There are many people in the world who believe in reincarnation, the idea that a person’s soul is born and reborn many times throughout history. Whether we believe it or not, sometimes we recognize the possibility when we call someone an “old soul.” In most cases, souls are reborn, but they have little or no knowledge of their previous life or lives. But what if someone did remember? What if someone can recall, with perfect clarity, all of the lives he or she had lived before? In Ann Brashares’ latest book, My Name is Memory, she explores this idea through a timeless love story between two very old souls.
Daniel Grey is no ordinary high school student, but Lucy doesn’t know that. All she knows is that she’s drawn to him, inexplicably. As Lucy starts to get to know Daniel, however, she slowly learns the truth: Daniel has the Memory, the ability to remember perfectly all of his past lives. And he’s been in love with Lucy (who he first knew as Sophia) for more than a thousand years. As the mystery of Daniel and Lucy’s shared lives starts to unravel, the two young lovers grow closer and closer, while a vengeful nemesis from long ago threatens their newly found happiness.
(Warning: mild spoilers)
As ironic as it may be, the perfect description of this book is “soulful.” It’s filled with emotion and feeling: Daniel’s longing for Sophia/Lucy, Lucy’s simultaneous desire and hesitation, the love both of them have for one another. The story is quiet and slow, even languid. There’s no rush to tell the story, no need to hurry through the actions and events and, because of this, it’s hard to like this novel at first. For the first two-thirds of the book, I kept waiting for something to happen. Instead, Brashares seems content to take her time and watch the story grow and bloom, like the gardens Lucy is always planting in any of her lives. But when you do decide to just sit and enjoy the book, you’re rewarded with an incredible and powerful love story.
The strength of this book is its main characters. This is Lucy and Daniel’s story and they are thoroughly realized characters. We know everything about them – mostly because they tell us – and we can see, clearly, why these two people are destined to love each other, life after life, age after age. You root for them when they’re together and feel for them when they’re separated. The downside to the focus on Lucy and Daniel is that the other characters suffer. Many of them felt like placeholders or simply people who existed solely for the purpose of giving Lucy and/or Daniel someone to talk to. Even the villain comes across as lacking and half-formed, which is somewhat problematic since he’s the one who finally sets the plot in motion.
Though the story lacks any kind of real action until the last few chapters, it is exceptionally well-written and meticulously detailed. The chapters alternate back and forth between the present-day and Daniel’s past lives. These past lives chapters are where Brashares really shines. Her historical details are impeccable and really give the reader a sense of just how much history Daniel has seen.
I’m a bit ambivalent about the ending. At first, it felt abrupt and disappointing; because the action starts so late in the story, it almost seemed like Brashares ran out of time and so she simply ended the book. This made me feel like I had been cheated out of some kind of closure. Then I found out that My Name is Memory is supposed to be the first book in a planned trilogy, which placated me a bit since, conceivably I’ll be able to find out what happens to them at some point.
The more I think about it, though, the more I wonder: as much as I want to know what happens to Lucy and Daniel (and I do), the ending does have this sense of coming full circle. Daniel’s last letter reinforces the dominant theme of the novel: no matter what happens in this life, he’ll always look for Lucy in the next one because his love will never die. In some ways, I kind of like the ambiguous ending – it fits in with the ever-changing nature of Lucy and Daniel’s relationship. (Of course, the other part of me still wants answers, so you can bet I’ll read the sequels if and when they’re written.)
My Name is Memory isn’t a perfect book, but Brashares does raise a lot of interesting ideas revolving around memory and reincarnation, particularly around the idea that your soul can be reborn again and again and the idea of always finding the people you love, life after life. It’s a lovely, quiet book with a heartfelt love story and wonderfully written historical and character descriptions. Just be prepared to take your time and don’t except a lot of action or resolution.
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