April 18, 2008 12:25 AM
"I'm not saying that a child with Down syndrome is any better or worse than a child born healthy, but don't try to tell me that raising that child doesn't come with its share of stresses and difficulties."
When did Down syndrome = not healthy?
...when it was classified a syndrome.
Posted by: Kate at April 18, 2008 1:31 AM
The movie did not do the book justice. I thought it was horrible.
Posted by: Annette at April 18, 2008 2:58 PM
Very, VERY common in those days to miss twin pregnancies, even for ob-gyn's. They were not using ultrasound back then.
Posted by: SarahNu at April 18, 2008 4:19 PM
pretty much all the same annoying, bratty, "I learned it from watching YOU!" kind of after-school special character.
Not that I doubted it before, but for this, TK, you officially rule.
Posted by: MG at April 18, 2008 5:15 PM
I think you can sometimes miss twins. My sisters are twins (born in 1974), and my (single) mother had no clue that she was about to 'double her pleasure' until the second one came strolling out.
Intense, huh?
Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at April 19, 2008 2:24 AM
The book was terrible too, overly melodramatic crap. I can't believe so many people liked it, and that they recommended it to others. I also can't believe I finished the damn thing. I guess I just don't like to give up on books, but I definitely won't be watching this.
Posted by: Carrie at April 21, 2008 5:27 PM
I cant wait to read the book. This was the best lifetime movie I have seen to date. Bravo.
Posted by: Moe Howard at April 21, 2008 7:29 PM
I cant wait to read the book. This was the best lifetime movie I have seen to date. Bravo.
Posted by: Moe Howard at April 21, 2008 7:29 PM
I cant wait to read the book. This was the best lifetime movie I have seen to date. Bravo.
Posted by: Moe Howard at April 21, 2008 7:30 PM