The Memory Keeper's Daughter and Lake of Dreams

I read two books by the same author recently, and squeezed in Huckleberry Finn, in between the two. I found the titles on Goodreads or someone else's blog and thought they sounded good. Kim Edwards, the author, according to the reviews is as a born novelist and her writing is heart-wrenching, masterful, and gripping. Wow! That's enough to sell you on a book, right? So, I should say that I read ALMOST all of The Memory Keeper's Daughter before I decided I couldn't take it any more. I love beautiful prose as much as the next fellow, but when EVERY SINGLE PAGE drips with description, overcharged emotion, and mind-numbing detail, I wave the white flag of surrender. I will admit, the premise for The Memory Keeper's Daughter is an interesting one-a physician in the 1960's chooses to give away his newborn daughter with Downs syndrome, a twin to his son, while his wife is still unconscious from the medications administered during labor. However, the ensuing drama that unfolds in these people's lives, attributed solely to this doctor's one heartless and uncaring act, is just not believable, and in a story like this, I need to believe. The Lake of Dreams (400 pp.) is a slightly more plausible story, and the prose is not nearly as overwrought as Memory Keeper, but I still had serious issues trying to believe that anyone could become so obssessed with family history. I guess I shouldn't say that, having worked in archives for several years, but it did seem that some medication was in order for the main character. At any rate, there are many who have read and enjoyed these books. I only read them because of the reviews and my compulsive reading habit, which takes up all my blogging time.