On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget. So Nora goes with her mother to TFC- a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can decsribe her horrible memory and take the pill that will erase it. But at TFC, a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember.
With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories called Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?
Review:
Memento Nora was a gripping, exciting and unique book. This dystopian world came about after numerous terrorist attacks. To keep people safe and to allow them to continue with their lives without constant memories of continuing terrorist attacks, everyone can take a pill and forget. Then, if they witness another terrorist attack or anything bad in general, they can take another pill and the unending process begins again. This leaves people feeling 'glossy'.
Memento Nora was really inventive. This dystopian world was very believable as I am already seeing the beginnings of it in our current society. It reminded me of date rape pills. The forgetting pill allows anyone and everyone to completely forget terrible memories just by reciting what said bad memory is and then taking the pill. Realistically, this means that a really bad person (and that's putting it lightly) could go and do unspeakable acts on another person and then the victim could just take the pill and forget it. Where's the justice in that?
The realisation of this process left me absolutely horrified and more so because this could be the future. Who wouldn't want to forget all their bad memories and live in a 'glossy' world? All it takes is one pill. It's so convenient. On the surface, the answer might be yes, but delve deeper and in truth, those memories are useful and a part of us. We learn from them. They change us.
Nora was a fantastic main character. She was a strong, believable character throughout the book and I cared about what happened to her. I learnt shocking thruths as she learnt them and hoped she could change things for the better. She became increasingly brave as the story continued. I especially liked how she dealt with the truth of her mother's 'secret' as she proved to be very mature.
Micah, the love interest, was also a great character. Though the romance aspect was there, luckily, it didn't take over the main plot. It was very sweet nonetheless. Micah helps Nora to see the truth and it changes everything for the both of them. Winter was a creative character. Her entries were filled with the artwork she was making and left me with fantastic visual images. Overall, I liked all the characters, even the secondary characters, as they were all useful to the plot and I wanted to know what their role would be in the story. Furthermore, I wanted to know how this dystopian world had affected them and those that they loved.
Memento Nora was very mysterious, but happily, a lot of my questions were answered throughout the course of the book. The plot was intriguing as I was continuously looking for clues and suspecting suspicious characters. The climax was really interesting and I couldn't put the book down by that point.
Memento Nora ended well but I wished that it had been longer as it felt abrupt. The ending came about very rapidly and though I understood that events were moving very fast, it didn't satisfy me as much as it could have if some of the secondary characters had been more developed and there was a longer explanation at the ending. Furthermore, having a few more characters would have meant that there would have been more people to be suspicious of. As it was, there were only a few suspects.
From the beginning, the reader knows an inevitable part of the ending because of the chapter subheadings and I wished that this hadn't been the case. This meant that when the inevitable incident occurred, I wasn't as shocked by it as I could have been if I hadn't known.
Overall, Memento Nora was an extremely great dystopian novel and I look forward to a sequel as it is a strong possibility. I believe Memento Nora could have been even better if it had been longer as I wanted to explore Nora's world in greater depth-the good and particularly more of the bad. It would also have been wonderful if there had been illustrations of Memento in the book as it was an important catalyst for the plot. Readers who enjoy the dystopian genre should enjoy this fantastic addition. However, I recommend everyone to read this as you won't be disappointed.
Thank you to Marshall Cavendish for sending this to me for review.
Rating: 5/5
Concept: 5/5
Cover: 5/5- so glossy!
Author: Angie Smibert
This review is part of Dystopian February at Presenting Lenore.
3 comments:
Great, great review! I just finished this book myself and reviewed it. You should come take a look at my review too! :)
Loooove the book!
A sequel, hmm? I think she does a great job ending her book there. I wouldn't know if she'll have a sequel, but I'll be surprised.
I do want to know about Nora's life in a closed community tho. And maybe Winter's story or Micah's story.
I guess a sequel would be a possibility depending on the book's success. Yeah, I think she did a good job ending it here too, but there's space for more...
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