Book Review :: The Memory Book, by Lara Avery

The Memory Book by Lara Avery
Published by Hachette
on July 26th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 357
Source: Hachette Publishing NZ
Find at Hachette NZ
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They tell me that my memory will never be the same, that I'll start forgetting things. At first just a little, and then a lot. So I'm writing to remember.

Sammie was always a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as humanly possible. Nothing will stand in her way--not even a rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly start to steal her memories and then her health. What she needs is a new plan.

So the Memory Book is born: Sammie's notes to her future self, a document of moments great and small. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime crush, Stuart--a brilliant young writer who is home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood best friend, Cooper, and even take some of the blame for the fight that ended their friendship.

Last updated on 7 June 2022

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What is The Memory Book by Lara Avery about?

The Memory Book is the story of Sammie. All Sammie wants to do is graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town, and go to College. With all the determination needed to do just that, nothing is going to get in her way – not even an illness that will start taking away her memories and eventually her health.

To combat her Niemann–Pick Type C (NPC) disease, Sammie creates the Memory Book. She records her days, her schooling, her conversations, her super crush on Stuart Shah, her worries, her determination, her achievements, her neighbor, and childhood friend Cooper.

Sammie continues working hard to be her class’s valedictorian, making sure she’s getting to class, she’s doing her work, and she’s striving to achieve her goals. She even starts going out with Stuart, who previously was only ever her heartthrob from a distance. While her relationship with her good friend Maddie is, at times, strained, Sammie enjoys life and recognizes the moments that she forgets things.

“I think people fake that they’re having fun a lot of the time in photos, because they want people to think they’re having fun. Well, that’s not life, is it?”

It’s in one of those times for forgetting that she finds herself lost, or rather, misplaced, on her way to a party. Thankfully, she knows to call Cooper, who comes and picks her up. It’s this time that is really the beginning of the memory loss becoming more frequent, and not only that but of her renewed friendship with Coop.

The weeks and months go by, and her memory book starts to fill up, and while there are more memories on paper (or screen, as it were) there are fewer in her mind. As Sammie begins to forget things more frequently, the pages are shorter, the accounts less detailed, and the strain in her writing more apparent.

As she and those around her – her family, her friends – struggle with memory loss, the story follows in bits as Sammie’s health deteriorates.

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My thoughts on The Memory Book

The Memory Book was a beautiful book. I wanted to just keep reading and keep reading. It was a ‘just one more chapter’ kind of book, which really got away on me actually, as sometimes the ‘chapters’ were just 1 page long.

Despite my dislike of letter-styled books, I feel like this one was different. The way Sammie wrote in her Memory Book was in such a way that it didn’t really feel like a journal or a series of letters to herself. She addressed herself as ‘Future Sam’ in the writing and each chapter, or section didn’t have a date, but rather simply a short sentence or phrase that related to what she was writing about.

Every so often, there would be a section written by a family member or Cooper. Formats like this, as I mentioned, are not really my thing, but this worked so well and I loved it.

“We have to get used to the idea that no one cares as much as us, because guess what, they don’t. Succeed, fail, whatever, no one is going to give you a pat on the back for spending all hours of the day studying, or researching, or giving up everything to write. So we’ve got to just do it for ourselves.”

Because Sammie was the narrator of her own life for the majority of the book, you literally only knew what was happening around her when she wrote it down. Sometimes other characters’ notes helped in the backtracking of an event or situation that Sammie either didn’t know about previously or just simply didn’t remember.

I really liked Sammie as a character, and I think that, because you were reading what she, the main character, had written, it was like you wanted to her be good and fine, and you wanted her to achieve and be happy, even more so than if it were just a story about a sick girl written in first person. I don’t know if that makes sense, but hopefully, you know what I mean.  She was funny and quick-witted, and I found myself laughing out loud at some parts, and wanting to cry at others.

While the ending was what you would expect, it still came quickly and was still as tear-worthy had it been drawn out. It was beautifully and wonderfully written, and I definitely want to read Lara Avery’s other books. If you enjoy young adult fiction, definitely try this one out!

Have you read The Memory Book? Is it on your TBR list?

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I received this book for free from Hachette Publishing NZ in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this post.