(AUDIO) BOOKS
When Memories Hurt
The Memory by Lucy Dawson — book review
Sometimes the title of a book catches my attention, other times it’s the subtitle. With The Memory by Lucy Dawson, it was the subtitle: I tried to save her…
That, and the image of a child on the cover. Who did that child try to save? Or who tried to save that child? I clicked on the book to listen, and I was hooked within the first couple of minutes!
About the author, Lucy Dawson
Lucy’s first bestseller, The Other Lover, was published in 2008 and a fun fact is that she wrote it between classes and clients while she was a pilates instructor and personal trainer. She moved away from that and is now married, living in Exeter, has two children and a dog, and writes between school runs.
After The Other Lover, Lucy has written at least ten more books, and all her books were translated in various languages.
In Lucy’s own words:
I like to write about the extraordinary life events of women, their families, friends, colleagues and enemies, examining how these experiences shape us and what we will fight for.
Before Lucy Dawson started writing, she studied Psychology at Warwick University and then became an editor for a children’s magazine.
Fun fact: Lucy finds writing in the third person uncomfortable.
The plot and characters
The most remarkable character of the book is Isobel, an exquisitely beautiful young woman. But, when she speaks, people stare. Her voice is that of a little child. Isobel is a little girl trapped in the body of an adult, after she has suffered psychological trauma when a trainer shot at her and several of her schoolmates, when she was only eight years old.
Tim and Adam are two of those mates. For a brief period during their teens, Tim and Isobel had a love relationship, but now, in her adult years, Adam and Isobel are an item. Or at least, that is what Adam believes, but Isobel may see it differently.
Eve, Isobel’s mother, is overly protective of her daughter, understanding the trauma Isobel had suffered. But does she really understand? Does she really know just how deep Isobel’s trauma runs?
Claire is Tim’s wife, and because her parents-in-law want it, she views Eve’s house and advises her husband’s parents they should buy this house. However, because of some circumstances, she and Tim are to be living there. Even before they sleep there for the first time, strange things start happening. Unlike Tim and her father-in-law, Claire doesn’t believe in magic or haunted houses, but soon she has to admit something mysterious is happening.
Twists and turns
Just like many books, this one also has different twists and turns to keep the reader guessing up to the end. There’s the relationship Eve had with Tim’s father, the hate between Tim’s mother and Eve, the strange ways in which Adam behaves.
And throughout the book, you feel sorry for Isobel, Tim and Adam for how they have suffered when they were shot by that trainer; the psychological effects that had on them. As you read, the sympathy you feel for those children intensifies when you read about Isobel using voodoo dolls, and the three of them using an ouija board when they were still teens.
The thing is, there’s one twist you just don’t see coming… and it’s that twist that explains everything.
I liked this book
I have read a couple of reviews of this book, and some of them said this book is boring and predictable. I don’t agree with that. I have started and stopped many books because they didn’t catch my attention, but with The Memory by Lucy Dawson I couldn’t wait to go out on my next walk so I could continue listening!
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