The Memory Book By Rowan Coleman

[amazon_link id=”0091951372″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Memory Book’ is the latest book by Rowan Coleman.

The name of your first born. The face of your first lover. Your age. Your address. What would happen of your memory of these began to fade? Is it possible to rebuild your life? Raise a family? Fall in love again? When Claire starts to write her Memory Book, she already knows that this scrapbook of mementoes will soon be all her daughters and husband have of her. But how can she hold onto the past when her future is slipping through her fingers…?

Before I started reading ‘The Memory Book’ I tried to be as prepared as possible for this emotional tale, as everyone was talking about it on Twitter. So, taking a deep breath I jumped straight in and began the wonderful but terribly sad story.

The story is seen from the perspectives of two generations of the one family. Claire and her eldest daughter, Caitlin. Only in her early 40’s, Claire has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers and the story handles how they all deal and adapt to this situation. As suggested by her doctor, they create a Memory Book,
where they all write down notes of times together, adding little tokens of those treasured moments.

There are so many adjectives that you can use to describe this book. Sad would be one, heartwarming would be another but I think powerful is the most appropriate.

I joined Claire on her journey, a frustrating journey at times but one that could also be funny, due to how she dealt with the illness and purely by the actions that illness resulted in her doing. As she was teacher, she was never lost for words but sometimes even the simplest of things left her confused, like when she forgotten the word for telephone and called it ‘the talker’ The chapters that are scenes from her perspective are gripping, frank and brave as we see her alter between a grown mother to almost a childlike state, wanting to try new things and seeing old things through new eyes. But when she returns to her old self and talks honestly about the illness, her fears and thoughts, I did find myself tearing up especially in one chapter, she described to a man that she was ‘disappearing’ and I thought that was the best way to describe it. Everyday a little piece of you disappears, some days more than others.

Claire was an inspirational character that handled her new life with dignity and wit. Trying to stay strong for her family, she hated what she was putting her family through although she was powerless to stop it. Whenever she was herself, she grasped those moments eagerly determined to tell those around her thoughts and dreams for their future without her, these scenes were heart wrenching.

I had a relative who had Alzheimers and I can remember so vividly the fear he had on the days that he remembered that he was sick. Those days were particularly the hardest, as we knew that it was true and as much as we tried to comfort him, we knew it was only a matter of time before the illness took over.

The other chapters are seen from Caitlin, as she handles a life that she was unprepared for. I liked Caitlin, headstrong and caring, she always looked out for Claire and never seemed to get frustrated with her, no matter how many times, thing happened or were repeated. Other chapters include the notes that were left in the Memory Book. These notes differ from fun to sad from various accounts of the past, particularly those from Greg, Claire’s husband who sadly she doesn’t remember. Even, though his love for her is evident, his pain is stronger and scenes were she thinks he is after his money makes for heartbreaking reading.

Although the story is obviously of a sad nature, Rowan has regularly included little nuggets of humour, that are greatly appreciated. Whether it’s laughing along with Claire with her thoughts or her youngest daughter Esther, who takes Claire under her wing and the two of them cause chaos together.

Through the course of reading this book, I did find myself crying and dreading the ending and as I expected I was a blubbering mess when I closed the book for the final time.

Rowan has once again written a heartbreaking and courageous story that will sometimes have you in emotional pieces and other times laughing aloud at the twists and turns on this journey. A brave and tender story about a family coming together to deal with the uncertainty of each day, this devastating but extraordinary book highlights the impact Alzheimer can have on a family and sadly how common it has become. But most importantly it emphasises just how strong selfless and human love can be and even when you finished the book, it will stay in your thoughts that little bit longer.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0091951372″ target=”_blank” ]The Memory Book from Amazon [/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops.