Memory

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Average rating5

The main character is an actor (Paul Edwin Cole) in a traveling company. While out of town where nobody knows him, he sustains a head injury, causing severe memory loss. He's left to fend for himself when the acting company moves on. The story is about how he gradually finds or re-creates himself and his life.

Not a typical Westlake; closer to the ones he wrote under other names. Very haunting. Amazing how Mr. Westlake gets into the character's head. Story has it that this was Mr. Westlake's first book, but it wasn't published until after he died.

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Mark Schiffer

This guy, who was an actor from NYC, wakes up in a Midwestern hospital after receiving a concussion. His memory leaks from his brain like water from a sieve. Maybe he becomes a different person, but he'll never really know. He tries to get back to his home which he doesn't understand probably will never be his home again, all the while losing and gaining memories.

This book devastated me. I've seen so many people with traumatic brain injuries since I started working at the library and the behaviors and mental processes discussed in this book line up 100% with what happens to folks.

Westlake's economy of language and characterization really was a cut above. I never want to read this book again because of how much of a massive bummer it was but there's no denying the degree of craft and depth of feeling it contained.

April 21, 2024