Thursday, June 23, 2016

BOOK REVIEW: The Memory Book by Lara Avery

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is July 5, 2016.

Sammie was always a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as humanly possible. Nothing will stand in her way--not even a rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly start to steal her memories and then her health. What she needs is a new plan. So the Memory Book is born: Sammie's notes to her future self, a document of moments great and small. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime crush, Stuart--a brilliant young writer who is home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood best friend, Cooper, and even take some of the blame for the fight that ended their friendship. Through a mix of heartfelt journal entries, mementos, and guest posts from friends and family, readers will fall in love with Sammie, a brave and remarkable girl who learns to live and love life fully, even though it's not the life she planned.


I really needed this book. It seems like every book I have been reading lately has been mediocre or just blah. I needed a book that made me feel and this was it. First of all, I had to look up the disease that Sammie suffers from and it's real. I guess I was hoping it was fictional because of everything Sammie had to go through. One day Sammie is working towards being a valedictorian and practicing for debate tournaments; the next day, she receives a diagnosis that changes everything. She has NPC, a genetic disease that will slowly eat away at her body and will cause her to forget everything and everyone. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be seventeen and to know that you may soon forget everyone you know.

This entire book is written kind of as a letter or journal. It's Sammie writing to herself so that she can look back and remember things. At first, this letter format kind of got in the way of connecting with Sammie, but I think that's because Sammie wasn't feeling a whole lot at first. I mean, yeah she was angry and upset that this was happening. But she was also in major denial. She still thought she could move away and go to college at NYU and become a lawyer. Sammie was a rare case because she didn't start manifesting symptoms until she was seventeen and apparently, that is a lot older than people usually are when they are diagnosed. Maybe it was because she didn't even get sick until later than the usual patient, but she thought she was different from so many other patients. God, I loved this girl's determination. She was so focused and she didn't want to let ANYTHING get in the way of her plans. I hated watching it in a way because I had a feeling I knew it would end badly. And when she did have an episode where she forgot something, I hurt for her.

Sammie's family was so damn awesome. I don't say that much, but I will say that about this one. Her parents were supportive and yet they were afraid. They wanted her to live her life, but they were terrified she would forget where she was in the middle of crossing a street or something. I loved how they tried to encourage her, even though they weren't as optimistic as Sammie was. And Sammie's siblings were so freaking adorable. I wish they had showed them more, but I loved the way Sammie talked about them in her memory book. I absolutely loved the friendship between Cooper and Sammie and I wanted more between them. Sammie had started dating a guy she had been crushing on forever (Stuart) and even though he was really sweet, I didn't like him for her nearly as much as Cooper.

One thing that bugged me was Sammie's friend, Maddie. Sammie didn't tell her or anyone else about her illness for a long time because she didn't want to be treated differently. I get that. When Sammie finally told her, Maddie acted awful. Maddie said she couldn't handle her being sick and that Sammie was selfish for telling her when she did and that Sammie was using her. Maddie made Sammie's illness all about her and she didn't even try to understand why Sammie wouldn't want to advertise it. They eventually made up, but I never really forgave Maddie for that.

This book was so incredibly heartbreaking. I know I said that it was a bit hard to relate to Sammie in the beginning with the format, but it didn't take long to fall in love with her. And the format ended up working REALLY well when Sammie's disease started progressing. You could tell by the lack of formatting that things were getting worse. By the end of the book, I was crying. Yeah, I was up at 4:00am reading this book and trying not to let my crying wake my husband. Not the first time. This book was heartbreaking and emotional, but is WORTH READING! I loved every word.


Buy/Borrow/Skip: Buy this one!!

18 comments :

  1. I think I got this book at BEA, but I can't remember. Ha! I'm so glad you liked it. I'm really looking forward to reading it now. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So happy you got this one Kate. I hope you enjoy it!

      Delete
  2. OK this sounds amazing, Cynthia. Just the formatting seems really interestingn and makes me want to pick up. I don't normally like to read books with MC's going through disease, because they are so rough on me emotionally, but I'll have to make an exception for this one.
    Wonderful review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nick, this is definitely an emotional book, but it's worth it. I hope you love it!

      Delete
  3. Awesome review! I have this one added to my TBR list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Argh! For some reason I seem to be a total black sheep on this one. I just really didn't connect to Sammie and it made it hard for me to connect to the book, even though I LOVED the concept and the formatting. I just ... didn't care about her. I ended up feeling like skimming a lot (I forced myself not to). BUT I did love Cooper, for the most part - except that he was always high - I didn't quite get that. And the very last page did make me tear up a little because I felt for Cooper.

    I don't know why I didn't love this one! I should have loved it! :-(

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so sorry Nicole! I do agree that it took a bit to warm up to Sammie, but I guess I fell in love with her at some point. I can understand why you had issues connecting though. And yeah, that ending . . . heartbreaking.

      Delete
  5. AHHH I'M SO SO HAPPY THIS IS GOOD!! I had it on my list of books-I-need-or-I'm-gonna-combust and then I just got a surprise ARC in the mail yesterday. *flails* I have a terrible memory (not like a disease or anything this bad!) so I'm just excited to read about that. Eeeep.
    Oh but that annoys me about Sammie's friend. I get angry that people think they that people with disabilities/illnesses must tell people. Because, no, they shouldn't have to. People will treat someone with a disability differently if they know, and it's sometimes really bad. Obviously stigmas just need to be erased and all that, but yeah. I think stuff like this is up to the person whether to share it or not. *nods*
    ANYWAY. I CANNOT WAIT TO READ THIS AHHHHH SUCH A GOOD REVIEW.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cait, that is so awesome that you got the ARC!! I really, really, really hope you'll love it!! And yeah, I can completely understand why Sammie wouldn't tell her friend right away. I mean, come on it's SAMMIE'S illness. It made me feel so bad for her that her friend called her selfish for not wanting to tell her right away. Craziness.

      Delete
  6. Oh boy this book sounds like a huge tearjerker, and I just KNOW I would cry while reading this, because I get so so so sad about people losing their memories.

    I'm going to have to give this a try. Thanks for the review, and ultimately getting me to check it out more :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Valerie, I swear I did not expect to cry with this one. I should have, but I was just too optimistic and I thought I could get away with no tears. Nope, didn't happen. Oh well. Hope you love it!

      Delete
  7. Definitely adding this - thanks for the heads-up, Cynthia, it wasn't even on my radar. I'm also in need of an extraordinary story, and it sounds as though this might be it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So happy to hear that Ramona! You will love it. :)

      Delete
  8. Why are we the same person!? I am not complaining, since I obviously think we're fabulous, but still. I was in a HUGE slump until I read this book. HUGE. And then it came along like a glimmering beacon of hope. Also- SAME with Maddie. Like, come ON dude. So sorry she didn't think about YOUR feelings while dealing with HER mortality. How dare she. Maddie's mom should have smacked Maddie, and I am not one for corporal punishment. BUt in my mind, behind the scenes, the mom soap-opera-slaps Maddie and says "bitch please!" and then Maddie stops being awful. Oh right, I loved this book too, if that wasn't clear 😂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shannon, BOOK TWINS FOR THE WIN!!! It's even weirder that we were BOTH in reading slumps until this book! Craziness! I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. But man, it was just so amazing.

      Delete
  9. You have 100% sold me on this book. I can't wait until this book comes out! Amazing review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Luxe, I am so glad to hear that!! You will love that!

      Delete