The Memory of Love
Aminatta Forna
2010
445 pages
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This is the first book I’ve read from the newly created Shelf of Doom. And despite it’s slow start, I’m pretty happy with it.
(Except for that ending…holy crap people! The ending!!)
(And the fact that it takes a good long while before you understand that you’re in Sierra Leone…unless you just happen to read the book description.)
(And the ending. Have I mentioned the ending?!?)
So what we’ve got is a cast of intertwined characters and a reader who doesn’t really begin to understand just exactly how they’re all intertwined until about 2/3 of the way through the book.
- Adrian is an English psychologist who has come to Sierra Leone to help out as best he can. He also falls for the mysterious Mamakay.
- Kai is young doctor who has committed to staying in the country, despite the fact that his best friend has found a seemingly happier life in America. His also got some major sleep problems, but he won’t say exactly why. And he’s obviously still in love with the absent Nenebah, although he won’t explain her absence, either.
- Elias Cole is dying. And he wants to tell Adrian his life story, which mostly seems to involve how, when he was a university lecturer in the 1960s, he fell in love with the beautiful Saffia, who just happened to be the wife of another man.
Between 1991 and 2002, more than 50,000 people died in the Sierra Leone Civil War. While the novel never talks about what caused the war, it does go into great detail about the casualties, both physical and emotional. Adrian is particularly interested in the post-traumatic stress and fugue states that people are experiencing as a result of the war.
Along with the stories about the civilian victims of the war, Forno explores the idea of silent collaboration. Is it worse to have actively been involved in committing atrocities of war, or to be a person who implicates others by revealing small pieces of potentially damaging information? And what does it say about a person’s character when they end up in a mental hospital as a result of the acts they committed compared to those who deny any culpability for their actions whatsoever?
There’s a lot to think about as you read through this book (not to mention that ending that I just can’t quite seem to recover from! I mean really! How could he??). I did think it was a tad too long, mostly because the story took awhile to get up to speed, but I ended up really liking it. Despite the ending.
An internationally set story with love and war? This sounds like one I’d like so thank you for bringing it to my attention!
This book just popped up on my radar the other day, and I must say that I am intrigued, not only with the subject matter, but the way in which the characters stories seem so separate, and then the way they merge. And this Holy Crap ending? Sounds like I need to get to this one soon!
Sounds like the ending kind of went nowhere with this one… J/k lol! This sounds really good though I do get frustrated when books are unnecessarily long.
Lucky for me, I love some long, meandering books! I’m also looking for more worldly adventures since my choices always seem to stay within the US or the UK. Lovely review!
I haven’t had any interest in this book (even though I’m seeing it A LOT). But, I could be persuaded to change my mind. We’ll see!
I almost want to read this just to see what’s up with the ending.
My favorite book about Africa is Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's Petals of Blood, set in post-liberation Kenya. Powerful stuff.
This looks wonderful! I read a book last year about the creation of Sierra Leone and wanting to read some fiction set there ever since.
You’re trying to suck us in to see what this ending is all about! One down from the Shelf of Doom.
At least your shelf of doom is one book lighter. Yay you.
Okay, so you liked this book, except for the beginning and the ending? I may have to think about it.
This book was one of my favorite books from last year. There is quite a lot to think about and she packs a lot of detail in as well. Her take on the war, looking at it while not looking at it, is very interesting and one that I’ve not encountered in African lit. Yes, that ending! Thanks for the review.
Okay seriously not really my thing but you’ve hooked me with the whole THE ENDING THE ENDING OMG THE ENDING.
I hadn’t read anything about this book until I saw your post … what a haunting cover!
Good to know you’re tackling the Shelf of Doom and that this first pick was so gripping (and the ending! Yikes, I’ll be on the edge of my seat if/when I read THE MEMORY OF LOVE!)
hm, I had a moment. I read ‘Shelf of Doom’ and I was thinking ‘Is that a new publishing company?’ lol
I will have to keep this book in mind. I am actually kind of curious about the ending now.
I am really looking forward to reading this book and hope that I can get to it perhaps this year. I’ve read Forna’s earlier written and published memoir so knew she was from Sierra Leone though
Now I’m intrigued! This book was already on my wishlist, but now how can I let it languish there without finding what the ending is all about?