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A review by mskog
The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
A really enjoyable and challenging read. For me, the book evolved substantially about halfway through.
In the first half in particular, the worldbuilding sets up a lot of thematic work for the reader to unpack. The idea of people everywhere randomly and completely losing all of their memories gives kind of a pandemic/zombie story as a vehicle for exploring what memories really mean, their role in constructing and maintaining identity internally and externally, how we construct reality, and the entire notion of having any two of a past/present/future but not the third. There's a lot of work around grief, particularly in a situation where it's drawn out, and the actual point of <i>loss</i> is unclear. Lots of easy if imperfect analogies to Alzheimer's care.
The author describes herself as a pants-er rather than a plotter, and you can definitely see that in the second half. While the first half feels like a lot of dense thematic work in the created world and the early interactions characters have, later on plot elements dominate, so a point about an underlying theme takes more and more plot time to execute. In particular, the last 25% or so is pretty much just an enjoyable read about the choices these characters make in this world, with only a few real message-driven elements. This forced me to rethink how I went about engaging the text, so it was still enjoyable, but I had to take a moment for that. I don't think this is something every reader has to do or will necessarily experience, but for me, the book was on the edge of a 5* until the last quarter (ending aside, of course), which I think for some readers will be their favorite part.
I really appreciated that the bookdid not attempt to explain why the phenomenon happened, or how it actually spread. It feels like a complete text without any of that, and going into that with serious depth I think would really risk losing focus in a way that already was becoming a bit of an issue later on in the book.
I'm left with a lot of questions that I am asking myself.
What would be the last memory you would hold on to, even after you forgot who you were?
In the first half in particular, the worldbuilding sets up a lot of thematic work for the reader to unpack. The idea of people everywhere randomly and completely losing all of their memories gives kind of a pandemic/zombie story as a vehicle for exploring what memories really mean, their role in constructing and maintaining identity internally and externally, how we construct reality, and the entire notion of having any two of a past/present/future but not the third. There's a lot of work around grief, particularly in a situation where it's drawn out, and the actual point of <i>loss</i> is unclear. Lots of easy if imperfect analogies to Alzheimer's care.
The author describes herself as a pants-er rather than a plotter, and you can definitely see that in the second half. While the first half feels like a lot of dense thematic work in the created world and the early interactions characters have, later on plot elements dominate, so a point about an underlying theme takes more and more plot time to execute. In particular, the last 25% or so is pretty much just an enjoyable read about the choices these characters make in this world, with only a few real message-driven elements. This forced me to rethink how I went about engaging the text, so it was still enjoyable, but I had to take a moment for that. I don't think this is something every reader has to do or will necessarily experience, but for me, the book was on the edge of a 5* until the last quarter (ending aside, of course), which I think for some readers will be their favorite part.
I really appreciated that the book
I'm left with a lot of questions that I am asking myself.
What would be the last memory you would hold on to, even after you forgot who you were?