Monday, September 12, 2011

Book Review: My Name is Memory, by Ann Brashares


My Name is Memory is a unique and interesting romance and was well executed, even though I was disappointed with the ending.

Daniel can remember everything – I mean everything about all of his past lives, for over 1000 years. He can recognize people he knew in other lives, and one of these people is Lucy (currently in 2004), who he is madly in love with. But of course she doesn’t even know him. For some reason though, when Daniel begins attending Lucy’s high school, she is inexplicably attracted to him. This attraction continues and grows throughout the story, which ends in 2009.

The story is told from both of our main characters’ points of view. Daniel goes through many of his past lives, explaining how he is able to find Lucy (or Sophia, as he calls her.) I thought the explanations of Daniel’s existence, his memories, his history with Sophia, and what it is like to be a person who remembers was very complete and detailed.  I thought Brashares thought of everything and couldn’t find many holes in Daniel’s story.

I also liked Lucy’s character. I thought it was mostly believable how she slowly figured out some things and then became compelled to figure more out. She was spunky and determined (eventually) and I liked the fundamental change in her character.

There are a lot of details that might turn off some readers. I found them interesting, but this might have to do with the fact that I listened to the audiobook. I tend to be more patient listening to long, descriptive books rather than reading them because I’m not in a hurry to finish.

I was a little disappointed in the ending. I would have liked more resolution, but more so because I thought it went on too long. This was one place where the descriptions, and in particular the repetition, drove me batty. OK. I know you love each other. I know you don’t want to die.  Stop saying it…..and get on with the story. (I’m talking about the part in the water, for those of you that have read this.)

I had to read this book, since Sisterhood is one of my very favorite all-time reads. This book doesn’t live up to that, but I enjoyed reading it. I think it has some appeal for older teens, but mostly it’s an inimitable love story for adults.

Just a side note about the audio. The VERY LAST disk didn’t copy correctly, and stopped about 20 pages before the end of the story. Talk about frustrating – I had to order the book from another library and WAIT to find out how it ended. Errrggghh!

Published by Riverhead, 2010
Copies (both ebook and printed) obtained from the library
336 pages

Rating: 3/5






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3 comments:

  1. That's disappointing that the ending didn't have enough resolution. The story sounds a bit intriguing though,

    Nice honest review! :)

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  2. Oh, that must have been awful waiting to find out what happened. This is a book that is sitting on my TBR with patience. I have been waiting for a couple reviews on it, so now I am a little more excited about it.

    Beth ^_^
    http://sweetbooksnstuff.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did really enjoy the Sisterhood books, but haven't really felt compelled to read anything else she's written. This one is probably another that I'll still pass on.

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