- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; Export ed edition (5 April 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1408804247
- ISBN-13: 978-1408804247
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.4 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 677,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Memory of Love
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Delivering us to a common centre, no matter where we happen to have been born, Aminatta Forna tackles those great human experiences of love and war, of friendship, rivalry, of death and triumphant survival. Often darkly funny, written with gritty realism and tenderness, The Memory of Love is a profoundly affecting work' Kiran Desai, author of the Man Booker Prize-winning The Inheritance of Loss 'A subtle and complex exploration, daring in depth and scope, of both the psyche of a war-torn African state and the attractions which it holds for an outsider. Forna is a writer of great talent who does not shy from tackling the toughest questions about why humans do the things they do: from the smallest act of betrayal to the greatest acts of love' Monica Ali 'A writer of startling talent' Daily Telegraph
Product Description
Adrian Lockheart is a psychologist escaping his life in England. Arriving in Freetown in the wake of civil war, he struggles with the intensity of the heat, dirt and dust, and with the secrets this country hides. Despite the gulf of experience and understanding between them, Adrian finds unexpected friendship in a young surgeon at the hospital, the charismatic Kai Mansaray, and begins to build a new life just as Kai makes plans to leave. In the hospital Adrian encounters an elderly and unwell man, Elias Cole, who is reflecting on his past, not all of it noble. Recorded in a series of notebooks are memories of his youth, the optimism of the first moon landings, and the details of an obsession: Saffia, a woman he loved, and Julius, her fiery, rebellious husband. As their individual stories entwine across two generations in a country torn apart by repression and war, some distances cannot be bridged. "The Memory of Love" is a towering tale of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, superbly realised and beautifully written, horrifying and exhilarating, unflinching and tender, moving and uplifting. It is the story of four lives colliding; a story about friendship, about understanding, absolution and the indelible effects of the past; about journeys and dreams and loss, and about the very nature of love.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
123 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful storytelling,
By
This review is from: The Memory of Love (Hardcover)
Aminatta Forna's memoir (The Devil That Danced on the Water) was, for me, an introduction to the recent history of Sierra Leone that went far beyond the headlines... it was a brave and true account. I enjoyed her first novel (Ancestor Stones)with its interwoven stories, but The Memory of Love book had me ignoring children, skipping meals and sneaking an extra half hour during my lunch break so I could spend more time with the characters. It's beautiful. She takes the reader deep into the heart of a story of two generations, betrayal, love and longing...and in these pages one travels to another place - to Free Town at the heady time of Independence, through the country's darkest times of war and, in the 'present day', with its traumatised people as they try to rebuild their city, their country and their lives. It's impossible not to fall in love with these characters - so intimately does the reader come to know them. It's Forna's skill that throughout, the politics (both personal and historic) remain as complicated as we know life to be - whereever we are. This is her best book yet...
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely one of my top ten desert island books.,
By
This review is from: The Memory of Love (Hardcover)
"The Memory of Love" is a story set in Freetown, Sierra Leone featuring two triangular relationships separated by a generation, with parallel accounts set during the political unrest in 1969 at the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing and during the period 1999 to 2001 following the brutal civil war.The earlier era features Julius Kamara and Elias Cole who are both lecturers at the same University. Whereas Julius is charismatic,politically motivated and an idealist, Elias Cole is traditional, politically disengaged, and possessed with only mediocre talent.These two characters have only one thing in common; their love for Saffia. Julius' life and fate is dictated by his political ambitions and that of Elias by his infatuation with Saffia. Move forward 30 years and Adrian a disenchanted Psychologist from London takes advantage of an overseas government sponsored post in Sierra Leone to research Post Traumatic Stress disorder. However, underpinning his decision to take up this post, is his need to escape from a stagnating marriage and to discover what he really wants out of life.He befriends Kai Mansaray a dedicated and accomplished young trauma surgeon who works tirelessly at the city hospital. Like so many other victims of the civil war, Kai too is suffering from PTSD played out as recurrent nightmares and insomnia. Young hopes,plans and romances are destroyed and by a sad twist of fate work to Adrian's advantage. Adrian is the centre point of the story which oscillates between the city hospital where Elias Cole, now terminally ill, talks through his earlier life at the university in an attempt to seek absolution, and the local mental asylum.At the asylum Adrian gains much of his experience in PTSD where he works under the sceptical guidance of Dr Attila a senior Psychiatrist and Ileana a romanian Psychologist. And so the story weaves between tales of aspiration and love, shattered dreams and tragedy as the various components of their lives are teased out. The strength of this book lies in its beautifully evocative prose which instantly transports you to the tropical heat and monsoon rains of Freetown Sierra Leone, and to the well researched and intelligently constructed story all of which create a sympathetic and powerful piece of literature worthy of the highest accolade.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An immense achievement that deserves praise and wide reading,
This review is from: The Memory of Love (Hardcover)
Aminatta Forna's The Memory of Love is a rollercoaster ride of emotions and ideas that gripped me from start to finish, and what a finish!The Memory of Love is a beautifully crafted book by a writer whose intellectual and emotional intelligence shine through every page. She (Aminatta Forna) deploys phrases, metaphor, allusion and description like music carried on a warm coastal breeze as her characters weave in and out of each other's lives . . . gliding on a tide of an interwoven past and present. That this entails unforeseeable and shocking consequences gives the book an immense emotional punch. This is one of the most compelling and intelligently written books I have read in a long time.
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