Book Review: The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

Title: The One of Memory of Flora Banks (2017)
Author: Emily Barr
Genres: Young adult, Contemporary and Fiction
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: 12th January 2017
Rating:★★★★☆
Reviewed by: Lois

Synopsis:

“Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumour that was removed from Flora’s brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend’s boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora’s fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life. ”

Review:

Imagine doing your everyday tasks and having some of the best moments of your life but 2 hours later those events are completely erased from your memory. The only way you can remember anything at all is by checking the notes you have written yourself on your hand. This is exactly what Flora Banks has to do. She had a tumour removed from her brain when she was 10 and this disabled her ability to create any new memories from that point.

This book and its entire concept drew me in so quickly just after reading the synopsis. I was drawn into the idea of being able to read an entire book from the perspective of someone with amnesia. I have quite a good memory and I remember certain things in extreme detail years later. I wanted to be immersed in a book where the character had an extremely short term memory.

I read this book a lot faster than I had anticipated. I was in a slight bit of a reading slump when I began this book and felt like it would have taken me a long time to get into it and then a couple of weeks to finish it completely. But after a couple of days of reading two or three chapters a night I couldn’t put the book down and was reading this book every free moment that I had.

I was a big fan of Flora in this book. Emily Barr has written her character perfectly. She has given Flora Banks the real and raw characteristics of someone who is an amnesiac. Although I couldn’t relate to her in any way at all I was still a big fan of the character. There is something about her that makes her character as likeable as she. I think one reason for this is because of how determined she is as a person. She is so strong-willed and I look up her for that because although I am determined I am nowhere near as much as her. The secondary characters in this book are all characters I enjoyed reading about too. There are only a couple of characters I was not a fan of in this book but you will have to read the book to find out who they are.

Emily Barr has done a fantastic job of writing this book from the perceptive of an amnesiac. You can tell that she did a lot of research before she began writing this book. This is something I am glad that she has done otherwise the book wouldn’t have had the feel that is does have. The plot of this book is one that kept me so immersed for the entirety of reading it and I would happily reread it.

The only problem I had with this book was how repetitive it was in points. Obviously, this had the purpose of showing what it is like to have amnesia but at times it does get frustrating to read the same thing repeatedly.

Overall, I would recommend this book to any young adult book fans. Especially if you want to know what it is like to be inside the mind of an amnesiac. The book touches on a lot of issues and is an poignant read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Emily Barr and Penguin Random House UK for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Be sure to check out Book Depository using my link here: Loisreadsbooks

Find us on Twitter @loisreadsbooks,on Goodreads here and don’t forget to follow us!

Until next time,