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A review by mdabernig
The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman
2.0
I think I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't recently read the superior and much more emotionally affecting [b:Still Alice|2153405|Still Alice|Lisa Genova|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1236089972s/2153405.jpg|2158906] so recently which dealt with a similar storyline, but somehow managed to do it in a much better way. It's not that this book is terrible, but it just doesn't measure up to the first book.
I think there were moments when it almost became a great book, but just as it was about to get there, it felt like the author chickened out and decided to play it safe. The twist at the end was one such moment - what had been one of the stronger parts of the book, one of the most heartbreaking and sadly realistic parts, just got ~fixed to make it all tidy. That was what was most disappointing - I feel like perhaps the author wanted to go places with this and then forced herself to pull back. The most convenient moments of lucidity, the ridiculous confrontation in front of an old boyfriend's new family, the tying of all lose strings got rid of the most tragic aspect of this very sad story, meaning that little things that weren't sanitised, like almost losing her child, like forgetting her husband, like being cruel to her family were forgotten about.
It's disappointing - I think it could have been great, but instead it felt like a sanitised version of a tragic story, with all the edges smoothed off in order to make it a bit more palatable.
I think there were moments when it almost became a great book, but just as it was about to get there, it felt like the author chickened out and decided to play it safe. The twist at the end was one such moment - what had been one of the stronger parts of the book, one of the most heartbreaking and sadly realistic parts, just got ~fixed to make it all tidy. That was what was most disappointing - I feel like perhaps the author wanted to go places with this and then forced herself to pull back. The most convenient moments of lucidity, the ridiculous confrontation in front of an old boyfriend's new family, the tying of all lose strings got rid of the most tragic aspect of this very sad story, meaning that little things that weren't sanitised, like almost losing her child, like forgetting her husband, like being cruel to her family were forgotten about.
It's disappointing - I think it could have been great, but instead it felt like a sanitised version of a tragic story, with all the edges smoothed off in order to make it a bit more palatable.