Customer Reviews

The Memory Artists

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel is truly a delight! At first, I had a hard time keeping the book in my hands, but as I started to become more familiar with the characters, and understand where they were coming from, I could not put it down. The way it blends art, literature, and even music into the story is very much appreciated. I think anyone with a fondness for new ways to tell stories will absolutely love this book. I guarantee you will have trouble convincing yourself this really is fiction, and not a true story. Enjoy!

I loved a lot of this--the eccentricities of JJ's manias, Noel's confusion, Stella's halting recovery--but it didn't all pull together for me. The first 100 pages were slow; it wasn't until the major characters moved into Noel's house and Noel and JJ began to search for the memory remedies throughout history and literature (and Noel's mind) that the book really became alive for me. The ending was also too unstructured, so much so that it left me a bit unsatisfied. Still, even with its faults it's a great read, hypnotic at times.

If you liked this, check out Karen Heuler's The Soft Room and Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, for more journeys into the strange worlds of the mind.

I picked this up because there's a huge David Mitchell blurb on the front cover... and I love David Mitchell and don't think I've ever seen him blurb another novel... so I had to pick it up and was extremely let down... Jeffrey Moore does have potential, though... his characters are interesting and its obvious that he's creative and has writing talent... but what bothered me about the book was that it relies on characters' disabilities and oddness too much... I never felt like they were real people... they lacked substance...

Noel Burun is a rare individual who "suffers from "hypermnesic synaesthete" as he senses the world quite differently than everyone he knows as he sees incredible amounts of colors when he hears sounds, especially voices he hears. On top of his unique sensitivity, Noel also owns an astonishing CD-like memory that facilitates his ability to recall anything in minute details even the most obscure footnotes.

Noel attends the University of Quebec as a psychology grad student and works with Montreal neurologist Emile Vorta, who originally diagnosed his condition when he was a child. Noel seeks a miracle drug to cure Alzheimer's, the disease devastating his beloved mom. Assisting Noel are his friends Norval Blaquiere whose goal in life is to seduce an alphabet worth of women with Stella being the current one as woman S though he would prefer his colleague; former Hollywood starlet Samira Darwish, whom Noel loves; and JJ Yelle, who hides a painful past with a euphoric fervor helped by chemicals. These four seek a modern miracle, but get something else instead.

This is a terrific character study that looks deep inside several key cast members but especially Noel. The story line is filled with gimmicks that work as the audience learns through footnotes and other gadgetry what makes Noel and his pals tick. Fans of strong modern day irony will enjoy Jeffrey Moore's homage to the inspirational power of friendship.

Harriet Klausner

What do you get when you put five people with different memory disorders in one house?

You get The Memory Artists.

Jeffrey Moore's second novel plays strictly upon the idea of remembering and forgetting. He introduces the reader to a motley cast of characters, all of whom suffer from some sort of memory related issue. Immediately, we are introduced to Noel Burun, a man who has the unusual syndrome of synesthesia and hypermnesia. Accordingly, Noel's ability to see words as color lends itself to his ability to remember long passages of verse or poetry, as well as remember most any memory he's lived. Conversely, his mother Stella Burun, a former history teacher, has the opposite problem: her memory has been taken away by Alzheimer's.

As the book progresses, we meet several more characters, all of whom eventually move in with Noel and Stella. Norval Blaquiere suffers from misanthropy, sex addiction, the occasional tinkering with drugs, and a general superiority complex. He also appears to be the exact double of Noel, without the social awkwardness due to synesthesia. It is often commented throughout the book how very alike Noel and Norval, who share the same initials, truly are, yet the two men differ so tremendously in their outlooks on life. Norval is primarily responsible for introducing Samira Darwish to the group, a young woman who suffers from drug-related amnesia, and the future love interest of all three men. Finally, J.J. Yelle becomes a part of the group when his apartment burns down and he moves in with Noel. His characteristics of positivity and a skewered perception of the world hints at autism, yet he becomes one of the most valued members of the group.

The book itself is introduced as evidence on behalf of Dr. Emile Vorta, a neuroscientist that has worked with all five individuals suffering from different memory afflictions. It is uncovered throughout the book that Dr. Vorta may have attempted some unorthodox studies, such as artificially inducing Norval with synesthesia and Stella with Alzheimer's. As the narrative develops, Noel seeks to undo the damage that may or may not have been caused by Dr. Vorta by finding a cure for Alzheimer's. With the help of J.J, Samira, and eventually Norval, Noel does begin to find a way to reunite Stella with her memories, drawing upon literature such as 1001 Nights for a pharmacological direction.

I loved the play on memory, of how difficult it must be for Noel to remember everything and have to take care of his mother, who often can't remember anything. The house is described as being covered with instructions, while Stella's hand bleeds blue ink notes. Each character, in his or her own way, subtly suggests the importance of memory in its various incarnations. Every chapter introduces a new perspective or returns to an old one as the story is told through the diaries of Noel, Stella, and Samira, or through third-person perspectives from all of the characters.

The Memory Artists is loaded with chemical formulas, poetry verses, and dozens of memories, all of which play a role in constructing the whole story and giving the reader a better sense of who all these people are. Moore raises the subtle question of what is memory? Can memory be induced as easily as it can be taken away? Can it shape personality, as it seems to for Noel and Stella, both of whom struggle to understand what it means to be incapacitated: Noel by his exorbitant memory that keeps him from being able to stay in the present moment, and Stella who can only live in the present moment.

I was completely with this book until it reached its conclusion: Noel undergoes an experiment with Vorta that results in reducing his synesthesia, and consequently, his hypermnesia. I couldn't understand why Noel would allow Dr. Vorta to do such a thing, and there's no indication that Noel has given Dr. Vorta permission to perform such an experiment, once again raising questions about Dr. Vorta's practices. The interesting thing about The Memory Artists is its design as evidence on Dr. Vorta's behalf - different sections of the book are footnoted with Dr. Vorta's comments and notes, all of which are designed to portray Dr. Vorta's innocence in light of his unethical experiments. It leads the reader to the conclusion that Vorta may have performed many of his experiments (Stella, Samira possibly, and most certainly Noel) without obtaining permission from the human test subject.

In a way, the book ends appropriately, by giving the reader direct pause to question Dr. Vorta's tactics. Stella's memory is intact once again, while Noel has a much easier time of staying in the present. Yet I wanted Noel to keep his unusual qualities, because it was so much of who he was and who he became - his synesthesia and hypermnesia were not just a memory disorder: they were Noel.

All in all, The Memory Artists was a compelling read. A work of fiction that dances around the question of medical ethics, memory complexities, and the seemingly simple equation of falling in love, I could not put the book down. Highly recommended.

This is a wonderful, complex and fascinating novel, which is beautifully written! It is about living with and treating Parkinson's disease, about having and living with Synesthesia, about a young man's search for a life, meaning, and growing up, about the complexities and mysteries of relationships and their effects on people's lives. About artists, poets and research scientists. And more. I will only say, Read this book! It will engage, surprise, absorb and fascinate you. I greatly look forward to more writing from this author!

I started this book but didn't finish because I didn't like the foul language and all the sexual content.