The brief description of The Memory Thief in the Kindle store tells you straight out that Maddie's mountain/ice climbing husband dies in an avalanche, so that's not a spoiler. But much else of what I could say about this unexpected gift of a book would be full of spoilers, so I won't tell you. I will tell you that for the most part the writing is superb. Handling switches in time is not and task if you're still trying to keep continuity in your story, but author Emily Colin carries off the difficulty with aplomb. There are three romances in this book, each one passionate and driven. The lovemaking in two of them is so erotic the men seem to be channeling Christian Grey, only without the whips. So there again, Colin has accomplished something truly special. Eroticism mixed with passion and love, but without the cheesiness of EL James. And thank God, she never uses the word "panties" even once. The paranormal twist was, for me, so unexpected it shocked me. At first I couldn't understand what was happening--which, no doubt is the way Colin wanted it when she was writing the book. But, as a writer myself, I can almost feel the sweat on her hands and the beating of her heart as she metaphorically steps off the edge of a cliff into the creative abyss. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole Colin pays attention to every strange, out of place object that she sees, then puts them together in a way that gives such comfort and hope to the reader, or to this reader anyway, as to make me believe that such a thing could truly happen. When I first came to Italy I went to bed one night in an an ancient convent purported to be haunted by a nun, a Mother Superior in fact. Seconds after I turned out my light the antique bed I was in began to jump up and down rapidly. This bed was so rock solid heavy even trying to push it aside would have been a daunting task. I turned the light back on and looked under the bed. Nothing. The movement had stopped. I was completely alone in this enormous ancient house and I came straight to the joyful conclusion that the bed shaker had been the Mother Superior. I was ecstatic and I fell asleep pondering all that this event meant in spiritual, metaphysical and even very real terms. Unlike Maddie in the book I didn't get angry and insist upon finding a rational explanation. Instead I embraced my experience, making the irrational rational. When I discovered in the morning that my shaking bed had been caused by an earthquake (my first) I was bitterly disappointed. There was no phantom nun; I had not been contacted by someone from the "other side." The paranormal was revealed to normal and should have been at least somewhat frightening. It was only my disappointment that kept fear away from me, and I have always been terrified by the mere idea of experiencing an earthquake. I have been through several since without a moment's worth of fear thanks to the ghost nun who never was. Had I been Maddie in this story I believe I would have wanted to believe, to embrace the experience, to rush towards it and into it to stay, perhaps forever. But Ms. Colin decided otherwise as she traveled through her creative abyss and the result is above story--two love stories--so deep and so real that they stand as a wall between this world and the next, even as Colin lets us peek over that wall to give us a glimpse of what might be on the other side even if you, as do I, firmly believe that it it doesn't exist.
I don't know if this book has been picked up by a film studio or not. All of my years spent as a story analyst for film studios remain with me as I read, whenever I read and this novel needs to become a film.
The Memory Thief: A Novel
4.1 | 1,129 ratings
Price: 1.99
Last update: 12-20-2024
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Kindle CustomerA passionate love story with an unexpected paranormal twist.
Anne WA plunge into another world
Kindle CustomerWow
Joshua Barol The Memory Thief's best friend was a jerk!!!
celia riahi