The Memory of Love
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Adrian Lockheart is a psychologist escaping his life in England. Arriving in Freetown in the wake of civil war, he struggles with the intensity of the heat, dirt and dust, and with the secrets this country hides. Despite the gulf of experience and understanding between them, Adrian finds unexpected friendship
… More »Adrian Lockheart is a psychologist escaping his life in England. Arriving in Freetown in the wake of civil war, he struggles with the intensity of the heat, dirt and dust, and with the secrets this country hides. Despite the gulf of experience and understanding between them, Adrian finds unexpected friendship in a young surgeon at the hospital, the charismatic Kai Mansaray, and begins to build a new life just as Kai makes plans to leave. In the hospital Adrian encounters an elderly and unwell man, Elias Cole, who is reflecting on his past, not all of it noble. Recorded in a series of notebooks are memories of his youth, the optimism of the first moon landings, and the details of an obsession: Saffia, a woman he loved, and Julius, her fiery, rebellious husband. As their individual stories entwine across two generations in a country torn apart by repression and war, some distances cannot be bridged. "The Memory of Love" is a towering tale of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, superbly realised and beautifully written, horrifying and exhilarating, unflinching and tender, moving and uplifting.
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Add a CommentIntersecting stories of a white psychologist from the UK who goes to Sierre Leone and a black surgeon in Sierre Leone. It addresses who goes to developing countries and who leaves them. It portrays the horrors of war in this country. A lasting metapor - the memory of love is like the pain in a lost limb.
This title is shortlisted for the 2011 Orange prize, and may very well win. For me, the writing was wonderful, but the storytelling was a bit bland considering the subject matter.
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna just won the £10,000 (US$16,233) Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Judges praised Forna's book "for its risk taking, elegance and breadth. A poignant story about friendship, betrayal, obsession and second chances--the novel is an immensely powerful portrayal of human resilience."
Incredibly beautiful and heart-wrenching.