lucyblackbirdreads's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I received this book through the kindness of the author. As sweet as she is, this in no way has any impact on my feelings towards this book.
When it comes to mysteries with possible unreliable narrators and twists throughout, I tend to not be a fan. So I went into this loving the idea and excited to read it, yet knowing past feelings with things like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, The Couple Next Door, In a Dark, Dark Wood... You get the picture.
I'm so glad I was plesently surprised with this!
One thing I loved is I didn't fully realize the truth right away. Normally I do, and then the writing doesn't hold up for me personally for me to enjoy it. With this, I figured it out about a third of the way through...
Which leads me to the other thing I loved: the writing! The story held up the entire time. There were points you felt for the characters, and times where you wanted to just smack them because they were so annoying. No matter how I felt, I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to know what they'd do this time.
I was pleasantly surprised with how the back and forth with each chapter and character went. The story alternates between present day Miranda and past Ben during the time Miranda doesn't remember. This could very easily get convoluted and just hard to read, but it didn't. I don't know if this story would have been as successful if it wasn't written like this - if, for example, it was just told from present day Miranda's view and we didn't have the view of Ben and what happened to lead up to Miranda's memory loss. I think it would have lacked for sure.
After this, I can't wait to read more from Cari Dubiel as I'm sure I will enjoy them as much as How to Remember.
When it comes to mysteries with possible unreliable narrators and twists throughout, I tend to not be a fan. So I went into this loving the idea and excited to read it, yet knowing past feelings with things like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, The Couple Next Door, In a Dark, Dark Wood... You get the picture.
I'm so glad I was plesently surprised with this!
One thing I loved is I didn't fully realize the truth right away. Normally I do, and then the writing doesn't hold up for me personally for me to enjoy it. With this, I figured it out about a third of the way through...
Which leads me to the other thing I loved: the writing! The story held up the entire time. There were points you felt for the characters, and times where you wanted to just smack them because they were so annoying. No matter how I felt, I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to know what they'd do this time.
I was pleasantly surprised with how the back and forth with each chapter and character went. The story alternates between present day Miranda and past Ben during the time Miranda doesn't remember. This could very easily get convoluted and just hard to read, but it didn't. I don't know if this story would have been as successful if it wasn't written like this - if, for example, it was just told from present day Miranda's view and we didn't have the view of Ben and what happened to lead up to Miranda's memory loss. I think it would have lacked for sure.
After this, I can't wait to read more from Cari Dubiel as I'm sure I will enjoy them as much as How to Remember.
katherineforrister's review
5.0
"How to Remember" is the best mystery and character-study novel I have read since "The Guest List", and I think fans of the latter will love the former. Author Cari Dubiel has deftly combined visceral descriptions of mental illness, postpartum depression, and the frustrations of parenthood, particularly the experience of nursing mothers, with a gripping suspense tale propelled by memory loss caused by a fascinating near-futuristic technology. This novel is truly unique, and days after finishing it, I am still thinking about all its intricacies.
As soon as Miranda wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the past two years, I got an immediate sense like I had walked through a door and forgotten why I entered the room. Dubiel describes Miranda's thought processes so vividly that, despite her husband Ben's seeming doubts, I had no reason to believe that Miranda truly did not remember a thing.
However, that was as far as my certainties went. Dubiel has created a masterful narrative that kept me guessing. As soon as I thought I had everything figured out, something new would happen that took me by complete surprise, yet was more perfect a step than I could have imagined on my own. This happened again and again, and I loved every minute of it. The ending was a perfect payoff to both the mystery plot line and the personal lives of Miranda and Ben.
In regard to the personal lives of the characters--Wow. Dubiel nailed it: a marriage struggling with the utter bomb of bringing a newborn into the house. As a mother, I connected so deeply with Miranda. I remember those nights (even if Miranda doesn't!) of getting up every two hours to nurse the baby, the difficulties of working together with another person to schedule around all of my daughter's needs. The endless squalling. I remember the feelings of needing space not only from my newborn and the house that I felt stuck inside, but also from my own body (beleagured by nursing and postpartum woes). I identified so much with Miranda in those very real, descriptive, deep moments that Dubiel captures perfectly on the page. BUT, I also identify deeply with Miranda's love for her daughter, which, despite Miranda's lack of memory, flourishes with gradual, yet natural ease beyond her confusion from her ordeal.
Yet Miranda is not the kind of person to be weighed down by her doubts and fears. Her take-charge personality propels the story forward with a stunning clarity lurking beneath her layer of amnestic fog, trying to solve the mystery behind her memory loss and the secrets held by those around her. Her sense of “what am I missing?” is a raw force that drove me to want to follow her down her path to solve the mystery, no matter the consequences (even if it meant I had to stay up all night reading in bed!).
Dubiel's choices to go back and forth through time, telling stories from both before Miranda's memory loss and after, and from both Miranda and Ben's points of view, was done in a flawless manner that never interrupted the flow of the story--which is hard to do. I never felt like there was wasted space on a single page. Every single word served a purpose, even in quiet moments of the story. As I said, for me, this book felt like a character study just as much as a near-future sci-fi mystery. "MindTech" is an interesting concept and serves the story well, but the story itself, what really makes it great, is the depth of character exploration and the questions and answers to the conundrum: How do we remember ways to get back in touch with our true selves, and more importantly--what do we do with that knowledge to move forward?
I would *love* to read more books by Cari Dubiel in the future. Her writing style is beautiful, and her pacing and plotting are superb. I was truly floored by "How to Remember," and I look forward to being caught up in another story of hers!
As soon as Miranda wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the past two years, I got an immediate sense like I had walked through a door and forgotten why I entered the room. Dubiel describes Miranda's thought processes so vividly that, despite her husband Ben's seeming doubts, I had no reason to believe that Miranda truly did not remember a thing.
However, that was as far as my certainties went. Dubiel has created a masterful narrative that kept me guessing. As soon as I thought I had everything figured out, something new would happen that took me by complete surprise, yet was more perfect a step than I could have imagined on my own. This happened again and again, and I loved every minute of it. The ending was a perfect payoff to both the mystery plot line and the personal lives of Miranda and Ben.
In regard to the personal lives of the characters--Wow. Dubiel nailed it: a marriage struggling with the utter bomb of bringing a newborn into the house. As a mother, I connected so deeply with Miranda. I remember those nights (even if Miranda doesn't!) of getting up every two hours to nurse the baby, the difficulties of working together with another person to schedule around all of my daughter's needs. The endless squalling. I remember the feelings of needing space not only from my newborn and the house that I felt stuck inside, but also from my own body (beleagured by nursing and postpartum woes). I identified so much with Miranda in those very real, descriptive, deep moments that Dubiel captures perfectly on the page. BUT, I also identify deeply with Miranda's love for her daughter, which, despite Miranda's lack of memory, flourishes with gradual, yet natural ease beyond her confusion from her ordeal.
Yet Miranda is not the kind of person to be weighed down by her doubts and fears. Her take-charge personality propels the story forward with a stunning clarity lurking beneath her layer of amnestic fog, trying to solve the mystery behind her memory loss and the secrets held by those around her. Her sense of “what am I missing?” is a raw force that drove me to want to follow her down her path to solve the mystery, no matter the consequences (even if it meant I had to stay up all night reading in bed!).
Dubiel's choices to go back and forth through time, telling stories from both before Miranda's memory loss and after, and from both Miranda and Ben's points of view, was done in a flawless manner that never interrupted the flow of the story--which is hard to do. I never felt like there was wasted space on a single page. Every single word served a purpose, even in quiet moments of the story. As I said, for me, this book felt like a character study just as much as a near-future sci-fi mystery. "MindTech" is an interesting concept and serves the story well, but the story itself, what really makes it great, is the depth of character exploration and the questions and answers to the conundrum: How do we remember ways to get back in touch with our true selves, and more importantly--what do we do with that knowledge to move forward?
I would *love* to read more books by Cari Dubiel in the future. Her writing style is beautiful, and her pacing and plotting are superb. I was truly floored by "How to Remember," and I look forward to being caught up in another story of hers!
nilatti's review
5.0
I can't get over this book. I keep thinking about it. I found the characters vivid and realistic, especially Miranda. I thought the structure was just brilliant—it's hard to pull off a story that moves both backward and forward in time, aiming for a convergence point, but Dubiel does it flawlessly. The details of parenting a tiny infant were excruciating in their accuracy. They really took me back to my early days of motherhood. It's sort of a mystery novel, but every time the detective is about to put together the pieces, a baby starts screaming and she loses the thread. I remember feeling like that all the time when my children were small.
All of the things about Miranda and Ben's parents are also deeply true, and in particular, there's something to the way we re-evaluate our own relationships with our parents when we have children. It's inevitable, and yet I don't know that I've ever read a book that so closely examines it.
I think it's also a really interesting look at addiction—Miranda is addicted to the release of the DREAM, and it's absolutely as detrimental to her as drugs or alcohol would be. The way that she finally faces that problem is so true to life. Although this book is a tiny bit sci fi, everything besides the one core technology is drawn perceptively from normal, 21st-century midwestern life, even people who aren't into sci fi (like me!) will find it compelling.
All of the things about Miranda and Ben's parents are also deeply true, and in particular, there's something to the way we re-evaluate our own relationships with our parents when we have children. It's inevitable, and yet I don't know that I've ever read a book that so closely examines it.
I think it's also a really interesting look at addiction—Miranda is addicted to the release of the DREAM, and it's absolutely as detrimental to her as drugs or alcohol would be. The way that she finally faces that problem is so true to life. Although this book is a tiny bit sci fi, everything besides the one core technology is drawn perceptively from normal, 21st-century midwestern life, even people who aren't into sci fi (like me!) will find it compelling.
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