Melissa Payne

For the 2021 PopSugar Reading Challenge, I was looking for a book to fit the prompt, "a book about forgetting." I had read a blurb about this book when it was published and thought it might fit. The protagonist of this story, Claire, had a seizure that left her with inability to form new memories, anterograde amnesia. She remembers her life before her seizure, but every day is like a brand new life, which she manages through planners and folders and post-it notes and her journal. Although the author, Ms. Payne, obviously researched anterograde amnesia in order to present a central character who has this condition, at times there were moments where Claire remembered things in the present that she would not have really, and this was slightly distracted. However, the writing was good, the story engaging. It was more than the story of her trying to remember. It was also about forgetting some of the painful things, the things that loom so large because we cling so fiercely to them. Claire accomplished this at times - confronting the painful things she wrote down - by crossing them out with black marker, as if erasing the painful memories. Ultimately, it is a story of love and loss, redemption, and the fluidity of memory. Three stars .… (meer)

Your life can be changed in an instant. This is what happened to Nora and her brother Mario when they were orphaned as children. Sometimes your life is changed when circumstances become too much to bear. This is what happened to Lewis. And sometimes, your life can change because of the positive influence of others. It only took one person to change Marlene’s outlook. In this very dramatic and often sad and tragic tale, five people take refuge in a library during the night of a massive snow storm. It is an eclectic gathering of people. Nora’s brother is a drug addict and homeless, and she often wonders where he is and even if he is still among the living. This deeply affects her, and has led her to help other homeless people however she can. She is also the librarian who has offered the library as refuge during the storm. Marlene is an elderly outspoken woman who recently lost her husband, and she really doesn’t want to go on living without him. Jasmine is new in town, having lost her mother to cancer, and she is now living with her grandmother along with her father and sister. Vlado, the library’s security guard, helps Nora however he can. Lewis is a homeless person, a drug addict who overdoses on the library lawn, but who is saved by the quick action of Nora and Vlado. These five people gradually divulge personal secrets as they cope with the effects of the storm. They all have suffered loss, and they all have found different methods of coping with life. During this long and scary night, their lives are changed and they see things in a different light. It’s quite a thought-provoking tale. The characters are well drawn, the plot is intriguing, and the outcome is hopeful. It’s a well written account of the social issues of homelessness and drug addiction. And it also illustrates that sometimes people who want to help are sacrificing their own lives for naught.… (meer)

Nora is the glue at the heart of this story. She's a librarian with a big heart, alone in the world except for a drug addict brother she has lost touch with but worries about. She, along with four others, are stranded in the library during a big storm. Lewis is homeless and is saved by the efforts of Nora and the security guard, Vlado. Two patrons, Marlene (older and bitter) and Jasmine (young teen). Over the course of the night they cope with cold, hunger, and gradually open up about who they are and what they hope for. I really liked the exploration of what it is like for family who worries about their homeless addicts and on the other hand, what it is like for those who are homeless and addicted. There aren't easy answers here, but it was a compassionate look nevertheless.… (meer)