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A review by nilatti
How to Remember by Cari Dubiel
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.