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A review by katherineforrister
How to Remember by Cari Dubiel
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!