Comments on: The Memory of Love, by Aminatta Forna

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:11:42 +0000

Liz: I am inclined to agree with you about this novel falling short when it comes to the Orange Prize. I agree that there is some heavy sledding in the reading — I found it worthwhile, but I can understand why others would not.

By: Liz from Literary Masters

Liz from Literary Masters — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:48:32 +0000

I’ve just finished the book–right before tomorrow’s announcement of the winner of the Orange Prize–and I must say, I did struggle to finish it. I think your review is incredibly insightful and generous and helped me to continue with the book; however, I feel that a very important story could have been told…much better. Perhaps because this is a book (and therefore I am reading it, not listening to it), I found all the laborious details frustrating to wade through. Also, I kept thinking that there was too much “telling” as opposed to “showing.” I am still processing my thoughts about the novel, but I don’t think I can recommend it to many people, and I’ll be surprised if it wins the Orange. But then, as I mentioned on Trevor’s blog, I didn’t like Room, Great House, or The Tiger’s Wife. Maybe it’s me!

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:02:01 +0000

Liz: It does have the kind of earnestness that the Commonwealth Prize seems to want to reward (I’m not a big fan of the CP, I admit). But the book also has some very well developed characters and a real sense of humor.

By: Liz at Literary Masters

Liz at Literary Masters — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 05:38:59 +0000

No doubt you know by now that this novel has won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for 2011. So…I am reading it, and I just put it down for a few moments because I thought I remembered having read something about the book on your blog. And now that I’ve read this post in its entirety,I must say you’ve really captured both the book and my reading experience of it! And now I’m going to pick the book up again because your post has made me look forward to continuing with it. Soon we’ll see if it wins the Orange Prize, too.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:18:56 +0000

Sanjit: This novel had slipped out of mind — thanks for bringing it back up. I did find when I reread the review that the book quickly came back into focus. My memory is that it was a rewarding, if challenging, read.

By: Sanjit

Sanjit — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:06:22 +0000

Thank you for this cogent precis of the story and characters in Aminatta Forna’s ‘The Memory of Love’. I finished the book in little over a week, reading it in chunks rather as you described doing.

I found Forna’s ‘The Memory of Love’ an immensely rewarding book. The depth of detail contributed to vivid storytelling, making this the most enjoyable book for me this year. I especially liked the intertwining and overlapping stories. Rather like a rich fabric, the warp and weft created over time and with great attention to detail rendered a very satisfactory result.

I agree that it can be a demanding read – but only in that you, as a reader, have to think, react and understand as you read it. This process of cogitation may mean that the book has to be read in chunks. But it is a rewarding, even inspiring, read. It sparks the inmagination in ways that very little writing seems to.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:46:13 +0000

I do think it suits some individual’s reading styles better than others. And I agree that “difficult” is probably a bad description — my guess is that those who don’t take to it would call it “long and boring”. Yet it is precisely that attention to detail which is the book’s greatest strength.

By: Colette Jones

Colette Jones — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:31:42 +0000

This is quite possibly my favourite book of the year so far. I agree that the reader must pay attention to every phrase, but because I enjoyed everything about this book, I did not find it to be “difficult” read at all, in fact quite the opposite.

By: KevinfromCanada

KevinfromCanada — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:58:26 +0000

Tom: I suspect my experience was colored by also have read Doing Dangerously Well recently — another novel set in Africa with some similarities to this one. It was a much easier read than this one — and I do think this is the better book.

By: Tom C

Tom C — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:54:21 +0000

This sounds like a complex and difficult read and I admire you for getting to the end of it. I suspect I would find this a bit of an ordeal and I admire your perseverance. I have had similar feelings to yourself when reading a rather painful book and knowing that it was better to finish it than to leave.