My name is memory

Review by Booklist Review

On the heels of recent film adaptations of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, Brashares' second novel for adults taps into the growing appetite for romances thwarted by extraordinary tricks of time. Virginia high-school student Lucy is inexplicably drawn to classmate Daniel, but when he claims to have known her before, a thoroughly unsettled Lucy flees. Gradually, Lucy learns the impossible truth: Daniel has been chasing her through ages and lives for 1,200 years. In chapters that alternate viewpoints between the two lovers, past and present, the couples' unrequited desire builds, even as a murderous soul threatens their reunion. Steamy bedroom scenes aside, the coming-of-age sensibility will feel familiar to crossover adult fans of Brashares' best-selling Traveling Pants series for teens. Readers tantalized by the possibilities of past lives and soul-mate connections will devour this unabashed romance, which has the heart-pounding pace and tone of a beach novel, and hope for the sequel hinted at in the open ending. Suggest John Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) while they wait.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A romance that stretches across centuries and past lives constitutes the core of Brashares's varied second adult novel, the first in a planned trilogy. The story is primarily that of Daniel, as, in the present, he pursues Lucy (whom he knows as Sophia in a previous life) and attempts to persuade her of their history and destiny, but his passion initially and understandably scares her off. He disappears, presumed dead, but Lucy, unable to forget him, investigates his claims of their history until she discovers the truth. Meanwhile, Daniel takes readers on a tour of romantic near-misses, from sixth-century Africa through eighth-century Turkey to WWI. The story moves slowly and predictably, though when a plot finally materializes, Brashares (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) manages some satisfying momentum, even if the story begins to feel like it's borrowed from a James Patterson novel. Brashares's insights into human nature, meanwhile, should appeal to readers who enjoyed The Time-Traveler's Wife, but can appreciate a Nicholas Sparks-esque sensibility. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

Most of us recycle everyday without giving it much thought. But what if we were recyclable? Daniel, who thinks of himself as a recycled soul, is different from everyone else-he remembers all his past lives. For over 1000 years, he's been learning how actions in one life affect the next and discovering that not everyone who returns has good intentions. But most of all, he remembers Sophia, despite her changing name and form, and while Sophia can't quite remember him, she's inexplicably drawn to get as close to him as she can. Although circumstances keep them apart time and time again, Daniel has mastered patience and has boundless faith that one day they will live a lifetime together. VERDICT Brashares's second adult novel (after The Last Summer [of You and Me]; author of the YA "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series) is reminiscent of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, and Daniel and Sophia's near misses and chance encounters captivate and entrance us. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/10; national tour.]-Jennifer Anderson, Texas A&M Univ.-Corpus Christi Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Primarily known for her young adult Traveling Pants series, Brashares offers her second adult novel (The Last Summer (Of You and Me), 2007), about a man who remembers his past lives and the woman he's loved through them all.In 2004, Virginia high-school student Lucy develops an obsessive crush on a mysterious new classmate, Daniel. They finally share a kiss at the Senior Ball, but then Daniel calls her Sophia and insists that they have loved each other for centuries. A frightened Lucy runs away, leaving Daniel bereft. He has spent most of his many lives trying to find Sophia, ever since their disastrous first meeting during his first remembered life. As a soldier in North Africa in the sixth century he mistakenly burned down a house (think civilian casualties in Afghanistan), causing a little girl version of Sophia to diehis "original sin." Two hundred years later in Asia Minor, Daniel helped the woman her soul then inhabited escape from her abusive husband, Daniel's older brother Joaquim, who then killed him. Throughout the centuries when Daniel and Sophia have met, their ages or circumstances usually kept them apart. However, during World War I Sophia/Constance was his nurse and sweetheart at a British military hospital where she hid a letter of explanation about Daniel to her future self. Fast forward to 2006. Attending college, Lucy has lost track of Daniel. Then a psychic shocks her by bringing up Daniel by name. Now driven to find the truth through hypnosis and the Internet, Lucy finds the WWI letter and accepts her pasts. But she can't find Daniel. Unfortunately, menacing Joaquim is on Daniel's trail too. Plenty of grown up "Pants" fans will swoon for this hokey but undeniably effective romance, and an ambiguous ending leaves the door ajar for a sequel.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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I have lived more than a thousand years. I have died countless times. I forget precisely how many times. My memory is an extraordinary thing, but it is not perfect. I am human. The early lives blur a bit. The arc of your soul follows the pattern of each of your lives. It is macrocosmic. There was my childhood. There have been many childhoods. And even in the early part of my soul I reached adulthood many times. These days, in every one of my infancies, the memory comes faster. We go through the motions. We look oddly at the world around us. We remember. I say "we" and I mean myself, my soul, my selves, my many lives. I say "we" and I also mean the other ones like me who have the Memory, the conscious record of experience on this earth that survives every death. There aren't many, I know. Maybe one in a century, one born out of millions. We find one another rarely, but believe me, there are others. At least one of them has a memory far more extraordinary than mine. I have been born and died many times in many places. The space between them is the same. I wasn't in Bethlehem for Christ's birth. I never saw the glory that was Rome. I never bowed to Charlemagne. At that time I was scratching out a crop in Anatolia, speaking a dialect unintelligible to the villages north and south. Only God and the devil can be counted on for all the thrilling parts. The great hits of history go along without the notice of most. I read about them in books like everybody else. Sometimes I feel more akin to houses and trees than to my fellow human beings. I stand around watching the waves of people come and go. Their lives are short, but mine is long. Sometimes I imagine myself as a post driven into the ocean's edge. I've never had a child, and I've never gotten old. I don't know why. I have seen beauty in countless things. I have fallen in love, and she is the one who endures. I killed her once and died for her many times and I still have nothing to show for it. I always search for her; I always remember her. I carry the hope that someday she will remember me. Excerpted from My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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