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The Story of Forgetting: A Novel |
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| Author: Stefan Merrill Block Published: 2008-04-01 |
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List price: $25.00 Our price: $16.50 |
Usually ships in 24 hours As of: September 08th, 2008 09:17:50 AM |
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Customer comments on this selection. The Story of Forgetting (and Remembering)Stefan Merrill Block's debut novel ambitiously explores the effect familial Alzheimer's has on one Texan family, revealing both the burdens and freedoms that result from the memory-devouring disease. The novel is a conglomeration of fictional narrative, fable, scientific fact, and historical fiction. When teenager Seth's mother is diagnosed with familial Alzheimer's, a form of the disease which will take her memory and her life much earlier than usual, he is determined to trace his family's roots in order to uncover all he can about his maternal relatives and the disease they carry. With little information about her past, Seth searches for other sufferers of the rare genetic malady--all of whom are related to each other, however distantly--in hopes of finding a close relative. The only other lead in his ancestral investigation is the stories his mother told of Isidora, a fictional land where the inhabitants have no memory. Armed with a list of names and the memory of his mother's stories, Seth searches Texas for anyone who may know about his family's past. At the same time as Seth's journey unfolds, we are told Abel's story. An elderly man, Abel has little left but the memories of his life during occasionally happier and always less lonely times. Living in the only home he has known, reminders of the past are both a plague and a comfort. But his quiet life, which has gone unaltered for decades, is threatened when a new neighborhood of high-end homes is planned to be built on his land. In between the chapters about Seth and Abel, Block tells the the fictitious, often humorous tale of the first carriers of the familial Alzheimer's gene--Seth's English ancestors--and how they found their way to America. Also interspersed throughout the novel are the fairy tale-like stories of Isidora and a bit of true scientific information about the disease. The intertwining of different stories is mostly successful, and Block's two main characters have believable, distinct voices. The chapters that focus on both the fictional and factual history of the disease occasionally feel superfluous, but even when it is not always clear how they connect to the larger story, the chapters are enjoyable to read. Despite the grave subject of the novel, there are times when the story almost feels lighthearted, and perhaps because Block can write beautifully about everything from the Texas landscape to the bewildering effect Alzheimer's has on the mind, the novel is not as grim as I expected. Although Alzheimer's is a painful, frightening disease, and its shattering effect on everyone it influences is evident throughout the novel, Block also addresses the pain that comes with remembering the past too well. While the title of the novel is The Story of Forgetting, in the end, it does not feel as though the novel is about what people forget (or wish to forget) so much as it is about what remains a part of you despite a deteriorating mind or a troubled past.  A Lightweight, Unfocused Clone of Richard PowersAll in all, this novel reads like a lightweight version of Richard Powers' books--but rather out of focus. You have the double plot, the neurosciences, as in Powers' The Echo Maker (2006)--but Block isn't as good, as brilliant, as poetic as Powers. Probably the real problem is that this is the debut work of a young writer who is still looking for his own voice; but having read Powers' novel just before this, I had the annoying feeling of reading a cheaper version of the earlier book. So I'd tell all those who read this: try Powers instead. Moreover, some complexities of the plot are rather pointless, and seems to be part of a deliberate effort to impress the readers--which didn't succeed in my case. Plus, the Isidora plot reads like something stolen from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities... Block is the typical product of creative writing courses. Technique and sophistication, yes; the basic raw matter needed to write a real novel, one that really strikes you... no.  Very touchingYes the subject matter was very depressing. Generations of people losing their minds at an early age. But this was so well written it became less depressing and more touching. I could feel what Seth felt. I could see Abel's broken house. The scientific references were comprehensible and I found them enlightening. But I especially loved the way the 3 separate stories- that of Abel, Seth and the story of Isadora were intertwined. The ending was both believable and very satisfying. Given the author's young age, I can't wait to see what he does next! A marvelous and compelling read, filled with tragedy, humor and hopeAuthor Stefan Merrill Block's first novel is a tour de force of interconnecting lives, complete with the history of a family curse, fables about a land of no remembrance and scientific studies on Alzheimer's disease. Abel Haggard is an elderly hermit who lives in what was once his family's Texas farmhouse but is now a shack surrounded by McMansions, filled with owners who want to get rid of him. He survives by reliving his memories, beginning with his childhood as one of a set of twins, identical to his brother Paul except for Abel's hump. Abel and Paul's mother told her young sons tales about the land of Isidora, a golden kingdom whose inhabitants were content because they remembered nothing. The Isidora fables had been passed down through their family --- a family in which so many relatives throughout the generations suffered the loss of their memories. When Abel and Paul grow up, Paul marries Mae. Abel yearns for Mae; he is fascinated by everything about her, including her strange toes and the manner in which she eats beans. He is so enraptured by his sister-in-law, and rendered so hopeless by his impossible love, that he contemplates suicide. Instead, he does the unthinkable: he climbs into a tree outside the bedroom shared by Mae and Paul. There, in the dark, he watches them sleep, fantasizing about Mae and pondering Paul's oddly disinterested behavior toward her. While Abel remembers his long-ago love for Mae, and the sequence of events unleashed by his passion, a shy and awkward 15-year-old boy named Seth Waller worries about his mother. Her behavior has become increasingly erratic --- she doesn't eat, never changes out of her nightgown, acts as if she has never before seen her own house, and shuffles along like a very old woman. One morning she asks Seth how long she has known him, saying, "I feel like I've known you my whole life." Seth can't help being sarcastic with his mother at times, as a kind of defense mechanism. But it shrivels his soul to see the way his father treats her, labeling her forgetfulness as a case of deliberate selfishness. Seth's father works long hours. When he's home, he slumps in a recliner in front of the History Channel, swilling gin. After Seth's mother leaves the house in the middle of the night, Seth searches frantically until he finally finds her under a street lamp, carrying a suitcase and saying she's going home. Not long afterward, she is admitted into a nursing home and diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Seth has always wanted to be a scientist. Now he is determined to find something, anything, that will help his mother. While he is reading everything he can find on Alzheimer's, he is also remembering the stories his mother often told him when he was a child. She told of a place beside our world, a real land called Isidora. People could cross over to Isidora, where much was the same as in this world...except everyone there felt happy because they couldn't remember anything. Seth also realizes how little he knows about his mother's background. The lives of Abel and Seth intertwine in a surprising yet inevitable manner. The mosaic joins together, tile by tile, with interspersed pieces of family history, scientific studies of Alzheimer's and the Isidora lore. Abel and Seth are such fully-realized characters and their stories are so realistic that at times the reader can't help wondering how fictional they truly are. THE STORY OF FORGETTING is a marvelous and compelling read, filled with tragedy but also humor and hope --- and readers are sure to ponder the story long after they've finished it. --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon The Story of ForgettingTHe most simbiotic reading with the family that faces the Alzheimer disease. Compelling, facts, and highly instructive. |
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