Helpful Score: 2
From my blog "Reader's Enchantment:"
I received My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. It would not have shown up on my to-be-read pile on its own simply because I spend so much time in the YA section, I forget there are other types of books out there. Although it's being sold alongside of mainstream fiction, (I've even seen it for sale in my grocery store,) this book is not your average, generic love story.
This is the story of Daniel and Sophia, and Daniel and Constance, and most recently, Daniel and Lucy. Different names, different times, but the same souls. Obviously, this book requires a belief a reincarnation in order to work. (Duh, right? It has to be said though.) Anyway, in the first life that he remembers, Daniel meets the soul he later knows as Sophia (et al) just as he is burning her house down around her. He is instantly transformed, regrets his actions and will continue to live with regrets for the next 1500 years. He is one of a few souls in the world that are able to remember their previous lives and, while the book tells us there are others like him, we meet only two: Ben, an old soul already by the time Daniel meets him aboard a ship and Joaquim, Daniel's brother and leader of the group that is responsible for burning the first "Sophia." Daniel and Ben recognize each other as ones with "The Memory" but Ben says that Joaquim does not remember in the same way. However, in all future interactions Daniel and Joaquim are at odds with each other, usually over Sophia.
Daniel, in his most recent incarnation, goes to high school with Lucy for their junior and senior years. Lucy feels a connection to him from the beginning, as she often has in the past, but she cannot quite understand their connection. Her friend constantly reminds her that "if he liked you, you would know it," but that doesn't stop Lucy from having an almost constant attraction to, and imaginary relationship with Daniel.
The characters of the story are finely drawn and I love how some characters are reincarnated. For example, Lucy's friend with the sage advice was her mother in their previous lives. In one life, Daniel had one of the best mothers he'd ever had but in order to be reincarnated at about the same time as "Sophia's" natural death, he lets himself die of a drug overdose; in his following life, he is born to a drug-addicted mother.
The story is told in interchanging chapters of Lucy and Daniel, sometimes of their past lives and sometimes in the present. This can sometimes be distracting from a story but it is not so in this book. Let me point out something I love and wish all authors would be so kind to do: each chapter starts with a place and year so that you understand immediately whether you are in the present or the past. Another special bonus with this book is a bookmark with Daniel's story on one side and Sophia's on the other. I find this to be very fitting of the story itself and I'm impressed with the idea.
I've learned since finishing the book that it is the first of a trilogy and that really explains the unsatisfying ending. I truly loved the story up until the last 60 pages or so. I'm aware that "series" books are all the rage right now but, in my opinion, this is a case where the entire story could have been told in another 50-100 pages. Also, there's a part of me that believes in reincarnation so this book easily falls into my world beliefs, but I can see some people having trouble with the premise of the story.
My rating for this book is a solid 3.5 stars.
Okay, I feel the need to add a little more, but it's going to contain spoilers. So, feel free to cut and paste this link and scroll down for the spoiler part. http://readersenchantment.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-name-is-memory-by-ann-brashares.html
I received My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. It would not have shown up on my to-be-read pile on its own simply because I spend so much time in the YA section, I forget there are other types of books out there. Although it's being sold alongside of mainstream fiction, (I've even seen it for sale in my grocery store,) this book is not your average, generic love story.
This is the story of Daniel and Sophia, and Daniel and Constance, and most recently, Daniel and Lucy. Different names, different times, but the same souls. Obviously, this book requires a belief a reincarnation in order to work. (Duh, right? It has to be said though.) Anyway, in the first life that he remembers, Daniel meets the soul he later knows as Sophia (et al) just as he is burning her house down around her. He is instantly transformed, regrets his actions and will continue to live with regrets for the next 1500 years. He is one of a few souls in the world that are able to remember their previous lives and, while the book tells us there are others like him, we meet only two: Ben, an old soul already by the time Daniel meets him aboard a ship and Joaquim, Daniel's brother and leader of the group that is responsible for burning the first "Sophia." Daniel and Ben recognize each other as ones with "The Memory" but Ben says that Joaquim does not remember in the same way. However, in all future interactions Daniel and Joaquim are at odds with each other, usually over Sophia.
Daniel, in his most recent incarnation, goes to high school with Lucy for their junior and senior years. Lucy feels a connection to him from the beginning, as she often has in the past, but she cannot quite understand their connection. Her friend constantly reminds her that "if he liked you, you would know it," but that doesn't stop Lucy from having an almost constant attraction to, and imaginary relationship with Daniel.
The characters of the story are finely drawn and I love how some characters are reincarnated. For example, Lucy's friend with the sage advice was her mother in their previous lives. In one life, Daniel had one of the best mothers he'd ever had but in order to be reincarnated at about the same time as "Sophia's" natural death, he lets himself die of a drug overdose; in his following life, he is born to a drug-addicted mother.
The story is told in interchanging chapters of Lucy and Daniel, sometimes of their past lives and sometimes in the present. This can sometimes be distracting from a story but it is not so in this book. Let me point out something I love and wish all authors would be so kind to do: each chapter starts with a place and year so that you understand immediately whether you are in the present or the past. Another special bonus with this book is a bookmark with Daniel's story on one side and Sophia's on the other. I find this to be very fitting of the story itself and I'm impressed with the idea.
I've learned since finishing the book that it is the first of a trilogy and that really explains the unsatisfying ending. I truly loved the story up until the last 60 pages or so. I'm aware that "series" books are all the rage right now but, in my opinion, this is a case where the entire story could have been told in another 50-100 pages. Also, there's a part of me that believes in reincarnation so this book easily falls into my world beliefs, but I can see some people having trouble with the premise of the story.
My rating for this book is a solid 3.5 stars.
Okay, I feel the need to add a little more, but it's going to contain spoilers. So, feel free to cut and paste this link and scroll down for the spoiler part. http://readersenchantment.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-name-is-memory-by-ann-brashares.html
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