Memory

Westlake, Donald. Memory. New York: Dorchester 2010. Print.

First Sentences:

 

After the show, they went back to the hotel room, and to bed, for the seventeenth time in three weeks. He had chosen her because, being on the road with him, she was handy; and additionally because she was married, had already clipped the winds of one male, and could therefore demand nothing more from hm than he was willing to give. Why she had chosen him he neither knew nor cared. 

Description:

It's always sad to realize that you have read the last new publication from a beloved author due to that person's death. Fortunately, in the case of one of my all-time favorite writers, Donald Westlake was a hugely prolific writer, producing detective novels, thrillers, humorous crime tales, and short stories in abundance under multiple pseudonyms. 

One of his final novels, Memory, originally written in 1963 and published posthumously in 2010, was recently reissued in coordination with the newly-released film The Actor. I had never heard of this book and eagerly swooped in to read it. And boy, what a ride. No crime, not much humor, just a character study of a man lost in the world of the 1950s, trying to regain his memory and former life.

Of course, it starts off with a bang. In the first two paragraphs, Paul Cole is discovered in bed with a woman by the woman's husband who raises a chair as if to hit Paul. Paragraph three has Paul awakening in a hospital, not knowing who he is or how he wound up in a hospital with only his clothes and wallet to give him any hints of his former life. He is diagnosed with temporary amnesia which he is assured will soon go away, and released into the world. Armed with a New York driver's license showing his presumed home address, Paul decides to try to travel there to see whether that city and possible people he once knew can jog his memory and help him resume his life.

But he only has enough money to get part way to New York. He decides to take a bus as far as he can, landing in Jeffords, Ohio, with no job, no money, no acquaintances, and no place to live. He frustratingly finds it difficult to explain to people his amnesia, remember appointments and people's names. Reminder notes soon plaster his rented room to help him manage his daily life.

All the while, he is trying, with mixed success and setbacks, to gather enough money to head to New York where he hopes to find answers.

While this description may sound mundane, it is the very ordinariness of Paul Cole and his fragmented memory coping with minor and major everyday challenges that gently, firmly pull readers into Paul's life and mind. You cannot help but turn pages to see whether he will succeed or fail in each situation, with each person, and whether his hopes of regaining his memory in Jeffords or New York will be realized.

Westlake is an incredibly gifted story-teller, and Memory is no exception. It is highly recommended by me for its unique plot, character development, challenging situations faced, and the repercussions Cole faces based on his decisions made. Westlake is at his best in this novel.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

  

Elizabeth Moon. The Speed of Dark

Autistic tech workers with high skills in determining computer patters in programming are offered the chance to correct their autism symptoms and lead the lives without the challenges they face daily. But in this process, they might lose their pattern-recognition skills, and more importantly their former memories, personality, and possibly even friends. Thought-provoking and totally involving, this fascinating story follows one central character as he struggles with this decision. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

Fred

 

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(and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

 

Anna O

Blake, Matthew. Anna O. New York: Harper 2024. Print.

First Sentences:

"The average human spends thirty-three years of their life asleep." She leans closer, enough for me to catch a gust of expensive perfume This is usually the moment when I know. "And that's what you do?"

"Yes.

"A sleep doctor?"

"I study people who commit crimes when they sleep."


Description:

Sometimes the premise and first lines of a book are just too intriguing not to give it a read. Such is the case with Matthew Blake's novel, Anna O. The irrestible plot here? Can a person who, while sleep-walking, commit and be charged for a crime (murder) that she, when awakened, cannot remember doing? And what if the woman in question, referred to as "Anna O," never wakes up after being found with a bloddy knife in her hand and two friends stabbed to death nearby.

And she still has not awakened after four years.

Time is running out for the London Ministry of Justice to bring her case to trial. She cannot be indefinitely held in Her Majesty's Prison Service, but cannot be released possibly to kill again. The Ministry seeks her murder conviction, something they cannot do unless Anna O: 1) awakens; 2) is ruled competent; and 3) is found guilty due  to overwhelming evidence (including her last text sent that said "I'm sorry. I think I've killed them").

Enter Dr. Benedict Prince, a forensic psychologist at the Abbey Sleep Clinic who specializes in "people who commit crimes when they sleep." The Ministry hires him to work with Anna O to re-awaken her. 

But Prince believes Anna O to have "resignation syndrome," a functional neurological disorder, having suffered a trauma so great that she has given up hope of living and therefore has retreated into the safer world of sleep. 

People think the animal side is the body and the rational side is the brain. But it's often the other way round.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that Prince's ex-wife, Clara, was the first police officer on the scene for the Anna O stabbings and is now is the major police figure on the case. Needless to say, Ben and Clara are at odds, with him wanting to undersatnd and study the sleeper, and Clara only wanting a conviction...that is, if Anna O ever awakens.

There are twists and turns aplenty as Prince tries various methods to reach into Anna O's consciousness, all the while dealing with the pressure of the Ministry, Clara, and social media advocates for Anna O's release or conviction. And just maybe not all these messenging figures are simply non-involved onlookers.

It's a fascinating study of sleep disorders, treatment, and consequences for sleep-walkers and the people they affect by their actions. This was a completely new concept to me, one clearly written in a well-told scenario by intelligent, concerned characters. 

Author Blake has a winning style and imagination, so I thoroughly enjoyed Anna O and look forward  with eager anticipation to his next book. For now, Anna O is a winner.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Feeney, Alice. Sometimes I Lie.   

A paralyzed woman is just awakening from a long-term coma with only a vague memory of how she got in her condition. She can hear and understand what goes on in her hospital room but cannot respond as she tries to piece together bits of conversations to comprehend her history and the veracity of the people who now surround her, including her husband and best friend. (previously reviewed here)

And Again

Chiarella, Jessica. And Again. New York: Touchstone. 2016. Print

First Sentences:

Maybe it's like being born. I don't know. It's impossible to compare it to something I cannot remember. When I finally come back to myself, it takes me a moment to realize I haven't died.


Description:

 

Four adults, Hannah, David, Connie, and Linda, are given a chance of living illness-free lives in Jessica Chiarella's debut novel, And Again. Through an experimental medical DNA procedure, each of these people has been transplanted into genetic duplicates of their original bodies, bodies which now are without the deadly diseases, paralysis, or tumors found in their previous bodies. All their memories have been preserved into these new clones, allowing these first human guinea pigs to resume their previous lives in unblemished, healthy bodies. 

 

If they can.

I would be either cured, or I'd be dead. Both options were preferable to remaining as I was.

In the first weeks and months following the procedure, each finds his or her new substitute body perfect, youthful, and marvelously alive ...but with several unexpected quirks. Because their bodies have lost some muscle memory, Hannah the artist, no longer can paint. Linda, who spent the last eight years in a hospital completely paralyzed and isolated following an automobile accident, now must re-join her husband and children who are definitely uncomfortable being around her. David, the politician, still has his same unsavory interpersonal habits, while Connie, the actress, stricken with AIDS scarring and looming death, now tries to recapture her Hollywood charisma.

It's been my experience that life has a way of ripping the rug out from under you just as you're finding your footing.

The four meet weekly with a therapist as part of the transplant program to discuss what they feel, how they are adapting to their new bodies, and what challenges they are facing. Together and separately, the patient address unexpected situations, thoughts, and emotions which might scuttle this experiential program and threaten potential funding needed to expand its availability to the general population.

 

And besides experiencing the world through new eyes and substitute bodies, their relationships with each of the test group and their old friends also changes, grows, lingers, and is seemingly forever modified for better or worse.

It's a challenging concept, one that subtly asks readers how they might deal with receiving a new, perfect, younger version of themselves. Given a second chance, what would you do? How would you change? Whom would your continue to be close to and whom might you move away from? 

 

This new world and body, they find, are not all good nor all bad. Faced with difficult choices throughout the book, these characters whom readers grow so close to, struggle and move onward in their new lives. Maybe not as we readers might have done, but the test group's choices and decisions seem genuine and all too human. A great, interesting read from a new author I plan to read more from.

And I wonder if someone can be homesick for herself, for the person she was just months ago.   

Happy reading.



Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Watson, S.J. Before I Go to Sleep.   

A woman awakens one morning with no memory of who she is, who the man is in bed next to her, nor any details of her life over the part 30 years. She finds she can remember things which occur throughout the day, but then those memories are erased each night. As the days pass, she begins to suspect people around her are not who they say they are and might be taking advantage of her.  (previously reviewed here)