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The Memory of Love: A Novel by Linda Olsson
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The Memory of Love: A Novel (original 2011; edition 2013)

by Linda Olsson (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
18614144,918 (3.87)6
"From the beloved author of Astrid & Veronika, a moving tale of friendship and redemption Fans of Astrid & Veronika and Chris Cleave's Little Bee will be thrilled to read Linda Olsson's third novel. Here is Olsson doing what she does best: illuminating the terrain of friendship and examining the many forms that love can take. Marion Flint, in her early fifties, has spent fifteen years living a quiet life on the rugged coast of New Zealand, a life that allows the door to her past to remain firmly shut. But a chance meeting with a young boy, Ika, and her desire to help him force Marion to open the Pandora's box of her memory. Seized by a sudden urgency to make sense of her past, she examines each image one-by-one: her grandfather, her mother, her brother, her lover. Perhaps if she can create order from the chaos, her memories will be easier to carry. Perhaps she'll be able to find forgiveness for the little girl that was her. For the young woman she had been. For the people she left behind. Olsson expertly interweaves scenes from Marion's past with her quest to save Ika from his own tragic childhood, and renders with reflective tenderness the fragility of memory and the healing power of the heart"--… (more)
Member:MHanover10
Title:The Memory of Love: A Novel
Authors:Linda Olsson (Author)
Info:Penguin Books (2013), Edition: 1, 240 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
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The Memory of Love by Linda Olsson (2011)

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» See also 6 mentions

English (13)  Dutch (1)  All languages (14)
Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)
This is a well written book with a poignant story. Olsson easily evokes the physical and emotional landscapes in her story so that the reader can almost smell the sea, and feel compassion for Ika. Though some of the "memories" are not beautiful, Olsson and her main character create beauty from the harshness that life can bring. ( )
  JRobinW | Jan 20, 2023 |
Marion West lives by herself on the west coast of New Zealand's Nort Island. One day she finds a little boy, Ika, lying face down on the beach. She takes him home & an unlikely friendship springs up between the two as Ika comes to trust Marion more. However her involvement with Ika forces her to revisit her childhood & the events that led her to isolate herself from human contact.......
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the writing which is just beautiful, almost lyrical. The descriptions are just as beautiful, I could see the ocean, almost smell it & walked with Marianne along the beach. It plods along at it's own pace but is far from boring. There were a few things in there I didn't pick up on. It touches on issues such as loss, redemption & grief. This is a very tragic story at times but isn't depressing at all.
Overall I enjoyed this story although I think I'll need to re-read it to fully understand it.
  leah152 | Feb 4, 2022 |
An interesting book exploring a number of issues which are significant to me: latter phase of life; older person relationships; families; the effect of childhood experience; isolation; introspection. There was a lot of death in the story - perhaps too much to be believable for me. On the other hand, I wonder whether people who have experienced the unexpected death of a person they love are somehow unconsciously drawn to other people who have had a similar experience. I loved the setting of the story (mostly New Zealand) and the quietness of the main characters. ( )
1 vote oldblack | May 15, 2019 |
Why I Stopped Reading on p. 20 - Summary and introspection compose 100% of the first twenty pages of this book. Intolerable first-person narrator, spelling things out and philosophizing with repetitive obvious statements that sometimes feel like parody (but clearly are not). Lest you think I exaggerate, see examples below:

p. 8 - For some time I had been filled with a growing sense of urgency. It hadn't happened suddenly, more like a slow progression of steps so minute I had not taken notice. But one day I became aware of a feeling of restlessness. As if there were something I urgently needed to address. I felt a strong need to put aspects of my life in some sort of order. It didn't concern anybody else, but even though it was something I needed to do just for me, it did feel acutely important. Why, I couldn't quite understand. My life had been the same for years, and I didn't expect any dramatic changes. Nothing had happened to prompt this shift. This sense of urgency.

p. 19 - I think we are constantly surrounded by extraordinary possibilities. Whether we are aware of them or not, whether we choose to act on them or not, they are there. What is offered to us that we choose not to act upon falls by the wayside, and the road that is our life is littered with rejected, ignored and unnoticed opportunities, good and bad. Chance meeting and coincidences become extraordinary only when acted upon. Those that we allow to pass us by are gone forever. We never know where they might have taken us. I think they were never meant to happen. The potential was there, but only for the briefest moment, before we consciously or unconsciously chose to ignore it.
  AmandaGStevens | Mar 2, 2019 |
3.5 stars. It was an interesting story but quite far fetched at times. Overall I enjoyed it though. ( )
  lynnski723 | Dec 31, 2016 |
Showing 1-5 of 13 (next | show all)
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"From the beloved author of Astrid & Veronika, a moving tale of friendship and redemption Fans of Astrid & Veronika and Chris Cleave's Little Bee will be thrilled to read Linda Olsson's third novel. Here is Olsson doing what she does best: illuminating the terrain of friendship and examining the many forms that love can take. Marion Flint, in her early fifties, has spent fifteen years living a quiet life on the rugged coast of New Zealand, a life that allows the door to her past to remain firmly shut. But a chance meeting with a young boy, Ika, and her desire to help him force Marion to open the Pandora's box of her memory. Seized by a sudden urgency to make sense of her past, she examines each image one-by-one: her grandfather, her mother, her brother, her lover. Perhaps if she can create order from the chaos, her memories will be easier to carry. Perhaps she'll be able to find forgiveness for the little girl that was her. For the young woman she had been. For the people she left behind. Olsson expertly interweaves scenes from Marion's past with her quest to save Ika from his own tragic childhood, and renders with reflective tenderness the fragility of memory and the healing power of the heart"--

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