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Loading... Os Artistas da Memória (original 2004; edition 2007)by Jeffrey Moore
Work InformationThe Memory Artists by Jeffrey Moore (2004)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Interesting book, could do with more development in the end, felt a little cut short. Great characters otherwise. ( ) I didn't like this book at all to begin with: words like 'glabrous' and 'pullulating' were used and it felt pretentious. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because it got a whole lot better once Noel's memory-bereft mother, Stella Burun was introduced. I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints and the element of mystery about the attacks on Samira, JJ, and Norval. The denouement was satisfying, too. So different! I loved the uniqueness of the book. It is a novel, but designed to be a compilation of narrations and diary entries "written" by a neuropsychologist as if it were actually an academic work, complete with the narrator's endnotes (for once you actually need to read the endnotes!) Vorta, the doctor is a complete nut job, but you only really meet him through the endnotes and the character's discussion of him. Noel is a synesthesia and hypermnesia dealing with his mother's Alzheimer's. Noel, Samira, Norval, and JJ are all patients of Vorta and he sees it as some sort of experiment, them all coming to live in Noel's house. There's lots of discussion about poetry, chemistry, alzheimer's, synesthesia, and of course psychology in the book, minimal romance, plenty of cynicism and optimism, wit and chaos. If you're looking for something unusual, this is it! This is a quick and engaging book to read. The characters are fabulous; they are interesting and sympathetic. But the plot gets more and more confusing as the book goes on. By the end, I had no clue what was happening. In fact, I found the ending very disappointing. The writing style isn't well-developed, and in my opinion could have benefited from more vigorous editing. Too much of the plot in the book seems to fall back on literary cliches. The dialogue is stiff and hackneyed. That being said, the characters were so interesting that I still enjoyed reading this book. And many of Moore's ideas are fascinating. Jeffrey Moore definitely shows potential, he just isn't there yet with The Memory Artists. no reviews | add a review
Noel Burun has hypermnesia and synaesthesia: his memory is unrelentingly exact and when people speak he sees their words as vibrant explosions of colour, often leaving him befuddled and bewildered. His mother Stella, on the other hand, is slowly sinking into the quicksand of Alzheimer's. A man who remembers too much, and a woman who remembers too little -- both struggle to make sense of their worlds in a house bloated with memories. Norval is Noel's double: a one-time novelist and full-time Lothario whose memory is tainted by an unfinished love story. He, along with Samira, who is trying to escape a former identity, and JJ-who is trapped by nostalgia for his childhood -- all have a role to play in Noel's sometimes heartbreaking, and often hilarious, quest to find a cure for his mother's condition. THE MEMORY ARTISTS is the outstanding, hilarious second novel from a writer whose work is so "full of quirks and quick-turns, wit and erudition" (The Guardian) that readers will find it impossible to put down. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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