Book Review: My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover

Publish Date: June 1, 2010

Hardcover, 342 pages

My Review:

I found this book to be fascinating from the first page.  The story takes place taking turns telling it from Daniel's point-of-view in the past and present and also from Lucy's point-of-view mainly in the present.  I enjoyed learning about Daniel's life and something of the phenomenon he is part of, a type of soul rebirth through the ages.  Daniel is a wise soul and seems to know who he was in each of his lives.  And one there is one woman/girl that he is always in search of, his Sophia, Constance and now Lucy.  She goes by different names, but is the same soul whether she knows it or not.

The book is haunting as you read of Daniel's lives and how they interweave with Lucy's past lives.  The reader also gets in touch with Lucy and her uncertainty of whether she believes Daniel.  The plot was great to me and kept me hooked through the book.  The last 80 or so pages really took off, but I found the first part just as fascinating with the character development.  I kept wondering who Daniel would be next and what was going to happen.  I never felt bored by the plot line or the characters.  My Name is Memory was well-paced and a very enjoyable read.

If you like novels with a subtle paranormal twist, not too much world building, just the storyline, then this is a book for you.  It has a romance that spans the ages, a wounded hero, a woman who just wants to be normal and a storyline that will grip you from the first page.  Ms. Brashares has done a wonderful job on her second outing to adult fiction and I will be reading her more in the future.

My Rating:  4.5/5.0

About the Book:
Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. Daniel has "the memory", the ability to recall past lives and recognize souls of those he's previously known. It is a gift and a curse. For all the times that he and Sophia have been drawn together throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart. A love always too short.

Interwoven through Sophia and Daniel's unfolding present day relationship are glimpses of their expansive history together. From 552 Asia Minor to 1918 England and 1972 Virginia, the two souls share a long and sometimes torturous path of seeking each other time and time again. But just when young Sophia (now "Lucy" in the present) finally begins to awaken to the secret of their shared past, to understand the true reason for the strength of their attraction, the mysterious force that has always torn them apart reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.

A magical, suspenseful, heartbreaking story of true love, My Name is Memory proves the power and endurance of a union that was meant to be.

About the Author:
Ann Brashares was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area with her three brothers. She attended the Sidwell Friends School and then studied philosophy at Barnard College, part of Columbia University in New York City.

After college she worked in editorial jobs until 2000, when she began her first novel, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, published in 2001. Over the next five years she wrote three sequels-The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants, and Forever in Blue.  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was made into a feature film and released by Warner Brothers in 2005. In June 2010 she will release her new novel, My Name is Memory.  (From Ann Brashares' website).

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FTC Information: I received this book from Lydia Hirt at Riverhead Books for review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.