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mixtercharlie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is my favorite middle-grade book I’ve read this year and may be one of my all time favorites. The characters are beautifully developed and the world and relationships feel (at time heartbreakingly) realistic. The tie in of video games is sure to draw in some young readers who may otherwise be hesitant to pick up the book.
ghutter05's review
3.0
I wish it was a little more condensed -- it got sort of slow and faltered a little at the end.
trueripple's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thistlechaser's review against another edition
5.0
Long ago, an author had told me the only difference between YA and adult books was the length of the story. This book is further proof that that is the truth. Though this was a middle grade book, it was outstanding for adult-reader me!
Set in the current time and current world, Nick's mother has early-onset Alzheimer’s. His parents make the (understandable) mistake of trying to hide just how sick she is, which means when she has to be moved to a care facility, Nick doesn't believe she's actually sick enough to need to go.
Half of the book is spent in our world, with Nick dealing with all sorts of RL issues. He's just starting junior high school, so he has to try to make friends, deal with a bully, cope with his mother being gone, with his mourning-but-trying father, and so many other things. All that while being in (understandable) denial about just how sick she is. He spends lots of time googling to try to prove she's not actually sick, that maybe she has something else and his father is wrong to send her away.
The story dealt with race issues (Nick's mother is German and his father is black, and Nick's best friend is half-Hawaiian). Gender and sex issues (his favorite teacher is lesbian and there's a seriously cool subplot about the bully being gay -- it's subtle though, young readers would probably completely miss it). There's lots of interesting information about recent history as well (his mother had been living in East Germany when the wall fell). None of it gets in the way of the story at all, I loved it all.
The other half of the book was spent in a video game. Nick is a gamer, and has strong connections to his character, so when he played we felt like he was actually in the world. Sadly (and surprisingly) this half of the book was weaker than the real world half, but it tied into the plot really well -- Nick is convinced a character in the game was actually his mother playing from the care facility so she could secretly contact him.
My issue with the book was very very minor -- nitpicking level. The video game's main story/questline was seriously short. This was a major game, very popular, and he finished the main questline in what seemed like four nights and a weekend day (and that's kid-nights, after homework/before bed, not all night long playing). If something like that is my biggest issue, you know this was a darned good story.
The author's writing was so good, too! I rarely save quotes from books anymore, but this time I kept stumbling upon things that were so well-worded, I wanted to save them.
"Nick recognizes only because he hasn't seen it for so long--the expression of mothers: the lines around the eyes that are like the lists of things they love and worry about."
"The sky is old-sword gray." I've never ever seen "old-sword" used to describe grey before. Metal sure, but never old-sword.
Sometimes it felt like he was talking to the young readers directly. One teacher said "we adult types like video games, too." which tickled me.
Set in the current time and current world, Nick's mother has early-onset Alzheimer’s. His parents make the (understandable) mistake of trying to hide just how sick she is, which means when she has to be moved to a care facility, Nick doesn't believe she's actually sick enough to need to go.
Half of the book is spent in our world, with Nick dealing with all sorts of RL issues. He's just starting junior high school, so he has to try to make friends, deal with a bully, cope with his mother being gone, with his mourning-but-trying father, and so many other things. All that while being in (understandable) denial about just how sick she is. He spends lots of time googling to try to prove she's not actually sick, that maybe she has something else and his father is wrong to send her away.
The story dealt with race issues (Nick's mother is German and his father is black, and Nick's best friend is half-Hawaiian). Gender and sex issues (his favorite teacher is lesbian and there's a seriously cool subplot about the bully being gay -- it's subtle though, young readers would probably completely miss it). There's lots of interesting information about recent history as well (his mother had been living in East Germany when the wall fell). None of it gets in the way of the story at all, I loved it all.
The other half of the book was spent in a video game. Nick is a gamer, and has strong connections to his character, so when he played we felt like he was actually in the world. Sadly (and surprisingly) this half of the book was weaker than the real world half, but it tied into the plot really well -- Nick is convinced a character in the game was actually his mother playing from the care facility so she could secretly contact him.
My issue with the book was very very minor -- nitpicking level. The video game's main story/questline was seriously short. This was a major game, very popular, and he finished the main questline in what seemed like four nights and a weekend day (and that's kid-nights, after homework/before bed, not all night long playing). If something like that is my biggest issue, you know this was a darned good story.
The author's writing was so good, too! I rarely save quotes from books anymore, but this time I kept stumbling upon things that were so well-worded, I wanted to save them.
"Nick recognizes only because he hasn't seen it for so long--the expression of mothers: the lines around the eyes that are like the lists of things they love and worry about."
"The sky is old-sword gray." I've never ever seen "old-sword" used to describe grey before. Metal sure, but never old-sword.
Sometimes it felt like he was talking to the young readers directly. One teacher said "we adult types like video games, too." which tickled me.
theartolater's review
5.0
It was probably about two-thirds through this book that I broke down sobbing on the couch.
My mother has Alzheimer's. I was very close with her, my family moved back home (at great expense both personal and emotional) to help take care of her, and, as I write this, she has been in a nursing home for well over two years after having been given less than half of that to live.
The Memory Wall is about a kid, Nick, having to deal with a similar situation. He's very young and his mother also has Alzheimer's. The family makes a decision that she, too, will go to a nursing home, and the kid doesn't really understand everything that's going on with the medical situation in play. He does, however, know a certain fantasy MMO that he plays quite a bit, and he's convinced his mother is playing it with him from the nursing home.
It's really a heartbreaking story. I can forgive some of the realism aspects of this in what's a challenging story to tell for this age group because it absolutely digs into the emotional struggle that comes with Alzheimer's caregiving. In particular, Nick's denial of what is actually happening and his ways to try and mentally craft how the doctors have it wrong and how his mother will actually come through or recover or however you want to phrase it is extremely realistic (to this day, even though my mother hasn't recognized me for five years and I rarely see her because it hurts so much, I keep thinking, in the back of my mind, that we'll get some phone call that will never come that tells us that she snapped out of it), and the use of a video game construct to literally play out these scenarios us caregivers who struggle to let go is a bit of a genius move.
I could nitpick on a lot of things here and there, but that's not the point. This book succeeds on its emotional core and the harsh realism of accepting the fate of a loved one you can't do anything for. The added helplessness of being a child in this situation is not one I can relate to directly, but will resonate for a lot of readers who might have grandparents in this or similar scenarios. It's closer to a 4.5 because of a lot of the nitpicks, but why bother when this is a book that anyone who has a situation even close to this should read.
Honestly, it's just a beautiful, gorgeous account of a very real struggle. I sobbed because it was perhaps too real for me, but those who can be a little more objective might appreciate it for what it does, if not what it represents. Just an amazing read.
My mother has Alzheimer's. I was very close with her, my family moved back home (at great expense both personal and emotional) to help take care of her, and, as I write this, she has been in a nursing home for well over two years after having been given less than half of that to live.
The Memory Wall is about a kid, Nick, having to deal with a similar situation. He's very young and his mother also has Alzheimer's. The family makes a decision that she, too, will go to a nursing home, and the kid doesn't really understand everything that's going on with the medical situation in play. He does, however, know a certain fantasy MMO that he plays quite a bit, and he's convinced his mother is playing it with him from the nursing home.
It's really a heartbreaking story. I can forgive some of the realism aspects of this in what's a challenging story to tell for this age group because it absolutely digs into the emotional struggle that comes with Alzheimer's caregiving. In particular, Nick's denial of what is actually happening and his ways to try and mentally craft how the doctors have it wrong and how his mother will actually come through or recover or however you want to phrase it is extremely realistic (to this day, even though my mother hasn't recognized me for five years and I rarely see her because it hurts so much, I keep thinking, in the back of my mind, that we'll get some phone call that will never come that tells us that she snapped out of it), and the use of a video game construct to literally play out these scenarios us caregivers who struggle to let go is a bit of a genius move.
I could nitpick on a lot of things here and there, but that's not the point. This book succeeds on its emotional core and the harsh realism of accepting the fate of a loved one you can't do anything for. The added helplessness of being a child in this situation is not one I can relate to directly, but will resonate for a lot of readers who might have grandparents in this or similar scenarios. It's closer to a 4.5 because of a lot of the nitpicks, but why bother when this is a book that anyone who has a situation even close to this should read.
Honestly, it's just a beautiful, gorgeous account of a very real struggle. I sobbed because it was perhaps too real for me, but those who can be a little more objective might appreciate it for what it does, if not what it represents. Just an amazing read.
blynecessity's review
5.0
I liked this book much more than I thought I would! To be honest, the description didn't sound too interesting, but I was still interested in the fact that a chunk of the book is from a video game character's POV. Glad I tried this book out, though.
Did I almost cry a few times? Yes. It was a really touching read though. I enjoyed it, and there was only one time (towards the end) when the video game POV felt boring. To be honest, with how real Nick's story felt, I was surprised that the video game side didn't clash horribly.
Did I almost cry a few times? Yes. It was a really touching read though. I enjoyed it, and there was only one time (towards the end) when the video game POV felt boring. To be honest, with how real Nick's story felt, I was surprised that the video game side didn't clash horribly.
frumiouslyalice's review
4.0
My testament to how much I liked this book should be in the beginnings of tears in my eyes and the ache in my chest. I liked this book a LOT. I should, however, state a disclaimer about how I don't know any people who have Alzheimer's, nor am I a mixed race person who has to deal with it on a daily basis, so any glaring issues concerning faux paus of any of those things they may have passed me by.
Nick as a character is someone I want to hold up and say "this, do it like this." The balance of immaturity and being genuinely likeable, I have found, is not an easy one to strike, something that I've now realized after reading so many children's books in a row. Oftentimes I have to stop myself from my criticism and say "okay, it's just a kid." I never felt that with Nick. It's not like he doesn't act like a child, his 12-year-oldness is an important aspect of the book, because it is the core of his denial. He's the one who sees the truth, everyone has given up/has misdiagnosed/etc. etc. It's a very me vs. the world viewpoint that I certainly have horrible flashbacks to, and I definitely related to him (or at least my 12 year old self did) in that respect. But at no point did I feel like rolling my eyes and giving him a shake, it was all universally understandable, and the fundamental point of the fact that he was struggling against a diagnosis that people were not giving him a full picture of is honestly dealt with toward the end of the book, and his acknowledgment of that I thought was a good point to make.
I thought that his awkward conflicts with his father were really well handled, as it's clear from the book that they are both intensely hurting, though, again, Nick's level of self-involvement and self-focus stop him from understanding that particularly early on, and written in a way that didn't make me want to sigh a lot and groan. Plus, the interesting sidestep with Nick already knowing about his African-American heritage while realizing that his chance to learn more about his East German side might be crumbling before his eyes was a nice twist. Though I did make some suspicious eyes at the "I don't fit into the stereotypes" trope, because you have to acknowledge that the people who do are people too (and that you're not completely separate from them just because you don't fit stereotype) and I didn't feel that the book made that point clear enough for my taste. But admittedly these things were not the bulk focus of the book and were handled well enough for me not to get irritated by them (as an Asian American). There are definitely portions that are plain and straight-forward about it enough to be refreshing, the different types of racism that take form, from straight out mockery to slightly condescending disbelief. These are definitely do their part to enrich both Nick and Nat, and the world that they live in, i.e. our world.
The book also does a great job at hinting at characters. From my interpretation, it seemed to me that Charlie was in the closet and over-compensating, which gives a lot of depth to his character and feeling like his actions are understandable, even if they're not justifiable. This happens a couple of times in the book and every time they glance enough for me to get an impression of depth without getting a ten page backstory on the character. Considering that usually me saying this is a COMPLAINT, I just liked it because it made me feel like the characters were rounded even if they weren't important enough to be vital to the story.
Endings can be difficult to do, but the ending for this book came very naturally. The frustration of both Nick and his father are palpable, and his father finally being unable to continue with the lack of information, something he knows to be unfair, felt justified in its occurrence. Though several characters tell Nick to be more open, it becomes clear that that was apparently a one-way street. And the one-two punch that hits Nick, one in reality, one in the game, are set up well, a domino effect that Nick is no longer capable of fighting against. By the time I got to Nick's alone conversation with his mother, I was incredibly close to tears.
Okay, so. I'm sorry. There are portions of this book that I didn't like and I'm going to be honest - they are the gaming scenes. I guess I should write a bit of a personal defense on this before I get started because first of all, I did really like the idea of the gaming sections - they're why I picked up the book. I'm an avid, avid gamer, and I always have been, and really like books that toy with the idea that gaming can be used for a lot of different things. I was piqued by the concept of using gaming as communication through a mental illness, though the book makes it clear fairly early on how this is probably impossible. But the book is also impressive in how much I wanted it to be true as much as Nick did, though my pessimism stopped the belief from solidifying, even if I was flying through pages just wanting to knooooooowwwww for sure.
So my problem is really that I'm an avid gamer. The game described in the book is very kind of World of Warcraft-y and sort of Skyrim-y and I didn't believe a single goddamned sentence in it.
Severkin looks up and sees the glimmer of her tears, feels the ache of his shoulders, there's blood on his armor that he now needs to change out of - what is this magical amazing perfect simulation game of awesome??????? I'm sure people will argue with me but on some level I will defend gaming's lack of immersion. It's kind of half the fun. Death being a relatively inconsequential thing is part of the fun. But in the book, characters take actions I would never believe someone would program into a game in the current age. I feel like every one of us gamers are disconnected from a game (it's why the fourth wall utilized in things like Silent Hill 2 and Stanley Parable work), but the gaming part of the book basically just feels like a separate fantasy novel spliced in throughout. Ironically, Nick is so immersed in the game that I get anything but immersed in the book.
It would be one thing for this book to imply that the story takes place 20 minutes in the future where technology has developed this far, and Nick pops on the VR headset to play the game or whatever the somesuch, but it doesn't. Nick turns on his computer, picks up his controller and is brought to a computer generated world so realistic you can feel heat? Smell mud? Can't tell human and NPC characters apart even while communicating with them? How are you communicating with them without some sort of user input? Do they just talk back if you have a headset? What if you don't have a headset?
Not to mention while being in Severkin's head we are effectively in an entirely different character - and how so? Did Nick write this character? Severkin does reflect Nick in character choice from time to time, but they're separate enough people that they feel and read quite differently. I felt like this sections could have been more effective with more intersplicing of us being shown Nick actually playing the game. Hesitations of what to say, how to say it when Reunne seems to slip into Sophie territory. Nick fumbling with controls in anxiety and panic. Nick opening a separate chat with Nat to talk about how to approach Ruenne - I know that Nick seems to be super intent on being totally caught up with the game, but while I am willing to concede that that is appropriate for the early part of the book it would have been more interesting to me as Nick begins to see his real life seeping into the game, it does for the reader as well, and Nick can't escape the reality of his situation, video game or not.
I get that this is absolutely a critique of a gamer and someone who doesn't care about video games to the absurd extent I do may barely bat an eyelash, but I needed to mention it because it is basically an entire half of this book, which meant that I spent an entire half of this book having to force my sense of disbelief and not really enjoying the book. What made those sections just bearable to me was knowing the real life undercurrent through them, but again, they just felt so separate that it was occasionally something that I had to remind myself, as opposed to the two sides existing together.
Before you write this off as a negative review, however, the past like four paragraphs were my rant about one aspect of the book, even if physically it was a huge chunk of the book. All said and done, this book hit me emotionally, the characters were believably 12 but not a frustrating 12, and their social status as mixed-race people, of having a family member with a hereditary mental disease, of different lives, different coping mechanisms, these were all powerful enough parts of the book to make a great whole and it is a book I would absolutely recommend.
Nick as a character is someone I want to hold up and say "this, do it like this." The balance of immaturity and being genuinely likeable, I have found, is not an easy one to strike, something that I've now realized after reading so many children's books in a row. Oftentimes I have to stop myself from my criticism and say "okay, it's just a kid." I never felt that with Nick. It's not like he doesn't act like a child, his 12-year-oldness is an important aspect of the book, because it is the core of his denial. He's the one who sees the truth, everyone has given up/has misdiagnosed/etc. etc. It's a very me vs. the world viewpoint that I certainly have horrible flashbacks to, and I definitely related to him (or at least my 12 year old self did) in that respect. But at no point did I feel like rolling my eyes and giving him a shake, it was all universally understandable, and the fundamental point of the fact that he was struggling against a diagnosis that people were not giving him a full picture of is honestly dealt with toward the end of the book, and his acknowledgment of that I thought was a good point to make.
I thought that his awkward conflicts with his father were really well handled, as it's clear from the book that they are both intensely hurting, though, again, Nick's level of self-involvement and self-focus stop him from understanding that particularly early on, and written in a way that didn't make me want to sigh a lot and groan. Plus, the interesting sidestep with Nick already knowing about his African-American heritage while realizing that his chance to learn more about his East German side might be crumbling before his eyes was a nice twist. Though I did make some suspicious eyes at the "I don't fit into the stereotypes" trope, because you have to acknowledge that the people who do are people too (and that you're not completely separate from them just because you don't fit stereotype) and I didn't feel that the book made that point clear enough for my taste. But admittedly these things were not the bulk focus of the book and were handled well enough for me not to get irritated by them (as an Asian American). There are definitely portions that are plain and straight-forward about it enough to be refreshing, the different types of racism that take form, from straight out mockery to slightly condescending disbelief. These are definitely do their part to enrich both Nick and Nat, and the world that they live in, i.e. our world.
The book also does a great job at hinting at characters. From my interpretation, it seemed to me that Charlie was in the closet and over-compensating, which gives a lot of depth to his character and feeling like his actions are understandable, even if they're not justifiable. This happens a couple of times in the book and every time they glance enough for me to get an impression of depth without getting a ten page backstory on the character. Considering that usually me saying this is a COMPLAINT, I just liked it because it made me feel like the characters were rounded even if they weren't important enough to be vital to the story.
Endings can be difficult to do, but the ending for this book came very naturally. The frustration of both Nick and his father are palpable, and his father finally being unable to continue with the lack of information, something he knows to be unfair, felt justified in its occurrence. Though several characters tell Nick to be more open, it becomes clear that that was apparently a one-way street. And the one-two punch that hits Nick, one in reality, one in the game, are set up well, a domino effect that Nick is no longer capable of fighting against. By the time I got to Nick's alone conversation with his mother, I was incredibly close to tears.
Okay, so. I'm sorry. There are portions of this book that I didn't like and I'm going to be honest - they are the gaming scenes. I guess I should write a bit of a personal defense on this before I get started because first of all, I did really like the idea of the gaming sections - they're why I picked up the book. I'm an avid, avid gamer, and I always have been, and really like books that toy with the idea that gaming can be used for a lot of different things. I was piqued by the concept of using gaming as communication through a mental illness, though the book makes it clear fairly early on how this is probably impossible. But the book is also impressive in how much I wanted it to be true as much as Nick did, though my pessimism stopped the belief from solidifying, even if I was flying through pages just wanting to knooooooowwwww for sure.
So my problem is really that I'm an avid gamer. The game described in the book is very kind of World of Warcraft-y and sort of Skyrim-y and I didn't believe a single goddamned sentence in it.
Severkin looks up and sees the glimmer of her tears, feels the ache of his shoulders, there's blood on his armor that he now needs to change out of - what is this magical amazing perfect simulation game of awesome??????? I'm sure people will argue with me but on some level I will defend gaming's lack of immersion. It's kind of half the fun. Death being a relatively inconsequential thing is part of the fun. But in the book, characters take actions I would never believe someone would program into a game in the current age. I feel like every one of us gamers are disconnected from a game (it's why the fourth wall utilized in things like Silent Hill 2 and Stanley Parable work), but the gaming part of the book basically just feels like a separate fantasy novel spliced in throughout. Ironically, Nick is so immersed in the game that I get anything but immersed in the book.
It would be one thing for this book to imply that the story takes place 20 minutes in the future where technology has developed this far, and Nick pops on the VR headset to play the game or whatever the somesuch, but it doesn't. Nick turns on his computer, picks up his controller and is brought to a computer generated world so realistic you can feel heat? Smell mud? Can't tell human and NPC characters apart even while communicating with them? How are you communicating with them without some sort of user input? Do they just talk back if you have a headset? What if you don't have a headset?
Not to mention while being in Severkin's head we are effectively in an entirely different character - and how so? Did Nick write this character? Severkin does reflect Nick in character choice from time to time, but they're separate enough people that they feel and read quite differently. I felt like this sections could have been more effective with more intersplicing of us being shown Nick actually playing the game. Hesitations of what to say, how to say it when Reunne seems to slip into Sophie territory. Nick fumbling with controls in anxiety and panic. Nick opening a separate chat with Nat to talk about how to approach Ruenne - I know that Nick seems to be super intent on being totally caught up with the game, but while I am willing to concede that that is appropriate for the early part of the book it would have been more interesting to me as Nick begins to see his real life seeping into the game, it does for the reader as well, and Nick can't escape the reality of his situation, video game or not.
I get that this is absolutely a critique of a gamer and someone who doesn't care about video games to the absurd extent I do may barely bat an eyelash, but I needed to mention it because it is basically an entire half of this book, which meant that I spent an entire half of this book having to force my sense of disbelief and not really enjoying the book. What made those sections just bearable to me was knowing the real life undercurrent through them, but again, they just felt so separate that it was occasionally something that I had to remind myself, as opposed to the two sides existing together.
Before you write this off as a negative review, however, the past like four paragraphs were my rant about one aspect of the book, even if physically it was a huge chunk of the book. All said and done, this book hit me emotionally, the characters were believably 12 but not a frustrating 12, and their social status as mixed-race people, of having a family member with a hereditary mental disease, of different lives, different coping mechanisms, these were all powerful enough parts of the book to make a great whole and it is a book I would absolutely recommend.
missprint's review
5.0
4.5 (maybe even 5)
So astounded by this book.
The Memory Wall is incredible: evocative, emotional, and very real feeling. The video game scenes are very visual and easy to follow. My heart hurt for Nick as he navigated his mother's illness and his true belief in misdiagnosis. The characters of his father and his friend Nat are well-rounded and stand out for the very real - if sometimes clumsy - way they handle Nick and his pain. Moments of lightness keep this story from being dark or depressing, and issues of race and friendship play great parts too. Absolutely loved this.
So astounded by this book.
The Memory Wall is incredible: evocative, emotional, and very real feeling. The video game scenes are very visual and easy to follow. My heart hurt for Nick as he navigated his mother's illness and his true belief in misdiagnosis. The characters of his father and his friend Nat are well-rounded and stand out for the very real - if sometimes clumsy - way they handle Nick and his pain. Moments of lightness keep this story from being dark or depressing, and issues of race and friendship play great parts too. Absolutely loved this.
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