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The Memory of Love - Aminatta Forna
The Memory of Love
by: (author)
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... show more
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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Format: paperback
ISBN: 9781408804247 (1408804247)
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages no: 445
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
Themis-Athena's Garden of Books
Themis-Athena's Garden of Books rated it
5.0 On Trauma and Healing (of Sorts)
Sierra Leone gained independence from British colonial rule in 1961, but, like so many other African countries, after enjoying a few brief initial years of peace and democracy, it was torn apart by dictatorial rule, military regimes, civil war and corruption in the decades that followed. As a resul...
Themis-Athena's Garden of Books
Themis-Athena's Garden of Books rated it
5.0 On Trauma and Healing (of Sorts)
Sierra Leone gained independence from British colonial rule in 1961, but, like so many other African countries, after enjoying a few brief initial years of peace and democracy, it was torn apart by dictatorial rule, military regimes, civil war and corruption in the decades that followed. As a resul...
Wandering through fiction
Wandering through fiction rated it
2.0 The Memory of Love
This made me really uncomfortable in parts - very graphic, nonromanticised sex scenes make for difficult reading especially when it's asentences dropped in with very little warning.Found the relationship between Elias and Safia v odd, and quite stalkerish.Just didn't suit the mood I was in while lis...
Chris Blocker
Chris Blocker rated it
3.0 The Memory of Love
This book has so much going for it. So much. So it's difficult to slap three stars on it and say “meh, it was okay.” Because it was more than okay, but it wasn't. And it was worth five stars, but it wasn't. What a confusing review.First off, let me say the second half of The Memory of Love is p...
refurbishme
refurbishme rated it
I won this book as a first reads give away. I had a really hard time with this book. The author is extremely talented and there is some really beautiful writing but I found myself having to slog my way through it. The first 350 pages were riddled with so much unnecessary detail that I would go fr...
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