Memory

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.