Posted By kahlee on September 19, 2009

It isn’t very often that I find books that I don’t like, because I memoryalways approach books with the opinion that even if I hate the story — every book has something for the reader to take away. Every book is a growth process, and an opportunity to learn something, even if it is only a little more about yourself. However, this is a book that I didn’t particularly care for. Reason being — I felt like the whole thing was under told.

The writing in this book left me feeling like Ms. Edwards had a great idea for a story — but didn’t get much farther than the framework of a book, and then called it good. It is the story of a young couple, expecting their first child. On the night of one of the worst storms of history, they find themselves isolated from the city, and unable to reach the hospital. So the father, a doctor by profession, ends up delivering the baby himself. The surprise is in the fact that there are twins, and the mother has a very traumatic birth. When one of the twins is born with Downs syndrome, Mr. Henry — the father has the nurse who is assisting take the child away, and the mother spends the rest of the book feeling as if she has lost a piece of herself, even though she is never told of the existence of this removed child.

Granted this book does explore the ramifications of coming to terms with the loss of a child — although the Ms. Henry doesn’t realize that is what she is trying to do. And this trauma ultimately tears apart a family, as both parents spend the rest of their lives trying to come to terms with their grief. And Mr. Henry can never get past his guilt.

I really did enjoy the concept of the story — I just wish it had been more fully developed. I came away feeling like the story had barely just begun, when it ended, and the characters were so two dimensional that I never connected with them. This is a book that I would personally give a pass to.