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A review by melbsreads
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
3.0
2.5 stars.
This...was a strange book. It's told from the perspectives of three different men in Sierra Leone - Adrian, a British psychologist who's determined to help the entire population of Sierra Leone. Kai, a gifted surgeon with a troubled past. Elias, a former lecturer basically making a deathbed confession about his experiences 30 years earlier.
Kai's story was by far the most interesting of the three for me. His past was intriguing, his commitment to his patients was sweet (when he finds out one patients was fascinated by an article about the Terracotta Warriors, he goes to the library to borrow a book about them so his patient can learn more), and the almost father-son relationship between his and his young cousin was adorable.
Elias' story was.......kind of icky, to be honest? Like, he becomes so obsessed with his colleague's wife that he finds a bunch of excuses to go to their house when he knows his colleague isn't home. And then.
Honestly, the biggest issue I had with this? Was the way that the sex scenes were written. They were all...just odd, frankly. Like...one ends with something about the guy holding his partner's nipple between his second and third fingers like it's a cigarette?? And...WHUT.
So yeah. If it had JUST been Kai's story, I would have enjoyed this a lot more than I did.
This...was a strange book. It's told from the perspectives of three different men in Sierra Leone - Adrian, a British psychologist who's determined to help the entire population of Sierra Leone. Kai, a gifted surgeon with a troubled past. Elias, a former lecturer basically making a deathbed confession about his experiences 30 years earlier.
Kai's story was by far the most interesting of the three for me. His past was intriguing, his commitment to his patients was sweet (when he finds out one patients was fascinated by an article about the Terracotta Warriors, he goes to the library to borrow a book about them so his patient can learn more), and the almost father-son relationship between his and his young cousin was adorable.
Elias' story was.......kind of icky, to be honest? Like, he becomes so obsessed with his colleague's wife that he finds a bunch of excuses to go to their house when he knows his colleague isn't home. And then
Spoiler
when he gets arrested by the police for involvement in shady anti-government activities that he's not actually involved in, he basically dobs in his colleague, who then ends up dead. Allowing Elias to marry his wife. Who doesn't actually WANT to marry him. So when being married to her doesn't meet up with Elias' expectations of being married to her, he basically immediately starts cheating on her, and aaaaaaaaaarghHonestly, the biggest issue I had with this? Was the way that the sex scenes were written. They were all...just odd, frankly. Like...one ends with something about the guy holding his partner's nipple between his second and third fingers like it's a cigarette?? And...WHUT.
So yeah. If it had JUST been Kai's story, I would have enjoyed this a lot more than I did.