Thursday, August 5, 2010

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares is the story of Daniel Grey, who has the ability to remember his past lives and recognize others who he has known during those lives.  He has gone through centuries with the guilt of something that he did during his first lifetime to the woman that he comes to love in a later life. The story is told through the eyes of Daniel and Lucy.  Although Lucy does not have the ability to remember past lives, he continues to find her and try to convince her.  Daniel's vengeful brother, Joaquim, from his first life in North Africa in 541, is another character who carries the memory.

I wondered if it would be difficult to follow the story with the jumps in time (and even in the names of characters, although Daniel keeps his name throughout the story), but it all came together very well.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  It was totally engrossing from the very beginning.  I really didn't like the way that it ended without closure.  However, I found out that this is the beginning of a trilogy so I guess I can handle the non-ending.  I wish I had known this prior to picking it up because I may have waited until the next one was closer.  I hope that the next book explores more of Joaquim's backstory, possibly even through his point of view.

2 comments:

Lee said...

This one sounds pretty interesting. I'm going to give it a go!

Christine said...

It really is, Lee. At least I was taken with it. Let me know what you think. I hope that it isn't a year or more before the next one.