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Stefan Merrill Block’s debut novel - The Story of Forgetting - is a haunting story about shared grief, the connectivity of family bonds, the pain of memory, and the need to return to the past in order to understand the future. This beautifully written novel centers around two main characters, Abel and Seth, who are unknown to each other but who remember the same story about a magical, fantastic place called Isidora. They both are also working through their grief and loss surrounding Familial Early Onset Alzheimers Disease - for Abel the disease has struck down his twin brother; for 15 year old Seth, it is his mother’s descent into the illness which turns his world upside down.
Block interlocks the stories of both characters, moving back and forth between them in the narrative to reveal their pasts and their motivations. Intertwined in the story is another story - that of Isidora, a fictional place where memory does not exist. As the character Seth unravels the mystery of Alzheimer’s Disease, he discovers he is not alone, that in fact he is connected to generations of extended family through the wayward gene which began with an English nobleman named Mapplethorpe. This tenuous thread of discovery runs parallel to the stories of Isidora which his mother has passed down to him.
This novel touched my heart with its sensitive portrayal of the human suffering associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. As a physical therapist, I work with many people who are living with neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s. I have always been struck by the impact of these illnesses on the families - the sadness, the desire to discover “why,” the search for a cure, and finally the struggle to keep on going, to find a way to redefine their lives with this new reality. The Story of Forgetting encompasses all these things. It is an entrancing novel, guiding the reader along Seth and Abel’s journey and revealing what is human in all of us.
Recommended.
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(6 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
Resistance is a fully imagined, beautifully constructed novel about grief and survival during wartime. Sheers has won the Eric Gregory Award and the Vogue Young Writer's Award for his first poetry collection, and the lyrical language in Resistance reminds the reader of those literary roots. As the story progresses, the reader is treated to graceful descriptions of the Welsh countryside with all its colors, smells, and sights. The brutality of the environment is mixed with its beauty, creating a backdrop which is perfect for the plot. Sheers builds tension between the characters gradually, revealing their motivations with the fine touch of an artist. Sheers also exposes their fears and weaknesses which creates characters of depth who are fully realized.
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(13 of 22 readers found this comment helpful)
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caribousmom has commented on (2) products.
The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merril Block
caribousmom, March 15, 2008
Stefan Merrill Block’s debut novel - The Story of Forgetting - is a haunting story about shared grief, the connectivity of family bonds, the pain of memory, and the need to return to the past in order to understand the future. This beautifully written novel centers around two main characters, Abel and Seth, who are unknown to each other but who remember the same story about a magical, fantastic place called Isidora. They both are also working through their grief and loss surrounding Familial Early Onset Alzheimers Disease - for Abel the disease has struck down his twin brother; for 15 year old Seth, it is his mother’s descent into the illness which turns his world upside down.Block interlocks the stories of both characters, moving back and forth between them in the narrative to reveal their pasts and their motivations. Intertwined in the story is another story - that of Isidora, a fictional place where memory does not exist. As the character Seth unravels the mystery of Alzheimer’s Disease, he discovers he is not alone, that in fact he is connected to generations of extended family through the wayward gene which began with an English nobleman named Mapplethorpe. This tenuous thread of discovery runs parallel to the stories of Isidora which his mother has passed down to him.
This novel touched my heart with its sensitive portrayal of the human suffering associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. As a physical therapist, I work with many people who are living with neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s. I have always been struck by the impact of these illnesses on the families - the sadness, the desire to discover “why,” the search for a cure, and finally the struggle to keep on going, to find a way to redefine their lives with this new reality. The Story of Forgetting encompasses all these things. It is an entrancing novel, guiding the reader along Seth and Abel’s journey and revealing what is human in all of us.
Recommended.
(6 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
Resistance by Owen Sheers
caribousmom, March 9, 2008
Resistance is a fully imagined, beautifully constructed novel about grief and survival during wartime. Sheers has won the Eric Gregory Award and the Vogue Young Writer's Award for his first poetry collection, and the lyrical language in Resistance reminds the reader of those literary roots. As the story progresses, the reader is treated to graceful descriptions of the Welsh countryside with all its colors, smells, and sights. The brutality of the environment is mixed with its beauty, creating a backdrop which is perfect for the plot. Sheers builds tension between the characters gradually, revealing their motivations with the fine touch of an artist. Sheers also exposes their fears and weaknesses which creates characters of depth who are fully realized.(13 of 22 readers found this comment helpful)