Book Review: Ann Brashares’s MY NAME IS MEMORY
As I began this review of Ann Brashares’s My Name is Memory (Riverhead, out today), I wondered if I’m way too old to be its target audience. The novel contains the kind of melodramatic language one might find in a young girl’s diary, including mine from another lifetime. Perhaps this isn’t surprising since Brashares is best known for her Young Adult Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. But since this title is deemed “adult,” I guess it’s fair game for my assessment.
Our hero Daniel has lived many lives, starting around 520 A.D. He has “the memory,” the rare ability to recall events from all his past lives. In most of them, he has loved a girl named Sophia, though she’s had different names through the ages (at a certain point, Daniel decided he would only go by that name no matter what moniker he’s given at each new birth). His main goal in each life is to find Sophia and convince her of their eternal love since her memory is not so good. His attempts have been repeatedly thwarted throughout the centuries, often by a malevolent character named Joaquim, who was once his brother. In that lifetime, Sophia was Joaquim’s wife but ran off with Daniel to escape the brother’s abuse (Daniel and Sophia never consummated their relationship) and Joaquim has wanted revenge ever since. The story jumps through different time periods, with the hope that Daniel and Sophia, named Lucy in present day, will finally get to be together.
The concept is intriguing—I’m a fan of time-travel stories—but the execution is problematic for several reasons. The first is a contradiction of the following declaration:
There are so many things I’ve seen that I could tell you about. But I am telling you a story, a love story, and I will try, with limited digressions, to hold on to my thread.
But digress Brashares does, impeding the urgency and momentum I felt is needed in Daniel’s search. For example, he goes looking for Lucy at the University of Virginia, where she’s a student (the college is never named but it’s definitely UVA from the descriptions), and promptly gets off-track by reminiscing about the time he met Thomas Jefferson in the ’60s when TJ was reincarnated as a black man.
Another problem was my difficulty in discerning the difference between Daniel’s and Lucy’s voices. Chapters alternate between their points of view but the writing style remains mostly the same. I suppose one could argue this means Daniel is in touch with his sensitive side but his voice isn’t convincingly masculine.
The biggest obstacle for me, though, was the overwrought prose about the couple’s love for each other. If you’ve ever been in love or longed for someone, you know exactly how that feels. It doesn’t need to be explained in all the quickening-heartbeat-when-the-other-is-near-and-staring-out-the-window-morosely-when-he/she’s-not details. I want the language to make me swoon, not do all the swooning for me.
To be fair, I think this book would do well among Brashares’s YA fanbase despite its adult categorization. I’ve seen the first Twilight movie (haven’t read any of the books) and Bella and Edward talk the way Daniel and Sophia/Lucy do. While that style is not for me, I can see its attraction for younger readers because once upon a time, when my heart was more innocent, I might’ve fallen for it, too.
Nerd verdict: Spotty Memory
Related posts:
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HqHzY-Dpn9g/SwOYJPrjOtI/AAAAAAAAIpg/XNz255Hpbn8/s400/free-rss-feed-button2.png")
The story sounds very promising and a bit reminiscent of The Time Traveler’s Wife so I am actually interested in giving it a chapter or two. I’m with you on dialogue issues. But, to be fair, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the sequels made me blanch repeatedly due to its clunky translation. I hung in there and was rewarded with a strong story.
Is it anything like this? Or is all swooning all the time?
I am so sorry you didn’t love MY NAME IS MEMORY! It makes me doubly sad since you have yet to steer me wrong with your recommendations and this book is my absolute favorite right now! I could never get in to Time Traveler’s Wife and thought this book much more believable (and I also found the whole showing up naked in front of a 6 y/o rather disturbing) and fun. Yes, it’s not really life changing, but I really found myself captivated by the story and Daniel and Sophia’s adventures through time. Maybe my heart is more innocent than I think, hmmmm. I’m sorry we’re not book soulmates on this title, PCN.
It does sound like an intriguing story, PCN. I’m not sure how much the foibles of the writing would bug me ~ perhaps contained in one book rather than a series, I might manage it. Thanks for a helpful review, as always!
Is there a part two or am I missing something….I totally did not get the ending…made me feel like I wasted my time reading the book…kind of disappointed!
just read on another site, this is book one of three…okay, so now I feel better.
I’m glad! How do you feel about the book overall, knowing now it’s the first in a trilogy?
now I can’t wait to read the next two…I couldn’t put it down. I have never been much of a reader. It took me less than 4 days to read that book! At first I wasn’t sure about the whole going back and forth from the present to the past but once I got through the first couple of chapters I enjoyed finding out more about where Daniel came from.
I loved the book and could not put it down- I would definetely recommend it- its a great read. Glad its a trilogy because when I got to the last two pages I didn’t understand why it ended the way it did. It makes sense if you understand there is more to come!
Welcome, Susan. Yes, the ending is quite abrupt. I’ve read other trilogies (the Stieg Larsson one comes to mind) where each installment managed to have a satisfying ending while still leaving some threads to be carried over into the following books.
I just finished My Name Is Memory minutes ago, and like many others was vastly disappointed in the cliffhanger. I was elated at hearing it was part one of a trilogy, and I will definitely be pre-ordering the sequel.
However…many times in this book, I found myself skimming over pages from boredom. I’m only 18 but an avid reader, and normally I don’t skip passages, but when Daniel and Lucy were around each other…I just found some fragments of the composition quite juvenile.
So Pop Culture Nerd, I am with you on questioning the label of “adult” for My Name Is Memory. It was undoubtedly a success as a novel, but Ann could have taken it to a higher more satisfying level.
P.s. What are your thoughts on My Name Is Memory becoming a film? I think it has the possibility to be wonderful, as long as it doesn’t get exploited to the extent of Twilight. I just hope they get no-name actors, and focus on staying true to the beautiful story.
Hi LindsayAK,
Welcome and thanks for your comment.
Your question is a tough one. I didn’t like the book so don’t really care if a movie gets made since I probably won’t see it. That said, I’ve liked movies in the past based on books I loathed. So if the movie gets made with some brilliant actors and receives rave reviews, I might check it out. I agree about unknown actors being preferable. Can you imagine Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus starring in it? Ugh.