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billymac1962's review against another edition
4.0
The Man from Pimrose Lane was such a fun read. That story had a plotline that took some very unexpected and crazy turns. I five starred it.
The Great Forgetting is not much different. Oh man, the ingredients that went into this one...like just about every conspiracy myth and unknown mysteries that have been part of our history. At times outlandish to the extreme and sometimes ridiculous, this one really went over the top.
Of course, the less said about this the better. The reveals will make you laugh, groan, and maybe even think: what if?
On the plot and reveals alone I would give this novel 5 stars easy. But I was a bit annoyed at how, at every dangerous turn, our heroes didn't need to use one iota of coercion to get information on all the secrets here. Information was served up on a golden platter to them, and the fact that this was such a heavily guarded secret that no qualms were given over killing to preserve the secrets, except for these people, was a bit of a joke. The villains sang like canaries!
But, it was a device to move the plot along quickly, so there's that.
However, this pretty much took the cake:
The hotline for the Maestro to rewrite world history is on a telemarketer's list?
OK, he's clearly having fun here, I imagine he was deliberately causing reader eyeroll.
Outlandish, clever, outrageous, you've got it all here. I can't not recommended it despite my little issues with it. Just a hair over 4 stars, and all sorts of "what ifs" you'll want to blab about to all your friends.
The Great Forgetting is not much different. Oh man, the ingredients that went into this one...like just about every conspiracy myth and unknown mysteries that have been part of our history. At times outlandish to the extreme and sometimes ridiculous, this one really went over the top.
Of course, the less said about this the better. The reveals will make you laugh, groan, and maybe even think: what if?
On the plot and reveals alone I would give this novel 5 stars easy. But I was a bit annoyed at how, at every dangerous turn, our heroes didn't need to use one iota of coercion to get information on all the secrets here. Information was served up on a golden platter to them, and the fact that this was such a heavily guarded secret that no qualms were given over killing to preserve the secrets, except for these people, was a bit of a joke. The villains sang like canaries!
But, it was a device to move the plot along quickly, so there's that.
However, this pretty much took the cake:
Spoiler
The hotline for the Maestro to rewrite world history is on a telemarketer's list?
OK, he's clearly having fun here, I imagine he was deliberately causing reader eyeroll.
Outlandish, clever, outrageous, you've got it all here. I can't not recommended it despite my little issues with it. Just a hair over 4 stars, and all sorts of "what ifs" you'll want to blab about to all your friends.
readingjag's review against another edition
4.0
Really loved this one. Terrific sci-fi that weaves in just about every conspiracy theory ever.
fredsteram's review against another edition
4.0
OK - I usually don't write anything with my stars, but this is a must read. It is a holy shit book.....
dantastic's review against another edition
5.0
When Jack Felter returns to his home town to help care for his dementia-stricken father, he winds up looking for his missing childhood friend, Tony, the friend that stole his high school girlfriend. Jack meets Tony's last patient, a kid named Cole with a very compelling delusion, that everything we think we know about history is wrong...
After reading [b:The Man from Primrose Lane|12476620|The Man from Primrose Lane|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431521815s/12476620.jpg|17460972] and [b:True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray|26114508|True Crime Addict How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1443186126s/26114508.jpg|46061349], I just had to read more James Renner. The Great Forgetting made him rise even higher in my esteem.
The Great Forgetting is a mind-bender of Phillip K. Dickian proportions. How much do we trust the history books? How much do we trust our own memories? What if the conspiracy theories are true? This book raises those questions and more.
It's best to go into this book unprepared so I'm not going to spoil the particulars. Once the truth behind Cole, Tony, and the rest of what was actually going on was revealed, I had a hard time doing anything but finishing it.
If I had to complain about something, which I won't, is that the characters were a little thin. However, I loved Jack and his father, The Captain. Cole grew on me as well, but I hated Tony and didn't trust Sam. Hell, even Scopes and the Maestro turned out to have hidden depths.
The tension toward the end was almost maddening. I haven't felt this engrossed with a book since the Dark Tower series. That's as great a compliment as I can give any book. Five out of five stars.
After reading [b:The Man from Primrose Lane|12476620|The Man from Primrose Lane|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431521815s/12476620.jpg|17460972] and [b:True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray|26114508|True Crime Addict How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1443186126s/26114508.jpg|46061349], I just had to read more James Renner. The Great Forgetting made him rise even higher in my esteem.
The Great Forgetting is a mind-bender of Phillip K. Dickian proportions. How much do we trust the history books? How much do we trust our own memories? What if the conspiracy theories are true? This book raises those questions and more.
It's best to go into this book unprepared so I'm not going to spoil the particulars. Once the truth behind Cole, Tony, and the rest of what was actually going on was revealed, I had a hard time doing anything but finishing it.
If I had to complain about something, which I won't, is that the characters were a little thin. However, I loved Jack and his father, The Captain. Cole grew on me as well, but I hated Tony and didn't trust Sam. Hell, even Scopes and the Maestro turned out to have hidden depths.
The tension toward the end was almost maddening. I haven't felt this engrossed with a book since the Dark Tower series. That's as great a compliment as I can give any book. Five out of five stars.
vonotar's review against another edition
5.0
Man oh man. Mr. Renner has done it again!
This meditation on memory and obligation came across my radar at an interesting time. My own grandmother recently passed due to complications from Parkinson's and Dementia...leaving the questions of accurate memory front and center. I've seen what happens to a person when their personal histories are tampered with. In the end, an interesting question wandered across my mind. Which of the two opposing realities were more "true"?
As before, the less you know about this book going in, the happier you will be when the plot blindsides you with sheer awesomeness. Read it. Then read it again.
Thanks for giving me more things to ponder, Mr. Renner. Keep up the good work!
This meditation on memory and obligation came across my radar at an interesting time. My own grandmother recently passed due to complications from Parkinson's and Dementia...leaving the questions of accurate memory front and center. I've seen what happens to a person when their personal histories are tampered with. In the end, an interesting question wandered across my mind. Which of the two opposing realities were more "true"?
As before, the less you know about this book going in, the happier you will be when the plot blindsides you with sheer awesomeness. Read it. Then read it again.
Thanks for giving me more things to ponder, Mr. Renner. Keep up the good work!
jmckendry's review against another edition
2.0
Really interesting premise, but it just wasn't for me.
trudilibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
I'm so remiss in my reviews of late, but I really wanted to make sure I wrote something for this one to draw your attention to it: A) because it's a whole lot of wacky, weird and wild fun (something I've come to expect from this author) and B) said author was generous enough to send me a copy in the mail so the very least I can do is tell the reading world what I thought of it.
James Renner is the author of the mind-bending, genre-mashing [b:The Man from Primrose Lane|12476620|The Man from Primrose Lane|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431521815s/12476620.jpg|17460972] and you really must read that one if you are looking for something that is wholly unlike anything else. There was some buzz a few years back that Bradley Cooper had been tapped to star in a film adaptation, but no updates on that yet.
I didn't know what to expect in picking up The Great Forgetting, but you can bet I approached it with keen anticipation. Renner is a brave author who doesn't ever make safe choices. He marches out into the badlands of crazy and bewildering, sees what he finds there, and then puts it into his story. It doesn't always work, but considering the kind of unique crazy pants he's peddling, it works amazingly, unforgettably (heh) well most of the time.
This one starts as almost a quiet domestic drama: an unassuming high school teacher returns to his hometown where his sister is looking after their senile father. Jack has to deal with an ex-girlfriend who married his best childhood friend Tony. But Tony has gone missing and his wife wants Jack to help her get him declared deceased. In his efforts to do this, Jack meets a boy named Cole, the last person Tony had any significant contact with before his disappearance. Cole is a patient in a psychiatric ward suffering from complex and paranoid delusions. Or are they? The more Jack talks to him the further down the rabbit hole he goes. And takes us with him.
Side note of interest: James Renner is definitely an author to watch. And while he has a noteworthy talent spinning wild and crazy tales of speculative fiction, Renner is also a dedicated true crime writer. He is currently researching the unsolved disappearance of Umass nursing student, Maura Murray and will publish [b:True Crime Addict|26114508|True Crime Addict How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1443186126s/26114508.jpg|46061349] in May 2016 about his experiences. The Maura Murray case is a real life rabbit hole story and it is very easy to become lost in all the moving pieces and arm chair detective theories that exist for this cold case. Renner also maintains a blog of his ongoing investigations that makes for riveting reading if you are into that sort of thing.
Two young armchair detectives are also hosting a pretty decent podcast right now about the Maura Murray case in which Renner has been a guest. The hosts are currently at work on a documentary.
James Renner is the author of the mind-bending, genre-mashing [b:The Man from Primrose Lane|12476620|The Man from Primrose Lane|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431521815s/12476620.jpg|17460972] and you really must read that one if you are looking for something that is wholly unlike anything else. There was some buzz a few years back that Bradley Cooper had been tapped to star in a film adaptation, but no updates on that yet.
I didn't know what to expect in picking up The Great Forgetting, but you can bet I approached it with keen anticipation. Renner is a brave author who doesn't ever make safe choices. He marches out into the badlands of crazy and bewildering, sees what he finds there, and then puts it into his story. It doesn't always work, but considering the kind of unique crazy pants he's peddling, it works amazingly, unforgettably (heh) well most of the time.
This one starts as almost a quiet domestic drama: an unassuming high school teacher returns to his hometown where his sister is looking after their senile father. Jack has to deal with an ex-girlfriend who married his best childhood friend Tony. But Tony has gone missing and his wife wants Jack to help her get him declared deceased. In his efforts to do this, Jack meets a boy named Cole, the last person Tony had any significant contact with before his disappearance. Cole is a patient in a psychiatric ward suffering from complex and paranoid delusions. Or are they? The more Jack talks to him the further down the rabbit hole he goes. And takes us with him.
Side note of interest: James Renner is definitely an author to watch. And while he has a noteworthy talent spinning wild and crazy tales of speculative fiction, Renner is also a dedicated true crime writer. He is currently researching the unsolved disappearance of Umass nursing student, Maura Murray and will publish [b:True Crime Addict|26114508|True Crime Addict How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray|James Renner|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1443186126s/26114508.jpg|46061349] in May 2016 about his experiences. The Maura Murray case is a real life rabbit hole story and it is very easy to become lost in all the moving pieces and arm chair detective theories that exist for this cold case. Renner also maintains a blog of his ongoing investigations that makes for riveting reading if you are into that sort of thing.
Two young armchair detectives are also hosting a pretty decent podcast right now about the Maura Murray case in which Renner has been a guest. The hosts are currently at work on a documentary.
seattleserina's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best books I've read in awhile. I love it when sci-fi incorporates real world events/people; it makes everything feel a little more believable, no matter how unbelievable it is. Great ending too. I immediately went to the library to check out the authors other book.
mcipher's review against another edition
4.0
Read in one day because I was just so enthralled. Fascinating and strange and so plausibly crazy... I loved this book. Go read it. Renner's writing is awesome, he knows what he is doing and sucks you right in. It is a little reminiscent of reading as a child - something utterly comforting to how he phrases things, no matter how messed up it all gets.
aira_reads's review against another edition
5.0
What a whirlwind of a book!
I love the details from the fluoridation of water to the radio waves altering your mindset to the historical mentions of the lost continent of Mu.
I love the inclusion of real world events and twisting the fact. Eg the Deepwater Horizon incident and an alluding to the Koch brothers: "I found the two greediest men in the world, two brothers who want to control the world with their oil money. Buying influence. Stealing elections. They sank a hundred million dollars into the Tea Party last year, not because they're patriots but because the Tea Party will do away with all regulation, the only thing keeping greed in check."
I love how I didn't know where the author was going. It felt fresh but also familiar because he added a lot of historic details + the characters are so broken that they feel real-ish.
Favourite quotes
Miracles inspired action. Miracles changed he works.
----
"How would I deserve that happiness if I knew that everyone back home was living in a world run by capitalists who can rewrite our memories with a simple phone call? That's not a freedom."
"You think people want freedom? Everyone is scared. They don't want freedom. They want to forget."
----
"It's greed we should have forgotten. My history. That's what the founders didn't understand. We forgot about all those bad things, but we left greed in the box and that's why it didn't work. Every war, every act of terrorism we've seen since we hit that reset button, it was all based in greed."
---
Prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy
---
"Everything you've ever seen, everything you've ever been told, is only the echo of an older story."
---
That's what it's about. Making the world just a little better for the next generation. Make their story a little better than your own. Eventually we'll get it right.
----
Considered the basic irony of war: what is it that each side fights for? Peace. They right to end fighting. Like drinking to get sober
I love the details from the fluoridation of water to the radio waves altering your mindset to the historical mentions of the lost continent of Mu.
I love the inclusion of real world events and twisting the fact. Eg the Deepwater Horizon incident and an alluding to the Koch brothers: "I found the two greediest men in the world, two brothers who want to control the world with their oil money. Buying influence. Stealing elections. They sank a hundred million dollars into the Tea Party last year, not because they're patriots but because the Tea Party will do away with all regulation, the only thing keeping greed in check."
I love how I didn't know where the author was going. It felt fresh but also familiar because he added a lot of historic details + the characters are so broken that they feel real-ish.
Favourite quotes
Miracles inspired action. Miracles changed he works.
----
"How would I deserve that happiness if I knew that everyone back home was living in a world run by capitalists who can rewrite our memories with a simple phone call? That's not a freedom."
"You think people want freedom? Everyone is scared. They don't want freedom. They want to forget."
----
"It's greed we should have forgotten. My history. That's what the founders didn't understand. We forgot about all those bad things, but we left greed in the box and that's why it didn't work. Every war, every act of terrorism we've seen since we hit that reset button, it was all based in greed."
---
Prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy
---
"Everything you've ever seen, everything you've ever been told, is only the echo of an older story."
---
That's what it's about. Making the world just a little better for the next generation. Make their story a little better than your own. Eventually we'll get it right.
----
Considered the basic irony of war: what is it that each side fights for? Peace. They right to end fighting. Like drinking to get sober