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lefttoread's review against another edition
2.0
Right at the end of this story I got a lump in my throat and tears started up in my eyes. I finished it feeling happy and I love Flora Banks character but it only get's a 3 star as it did go on and on for a bit where I could of skim read a lot of it and still got the gist. But I did thoroughly enjoy the read and glad I gave it a chance.
jenpaul13's review against another edition
3.0
Good memories are ones that you want to keep remembering and bad ones you want to forget. But in Emily Barr's The One Memory of Flora Banks, Flora can only remember one thing out of the last seven years of her life.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Flora Banks has no short-term memory after an event when she was ten years old. Seven years later, she's coping to remember important things by writing them down, either in a notebook or on her hand or arm. But when she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves for school, Flora can remember the details of and surrounding the kiss. Convinced that Drake may be the key to her recovering her ability to remember, she takes her very protective parents' trip to Paris that leaves her at home as an opportunity to travel to Drake in Svalbard, where he's studying. In making her way to Norway, armed only with her notes and determination, Flora learns what she's actually capable of.
The basic concept of this narrative was interesting and fostered an understanding of the lengths people go while living with amnesia; however, while the repetitive information and situations help to place the reader into Flora's shoes, it was rather frustrating to keep getting stuck in a loop of past actions and lack any sort of appreciable forward progress. I wasn't too keen on the one memory that stuck with Flora and drove her to finally take some independent action in her life, because although kissing a boy for the first time can be memorable, this reduces Flora to a cliché and she was such an intriguing character otherwise. While a decent story that could relate various age groups, it is difficult to place who the intended audience is - at times Flora behaves and thinks like she's ten and others like she's seventeen, which are two vastly different audiences, yet the writing reflects both in unequal measure.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Flora Banks has no short-term memory after an event when she was ten years old. Seven years later, she's coping to remember important things by writing them down, either in a notebook or on her hand or arm. But when she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves for school, Flora can remember the details of and surrounding the kiss. Convinced that Drake may be the key to her recovering her ability to remember, she takes her very protective parents' trip to Paris that leaves her at home as an opportunity to travel to Drake in Svalbard, where he's studying. In making her way to Norway, armed only with her notes and determination, Flora learns what she's actually capable of.
The basic concept of this narrative was interesting and fostered an understanding of the lengths people go while living with amnesia; however, while the repetitive information and situations help to place the reader into Flora's shoes, it was rather frustrating to keep getting stuck in a loop of past actions and lack any sort of appreciable forward progress. I wasn't too keen on the one memory that stuck with Flora and drove her to finally take some independent action in her life, because although kissing a boy for the first time can be memorable, this reduces Flora to a cliché and she was such an intriguing character otherwise. While a decent story that could relate various age groups, it is difficult to place who the intended audience is - at times Flora behaves and thinks like she's ten and others like she's seventeen, which are two vastly different audiences, yet the writing reflects both in unequal measure.
anjh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
this was so good. it was surprisingly well written considering the fact that Flora has anterograde amnesia and struggles to form new memories so a lot of the descriptions and her experiences seem like they happen “all over again”. however, it was written in a way that there was just enough information to understand what exactly was happening and why.
the plot twist was very unexpected but also rly sad and made me appreciate Paige and Jacob more. honestly i loved the unexpected informational aspect of this book about psychology and how weirdly the brain works.
i would have given it 5 stars but it was quite heavy (or at least heavier than i’d have liked) with romance which a lot of people love but just isn’t really my thing, which is okay.
still a great book. as always please check the TWs!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Self harm, and Blood
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, and Car accident
lottie1803's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
thehawk72's review against another edition
5.0
Literally could not put this down from the moment I picked it up. Absolutely incredible.
lindseylovestoread's review against another edition
4.0
Kinda sad he acted that way when she found him. Other than that. Good book.
hammarel's review against another edition
4.0
I recommend everyone to read this book. I believe that everyone can learn something from it. However in the beginning the book is quite slow due to that Flora does the same thing in every chapter. However when she gets to Svalbard, by herself it starts to get really interesting. It still exist many repeats but she does new exciting and different things. In the end the book was a real page turner but I did not like the ending very much. I would have liked to get to know more about what happened to Flora. To summarize, it was a good book and I hope they make a movie out of it.
violets2's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
marcosbedbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Edit: I read this book earlier this year, but after awhile I couldn't stop thinking that I had a lot more issues with this book then I originally did. I'm changing my rating from 4 to 3 stars.
This book... had me shook. I will admit it does have a few problems and the novel was a bit repetitive at times (especially in the middle), but Flora was such a compelling main character that I honestly could have cared less and I did not see this plot twists coming. While it is repetitive with Flora's constant forgetting and having to repeat and relearn certain things, I felt like it made her amnesia more authentic and helped us understand what life is like for her.
This book... had me shook. I will admit it does have a few problems and the novel was a bit repetitive at times (especially in the middle), but Flora was such a compelling main character that I honestly could have cared less and I did not see this plot twists coming. While it is repetitive with Flora's constant forgetting and having to repeat and relearn certain things, I felt like it made her amnesia more authentic and helped us understand what life is like for her.