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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I really liked this, but I wish I had not listened to the audiobook. Not because it was bad or anything. I think the length in conjunction with the very real feeling content was just difficult for me to stay engaged with as an audio.
Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC!
"Tell Me an Ending" is a thoughtful science fiction novel that asks the question: would you delete a troubling memory? Would doing so help your mental health? Or would it become a crutch to avoid dealing with PTSD and failing relationships? "Tell Me an Ending" follows five characters as they navigate a world in which memories can be deleted and memories of deletion likewise vanish, leaving characters uncertain what they have experienced and unable to trust their own minds. The book initially functions like a collection of loosely linked stories in a shared world, but as the plot unfurls, connections between the disparate characters become stronger, and surprising relationships emerge. My favorite story among them was of William, a troubled ex-cop, who is considering having a memory of a violent crime scene photograph from work deleted. His tale is delicate, sorrowfully told, as he tries to unravel his PTSD from linked memories that have been corrupted or made stressful by virtue of being near the memories that are troubling him.
I really enjoyed this book - I feel like it's a breed of realistic, easy-to-see-happening science fiction that is more character-driven than interested in explaining its pseudo-science. My only complaint was that it felt a little long - the ending might have been tightened up (The final section felt a bit like a villain monologue). But other than that... definitely recommended for someone wanting a character-driven tale that is as likely as it is chilling.
"Tell Me an Ending" is a thoughtful science fiction novel that asks the question: would you delete a troubling memory? Would doing so help your mental health? Or would it become a crutch to avoid dealing with PTSD and failing relationships? "Tell Me an Ending" follows five characters as they navigate a world in which memories can be deleted and memories of deletion likewise vanish, leaving characters uncertain what they have experienced and unable to trust their own minds. The book initially functions like a collection of loosely linked stories in a shared world, but as the plot unfurls, connections between the disparate characters become stronger, and surprising relationships emerge. My favorite story among them was of William, a troubled ex-cop, who is considering having a memory of a violent crime scene photograph from work deleted. His tale is delicate, sorrowfully told, as he tries to unravel his PTSD from linked memories that have been corrupted or made stressful by virtue of being near the memories that are troubling him.
I really enjoyed this book - I feel like it's a breed of realistic, easy-to-see-happening science fiction that is more character-driven than interested in explaining its pseudo-science. My only complaint was that it felt a little long - the ending might have been tightened up (The final section felt a bit like a villain monologue). But other than that... definitely recommended for someone wanting a character-driven tale that is as likely as it is chilling.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
theres like no plot all vibes and while some books do it well, this one is just long and tedious
This is the most unusual book I've read in a while, it's going to take a little bit of time to work through what I thought of it. It's basically an intertwining of many people's stories in a world that has (often mentioned) simiilarities to Eternal Sunshine. People can delete a traumatic memory that's causing issues in their lives. It's intriguing to see how trying to erase the past causes so many more issues.
The stories each linked up in ways that were interesting without being contrived. The consequences felt oddly realistic in such off-kilter premise. I did enjoy the writing style and I was eager to find out what was going on with the organisaiton. That said, other than Noor I really struggled to connect with anyone. I wanted to know what was going on with them but everyone felt fairly one-dimensional.
There was also quite an intense amount of world-building and jargon. It went on for way to long in my opinion, to the point that I got very close to this being my first DNF in a long time. In the end, I was happy that I pushed through because there's a good story in there. But it could have done with being a good 100+ pages shorter, and more effective at taking us along on the journey rather than overexplaining it.
The stories each linked up in ways that were interesting without being contrived. The consequences felt oddly realistic in such off-kilter premise. I did enjoy the writing style and I was eager to find out what was going on with the organisaiton. That said, other than Noor I really struggled to connect with anyone. I wanted to know what was going on with them but everyone felt fairly one-dimensional.
There was also quite an intense amount of world-building and jargon. It went on for way to long in my opinion, to the point that I got very close to this being my first DNF in a long time. In the end, I was happy that I pushed through because there's a good story in there. But it could have done with being a good 100+ pages shorter, and more effective at taking us along on the journey rather than overexplaining it.
Thank you to Goodreads and the author for providing me with an ARC of this book. This was an amazing read. The subject matter is something that will leave you contemplating humanity and choices. There were unexpected twists along the way and the different elements and characters were interwoven seamlessly.
”Do you want to know a secret? It’s about you. It might make you happy, or it might be something unimaginably horrible. Once you know it, you can’t unknow it..”
In Tell Me An Ending, a high-end medical company called Nepenthe has developed the technology to isolate and remove people’s unwanted memories. Sounds too good to be true,and so it must be. Former patients, unaware they’ve had the procedure, are suffering from “memory traces,” and Noor, a patient-care psychologist at Nepenthe, begins to suspect that something sinister is going on, and that company executives are trying to hide the truth.
”What if RASA is a code word for procedures that went wrong, somehow, and had to be covered up?”
This book’s premise drew me in right off the bat, and I went in with high expectations, hoping for a combination of Recursion and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And I was absolutely hooked by the chapters dealing with Nepenthe, Noor, and the allegations of conspiracies and cover-ups happening within the company.
”There is no eternal sunshine; there is no spotless mind.”
There were other storylines woven in too, involving current and former Nepenthe patients and their family members, and how they’d been impacted by the memory removal process. These chapters read more like short stories - isolated narratives with different characters, settings, and conflicts; sharing a repeating theme/pattern, but having little else in common. (Although they did tie together by the end!) I wasn’t as intrigued by these, and found myself wanting to skip ahead to “the good parts.”
”It’s all out of control. What is Noor a part of? Something doing damage, harm spreading out across the world, each harm dividing and multiplying.”
At times, the book was a little hard to follow. The narrative pattern would abruptly shift consciousness by jumping suddenly from present-day interactions to memory fragments, with little to no warning, and this was often confusing. Also, the author uses quotation marks to denote speech inconsistently—sometimes adding them, sometimes not—and that was also challenging for me. (Obviously that’s not something that impacts the book’s content, but for me, it does impact readability.)
”What would you get rid of, if you had to get rid of a memory?”
Overall, though, I really loved the premise and stayed interested throughout the novel, wanting to discover, along with Noor, what Nepenthe was really up to! And ultimately, the secondary characters’ stories did become interesting in really meaningful ways. It took a while to get there, but I’m glad I stuck it out - this book was absolutely worth the read, with its fascinating questions about morality and ethics, and will keep me thinking for a long time!
”The public doesn’t hate us because we played God. It’s because we weren’t God. We got something wrong. They’ve realized we’re humans. They’ll never forgive us.”
——
Thanks to Jo Harkin, Scribner, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
In Tell Me An Ending, a high-end medical company called Nepenthe has developed the technology to isolate and remove people’s unwanted memories. Sounds too good to be true,and so it must be. Former patients, unaware they’ve had the procedure, are suffering from “memory traces,” and Noor, a patient-care psychologist at Nepenthe, begins to suspect that something sinister is going on, and that company executives are trying to hide the truth.
”What if RASA is a code word for procedures that went wrong, somehow, and had to be covered up?”
This book’s premise drew me in right off the bat, and I went in with high expectations, hoping for a combination of Recursion and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And I was absolutely hooked by the chapters dealing with Nepenthe, Noor, and the allegations of conspiracies and cover-ups happening within the company.
”There is no eternal sunshine; there is no spotless mind.”
There were other storylines woven in too, involving current and former Nepenthe patients and their family members, and how they’d been impacted by the memory removal process. These chapters read more like short stories - isolated narratives with different characters, settings, and conflicts; sharing a repeating theme/pattern, but having little else in common. (Although they did tie together by the end!) I wasn’t as intrigued by these, and found myself wanting to skip ahead to “the good parts.”
”It’s all out of control. What is Noor a part of? Something doing damage, harm spreading out across the world, each harm dividing and multiplying.”
At times, the book was a little hard to follow. The narrative pattern would abruptly shift consciousness by jumping suddenly from present-day interactions to memory fragments, with little to no warning, and this was often confusing. Also, the author uses quotation marks to denote speech inconsistently—sometimes adding them, sometimes not—and that was also challenging for me. (Obviously that’s not something that impacts the book’s content, but for me, it does impact readability.)
”What would you get rid of, if you had to get rid of a memory?”
Overall, though, I really loved the premise and stayed interested throughout the novel, wanting to discover, along with Noor, what Nepenthe was really up to! And ultimately, the secondary characters’ stories did become interesting in really meaningful ways. It took a while to get there, but I’m glad I stuck it out - this book was absolutely worth the read, with its fascinating questions about morality and ethics, and will keep me thinking for a long time!
”The public doesn’t hate us because we played God. It’s because we weren’t God. We got something wrong. They’ve realized we’re humans. They’ll never forgive us.”
——
Thanks to Jo Harkin, Scribner, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!