Review by kaylee16tw -- The Stealer of Memories
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kaylee16tw
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Review by kaylee16tw -- The Stealer of Memories
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Stealer of Memories" by Mois Benarroch.]
2 out of 4 stars
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I have to give this book a 2 out of 4, which is a shame because the premise for it sounded innovative and intriguing. The book itself was to explore the concept of memory—specifically false memories—but when I sat down to read the book, I was disappointed with how the author expressed his ideas. He was extremely unclear at times, and I found myself getting lost at several points throughout the book. It followed the perspective of the narrator for a majority of the book, but how his memory/ whose memory he was dealing with was very puzzling. At times it seemed he had absorbed other people’s memories, and at other times it seemed he was just confused about his own memories.
Yet, whether this is due to the author’s writing, or simply a bad translation of the author’s writing (it was originally an Israeli text), is yet to be seen. Moreover, the overall organization of the book I found disorienting. The transitions between both the sentences and the chapters were abrupt and made it extremely difficult to follow the author’s train of thought.
This is the key reason that I found myself rating it as 2 stars. Personally, the flow of a book is one of the more important facts that contributes to its enjoyability, and this book was lacking in it. Something else that detracted from the flow was that the book tended to be a bit redundant at times, sometimes repeating the same thought over and over but in slight variations. However, if this is simply due to a bad translation job, then I do apologize to the author for being so negative about the book.
This being said, I did rate this book 2 stars and not 1 because there were certain parts where the author did phrase his thoughts quite nicely. Even though the piece itself seemed scattered and not cohesive, there were specific parts that jumped out at me and piqued my interest, simply because of the way it was said. “Life was not what one lived, but what one remembered” and “I smelt the memories of others” (this was a comparison of his sense of memories to that of a developed sense of smell) were some of my favorite concepts of the book.
So, I suppose I would recommend this book to anyone searching for a challenge, as it was very challenging getting through this book. When I finished the book, I had no idea what I’d actually just read, or even what I’d taken away from it. I do think that there are redeeming qualities to this book, but these qualities were simply overshadowed by the poor grammar and overall unclearness.
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The Stealer of Memories
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2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
I have to give this book a 2 out of 4, which is a shame because the premise for it sounded innovative and intriguing. The book itself was to explore the concept of memory—specifically false memories—but when I sat down to read the book, I was disappointed with how the author expressed his ideas. He was extremely unclear at times, and I found myself getting lost at several points throughout the book. It followed the perspective of the narrator for a majority of the book, but how his memory/ whose memory he was dealing with was very puzzling. At times it seemed he had absorbed other people’s memories, and at other times it seemed he was just confused about his own memories.
Yet, whether this is due to the author’s writing, or simply a bad translation of the author’s writing (it was originally an Israeli text), is yet to be seen. Moreover, the overall organization of the book I found disorienting. The transitions between both the sentences and the chapters were abrupt and made it extremely difficult to follow the author’s train of thought.
This is the key reason that I found myself rating it as 2 stars. Personally, the flow of a book is one of the more important facts that contributes to its enjoyability, and this book was lacking in it. Something else that detracted from the flow was that the book tended to be a bit redundant at times, sometimes repeating the same thought over and over but in slight variations. However, if this is simply due to a bad translation job, then I do apologize to the author for being so negative about the book.
This being said, I did rate this book 2 stars and not 1 because there were certain parts where the author did phrase his thoughts quite nicely. Even though the piece itself seemed scattered and not cohesive, there were specific parts that jumped out at me and piqued my interest, simply because of the way it was said. “Life was not what one lived, but what one remembered” and “I smelt the memories of others” (this was a comparison of his sense of memories to that of a developed sense of smell) were some of my favorite concepts of the book.
So, I suppose I would recommend this book to anyone searching for a challenge, as it was very challenging getting through this book. When I finished the book, I had no idea what I’d actually just read, or even what I’d taken away from it. I do think that there are redeeming qualities to this book, but these qualities were simply overshadowed by the poor grammar and overall unclearness.
******
The Stealer of Memories
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Like kaylee16tw's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "Heaven and Earth" by Arturo Riojas
