- Hardcover: 280 pages
- Publisher: Theia; First Edition edition (Dec 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0786867787
- ISBN-13: 978-0786867783
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.3 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,491,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
What would happen if you could suddenly remember everything that had ever happened to you as fresh as if it were yesterday? This is the fate of the residence of the town of Clarence, who fall under the spell of a powerful drug that unlocks their memories. As the past comes flooding back without the buffer of time, the townspeople find themselves awash in reminiscences of love, death, war, childhood, happiness, sorrow and sins. A bittersweet novel about the unreliability of memory and the bliss of forgetting from an impressive and exciting new talent.
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THE BREAK ROOM microwave is dead, to begin with. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE BREAK ROOM microwave is dead, to begin with. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Beatifully written, intelligent, empathetic novel. With unique humour, new author Anne Ursu raises some very thoughtful questions to us as individuals and community members. You'll enjoy sharing and discussing this book. Also, ... website is a creative, and enjoyable compliment - wish more authors / books had them.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
52 reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Loved It
24 Nov 2001
Format:Hardcover
This novel is both emotionally and intellectually significant-a rare find! At the heart of the book is a chemical, deletrium, that escapes into the town of Clarence. People find themselves remembering things they've forgotten, and many of those memories are painful. The questions raised here are fascinating and central to a culture where Prozac in the water supply wouldn't be all that unbelievable. (Just a bit. Just until we can start shopping again.) I was especially impressed with the authority of Anne Ursu's prose-truly astonishing for a first novelist. She can guide us past the memory wars of the last twenty years, and make it look easy (!), without once losing sight of her characters. I've already given this book to two grad school friends. I wish I could rate this ten stars; it's that good.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Moving and memorable...
9 April 2003
Format:Paperback
The main reason that prompted my buying of this book was the interesting premise. I thought the idea behind this book was something very original and unique, and I was definitely excited about reading it. And while Spilling Clarence did provide me with something out of the ordinary, I believe the novel was more depressing that I anticipated.
Spilling Clarence tells the story about a small town, Clarence, and the chemical leak that changed everything. An explosion at the town's psychopharmaceutical plant has sent mind-altering vapors into the air. At first, authorities weren't actually sure what to make of the incident, but soon they got their answers. These vapors, a chemical called Deletrium, unlocks the brain's hidden and repressed memories, encouraging patients (or in this case, town residents) to remember things they had forgotten. At first it doesn't sound so bad -- who doesn't like a trip down memory lane every once in a while? But soon, most of the town starts to unravel -- not everyone's memories bring smiles and joy.
While the story talks about many of Clarence's citizens, most of the detail is reserved for three main characters: Bennie, a college psychology professor, whose memories bring his deceased wife, Lizzie, back to life; Madeline, Bennie's mother, who resides at the Sunny Shadows retirement home, remembers the life she led as a wife and as a widow; and Susannah, an aide at the retirement home, who has her own troubled past, mostly in the form of a mentally ill mother. All of these characters are portrayed in rich detail, and author Anne Ursu leaves no rock overturned.
Spilling Clarence is an insightful, moving story about memories and the mind's natural process of storing them away. The writing is exquisite and thoughtful, yet simple and easy to understand when the author flits back and forth between past and present. The tone is more depressing than I expected -- there is a lot of "falling down into a crumpled, shaking heap" in this book! -- but then again, that is life and a lot memories we repress mostly relate to an unhappy time. Spilling Clarence is an honest piece of work, and I applaud Anne Ursu for writing it.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
A lovely debut
1 Jan 2002
Format:Hardcover
...so, I come to Amazon to write a review of a charming and funny first novel - a novel that I gobbled up in a single day - and find a sloppy, peevish diatribe from Publishers Weekly, so spiteful it made me wonder if author stole the reviewer's boyfriend back in junior high. Is there a prozac shortage I'm unaware of?
Obviously, I greatly enjoyed this novel. As readable as it is intelligent, SPILLING CLARENCE begins with an intriguing premise and builds into a thought-provoking examination of the nature and power of our memories. Anne Ursu's prose style and concerns are more akin to Don Delillo's WHITE NOISE than Alice Hoffman's work, and she has a sharp wit reminiscent of Lorrie Moore. But it is Ursu's richly drawn characters that delight and surprise (especially Sophie, whom I just adored.) They stayed with me long after I finished reading the book. Highly recommended.
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