My Memories of a Future Life - the complete novel [Kindle Edition]

Once again I should state for the record that I know Roz personally, and I have reviewed the episodic version of this book before. My review in no way should be construed as me pumping her work as a favour because I'm not comfortable doing that. Of course I will recommend work by friends as a favour but this usually extends to just that. This was something different, I genuinely believe this is a great book and deserves a wider audience. So the disclaimer is that, I know Roz and like her a lot but I'm writing this review because the book itself is worthy of praise.

Now I'm glad we got that out of the way, and having read the whole book and having had some time to think it over I feel ready to write a proper review of the piece overall.

You know how sometimes you read a book and it lives in your mind for ages afterwards? And how sometimes you read a book and can't put it down until it's finished and when it is finished you feel slightly bereft? This book is like that. So many questions in your mind, so many memories of events and thoughts you had when you were reading it.

Of the many thoughts I had while reading this book:

1. Damn she's good. As a writer myself I was very jealous of how well realised and entertaining and yet thought provoking her story was.

2. What an interesting thought. I can't really tell you what that thought was because knowing that up front would possibly ruin the surprise.

3. I love it when a story introduces you to a world (in this case the world of professional classical musicians) that you are aware of but not fully involved in. All the flavour and nuance of the world adds to the atmosphere and leaves you with the pleasing (but probably hilariously false) idea that you know this world inside out.

4. On the last page I just sat there looking at it. That's it? It's over? But what about...? And did they? I mean don't get me wrong the book ends entirely as it should, a piece of art should always pose more questions than it answers. I think the lack of total complete closure is a stylistic flourish and one that as time goes on I am more and more happy with.

For starters it might open the way to another book, which I'd love by the way, but more than that I think it's singlehandedly responsible for the high regard I hold this story. It's not answering all questions, so unlike mainstream trashy novels, the point is not to "find out what happens" because what happens is less interesting than "why happens" and "when happens". It's also treating you like a grown up with a brain and enjoining you to use it to sift the facts of the story into a pleasing order so that you can enjoy the cultural aftertaste for months and even years to come.

Plus because the truth of the story is not obvious, you come away satisfied but feeling you could easily read it again to get a bit more juice out of it.

That said it is a phenomenally easy book to read, relaxed, easy and sensory style, lots for your visual cortex to chew on. Which is what would make this book such a good film. It's very visual, and in this modern computer graphics era totally doable.

Add to all this the fact I read the book on my iPhone Kindle app, not the most comfortable reading platform for someone as visually challenged as me, but totally doable. In those circumstances the text has to be riveting or you will give up. Actually provided I used my reading glasses I found the whole kindle experience to be a delightful way to read this book. On a larger screen like an actual Kindle or an iPad it would be even better.

So when Roz first pointed the book out to me and asked if I cared to read it and give my opinion I thought it would be a commitment of a few minutes flipping the pages and a tweet or a mention on Facebook. Actually it was hours of reading and even more hours of thinking, and a considerable amount of enjoyment.

Roz has ghost written many books under famous names, and so as a writer I can understand that writing under her own name for the first time, no mask, nowhere to hide, would be a daunting task. Add to that the worry about the book being good enough and doing her justice must have been similarly troubling. But I can say she has nothing to worry about. This is an original, substantial, entertaining read from someone who knows how to tell a story which entertains, provokes and in an odd way soothes. You'll understand that last word better once you've read the book.

A wonderful, disturbing and cinematic ride. I wish her every success with it!

I had no idea what to expect of this book but was intrigued by the conundrum title and the enigmatic cover, slightly reminiscent of a Magritte painting. I was drawn into the novel immediately by Morris' excellent writing (often beautiful, but never empty or ostentatious) and her intriguing characters. Professional musician Carol Lear, frustrated and crippled by RSI, is not going to appeal to every reader, but I found this prickly anti-heroine fascinating and wholly convincing.

The novel inhabits several different genres (literary fiction, fantasy, thriller, even romance) but Morris weaves them together to form an unusual and haunting page-turner - one that I suspect would benefit from a second reading.

I gather this is Roz Morris' first novel under her own name. I hope she'll bring out another soon. (And for those who care about these things: I read the ebook and didn't spot a single formatting error.)

I enjoyed this book very much. It was an unusual read for me, but I read it because I've also enjoyed some of Roz Morris's other work. The ideas behind it are fresh, the plot unpredictable to the end and the characters interesting; I was entirely engaged and convinced by the main character's life. I also liked the writing itself very much, with its story within a story having echoes of others such as Atwood's 'Blind Assassin'.