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metaphorsandmisc 's review for:
The Memory Thief
by Lauren Mansy
DID NOT FINISH
I'm so sorry to part ways like this. You seemed like such a great book, such an interesting concept. And you've got such a pretty cover. But when I found myself making excuses to avoid reading you, even as I approached the halfway point, I knew that this wasn't meant to last.
- my breakup letter to this book, DNF around 48%
I really did want to enjoy this book. The concept of memories as currency is fascinating, and I loved the way the author brought up ideas like people collecting experiences just to bargain them away for money. It's horrifying, but so incredibly interesting. And as I saw in interviews regarding the book, the author based a lot of Etta's struggles with her mother's health around her personal experience with her own mother's illness. I love when stories have meaningful personal connections woven into them, and that aspect of this book was quite nicely done.
The problem was in the execution. The beginning was a massive info-dump that had me constantly flipping back and forth to double-check what different terms and groups of people meant. The whole thing became a bit of a jumble for me, and maybe that was just a result of me reading it at night when tired...but I don't typically have that experience with other books, so I'm inclined to think it was just an issue with the writing and pacing. But the final nail in the coffin, the reason I ended up giving up on this book about halfway through, was the cringe-worthy insta-love that emerged out of nowhere. I just couldn't justify sticking with it any longer--I was deliberately avoiding reading because I didn't want to get into this book, which in turn put me behind on all the other ARCs I have to review (not to mention all the new fall releases I want to check out!).
Maybe someday I'll give this one another go, and maybe I won't resent it by then. But for now, I think it's in both of our best interests to simply leave while we still can.
Thank you to BLINK for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
- my breakup letter to this book, DNF around 48%
I really did want to enjoy this book. The concept of memories as currency is fascinating, and I loved the way the author brought up ideas like people collecting experiences just to bargain them away for money. It's horrifying, but so incredibly interesting. And as I saw in interviews regarding the book, the author based a lot of Etta's struggles with her mother's health around her personal experience with her own mother's illness. I love when stories have meaningful personal connections woven into them, and that aspect of this book was quite nicely done.
The problem was in the execution. The beginning was a massive info-dump that had me constantly flipping back and forth to double-check what different terms and groups of people meant. The whole thing became a bit of a jumble for me, and maybe that was just a result of me reading it at night when tired...but I don't typically have that experience with other books, so I'm inclined to think it was just an issue with the writing and pacing. But the final nail in the coffin, the reason I ended up giving up on this book about halfway through, was the cringe-worthy insta-love that emerged out of nowhere. I just couldn't justify sticking with it any longer--I was deliberately avoiding reading because I didn't want to get into this book, which in turn put me behind on all the other ARCs I have to review (not to mention all the new fall releases I want to check out!).
Maybe someday I'll give this one another go, and maybe I won't resent it by then. But for now, I think it's in both of our best interests to simply leave while we still can.
Thank you to BLINK for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.