Book to Movie: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter was one of my favorite books of 2007, so I was excited and leary when I found out that Lifetime was making a tv movie out of it. Now I totally get that you have to cut out sections of the book you are adapting from and they certainly did that here but not in a way that makes you miss gaping holes of plot. They did a very good job of conveying the mood and themes of the book. The cast is excellent as Dermont Mulroney shines as the cold, standoff-ish Dr. David Henry; Gretchen Mol is convincing as Nora Henry and Emily Watson is superb as Caroline Gill. The problem with adaptations is you never get to spend as much time with the characters as you do in the book and I do think some of the development was lost. None of the adult characters are loveable besides maybe Caroline because of the actions they take to deal with certain circumstances.

Of course the ending was changed to be a bit happier but I have to say that I prefer the ending to the book while it might be depressing I found it to be more realistic. I can't stand it when they change the ending of the book because they think that everyone wants a happy ending, not every story has a happy ending or should have a happy ending.

That all being said, I enjoyed the movie and thought it was a better than average book to movie adaptation. If you catch it on Lifetime you'll find an intriguing story and solid performances. If you haven't read the book, I would highly recommend it, but go in knowing that it's not a light and happy story.

Final Take Book to Movie: 3.75/5