The Memory Book - Lara Avery

The Memory Book by Lara Avery
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): They tell me that my memory will never be the same, that I'll start forgetting things. At first just a little, and then a lot. So I'm writing to remember.
Sammie was always a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as humanly possible. Nothing will stand in her way--not even a rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly start to steal her memories and then her health. What she needs is a new plan.
So the Memory Book is born: Sammie's notes to her future self, a document of moments great and small. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime crush, Stuart--a brilliant young writer who is home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood best friend, Cooper, and even take some of the blame for the fight that ended their friendship.
Through a mix of heartfelt journal entries, mementos, and guest posts from friends and family, readers will fall in love with Sammie, a brave and remarkable girl who learns to live and love life fully, even though it's not the life she planned. 

MY OPINION: ******

It's been a PRETTY long time since I've read a six-star, truly amazing book like this one. The last one, I believe, was The Sea of Tranquility. I needed this book.

It was earth-shattering, it was gut-wrenching, and it was heartbreaking. I admit to having cried in this book and I'm not at all ashamed of it. It's a book that you're meant to cry nasty gushy tears in.

This book is about a girl named Sammie who has a rare disorder called Niemann-Pick Type C that basically causes a blockage in the brain that "gets in the way of cognition, motor function, memory, metabolism." She's losing her memory little by little and this is her book that will help her to remember the little things about herself that she may have forgotten. She's "writing to remember."

It was a beautifully written novel about this girl's life. There are times when she is "losing her mind" and you can tell from the misspelling and lack of punctuation that this is happening. The writing style and casual mistakes made everything feel so much more real and I couldn't help but feel everything along with Sammie.

I loved Sammie. She's smart, she's valedictorian, she has goals. Even though her disease gets in the way of achieving her goals, she doesn't give up and she doesn't fall victim to depression and other parts of the disease. She was so relatable. She's never been to a party and when she finally does go to one, she decides to read at the party (!!!). She's not the most socially adept person and I admired her strength and bravery through it all. She's fairly oblivious, especially when it comes to guys, and this is so relatable. She's a great person though she makes mistakes, which is part of human nature. I like how she wasn't perfect. This is so accurate because in reality, nobody is perfect. She doesn't let her disease control who she is as a person.

Stuart was SO nice. I've never met a nicer character. He does so much for Sammie and her family even though he doesn't have to because he just has a good heart. He didn't deserve to be cheated on, even though I didn't really ship him with Sammie. She should have at least broken up with him beforehand. Stuart was such a smart, almost-nerdy character who I really would have liked to have known in real life.

Coop. I didn't think much of him when he was first introduced but I definitely grew to love him. I forgave him for all his faults and he was such a beautifully written character. It was really obvious that he liked Sammie and I liked how it all worked out between them. When she hurt him, I couldn't help but start sobbing. I LOVED HIM SO MUCH. He was so caring and sweet and everything was just so beautiful when he was around.

Things like the debate scene and the ENDING completely shattered my poor broken heart. The way that things happened because of this disease made me feel so sad. It was so emotional and I cried disgusting tears.

This book was everything I aspire to be as a writer. It didn't feel like a work of fiction but instead felt like looking into a window of a person that just seemed so real and so tragically broken because of everything that has come her way. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book and I am so happy that I found this gem.

QUOTES

"Looks like a Tolkien elf with laugh lines."

"I said, and laughed to mask the guilt that instantly grabbed my stomach."

"And by now our lips were basically brushing against each other's as the words came out of our mouths, and we were practically kissing, but when we did actually kiss it felt like I was drinking warm honey right to my gut, spilling out around me.

"I have feelings for you, he said."

"And the way Coop was hunched over looking at me, I'll never forget 

Like I had broken his neck 

Like he had put his heart out for me and I had smashed it"

"I realized I had been holding my heart in my hand the whole time so I put it back in my chest where it started ticking again"

And those are just a couple of the beautiful words that make up this book.

I would recommend this book to readers looking for an intuitive, deeply interesting, tragic, romantic read full of illustrious characters and gorgeously-written words.

Main Character: Sammie
Sidekick(s): Coop, Stuart, Maddie, etc
Villain(s): Niemann-Pick, disease, not being able to reach goals, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This was all very real to life.