A year has passed for the characters and a lot has changed for Caroline and Phoebe. I was glad that Caroline moved and even though her life is hard and her savings are nearly spent, she’s been able to create a new life for herself and Phoebe. I was surprised to see that Al resurfaced but now that he has I’m sure that something is going to happen between them.
As for David and Norah, I believe that Norah is still seriously depressed. While she is at least able to talk about her daughter and her feelings, she’s not capable of moving on in a healthy way. As for David, he certainly hasn’t coped well. He hides all of his feelings and emotions in his work and in his anger. By not showing any emotion or opening up to Norah he is slowly killing any relationship that they had. I’m not sure whether David truly understands his own reasons for giving away Phoebe but I think that his reasons may have changed in the past year. At first he gave her away to save his family grief, but now it almost seems like he was doing it to prevent his own grief or perhaps because of his jealous and angry feelings about his long dead sister. Either way, I don’t think he’s going to come clean to Norah, though she may find out if she ever gets her hands on one of those letters from Caroline.
At the end of the section, Norah mentions that she wants to have another child. David says that having another child won’t fix what’s wrong between them, but really he is nervous that they may have another child with Down syndrome. I wonder, if they did have another child and it did have DS, how David would react. Would he be able to give another child away and lie about it dying? How would Norah react if she found out that her child had DS? With her current depressed state it seems to me that she can barely give Paul all of the care he needs without being constantly depressed and guilty about Phoebe.
Another point I noticed from this section was that Norah mentions that the camera she got for David is called a “memory keeper”. I wonder what kind of symbolism that’s going to provide for the rest of the story. Does it mean that Phoebe is the daughter of a memory, someone only known to her real family by pictures? Does it mean that Norah and David are memory keepers because they have the camera and use it to document their lives without her? I’m not sure yet but I think that the meaning will become more clear as the story progresses.
There are lots of things to think about as I continue to the next section; hopefully I get some input eventually!
Happy Reading!
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