Memory and Dream (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Katharine Mully had been dead for five years and two months, the morning Isabelle received the letter from her..." (more)
Key Phrases: gateway painting, tenement studio, greenhouse studio, Waterhouse Street, Wren Island, The Spirit Is Strong (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Otherworld tends to lurk just out of sight in DeLint's (Moonheart; Spiritwalk) works, waiting for some chink to appear in the facade of his characters' lives and allow its spirits entry. This latest work is no exception; here fantastic creatures gain access to the bohemian village of Newford through the work of Isabelle, a talented young painter. Apprenticing herself to the troll-like master painter Rushkin, Isabelle learns to paint amazing creatures-creations that subsequently take on a (possibly evil) life of their own. When circumstances cause a friend's message to reach out to her from beyond the grave, Isabelle must confront her own delusional revisionist history and decide if she has the strength to use her art, and the courage to do what she must. While Isabelle's delusions and the book's implication that artists are superior beings become somewhat repetitious, DeLint is otherwise in top form here. His multi-voiced, time-shifting narrative (the story spans 20 years) beautifully evokes a sense of creative community, making it almost possible to believe that the rarified aesthetic atmosphere might well be capable of conjuring up a spirit or two.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Five years after the untimely death of writer and social activist Kathy Mully, two of her longtime friends-editor Alan Grant and artist Isabelle Copley-come together to publish a final edition of Mully's stories, unaware that they are about to bridge the gap between the real world and the realm that lies just beyond most humans' perceptions. In his latest crossover, de Lint (Moonheart, LJ 3/1/94) returns to the fictional Canadian town of Newford, where magical creatures coexist (for those who can see them) with ordinary citizens. He moves gracefully through the borders between reality and imagination, weaving a powerful tale about the relationship between an artist and her work. A strong addition to fantasy collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 591 pages
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812534077
• ISBN-13: 978-0812534078
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,283,604 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #99 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( D ) > De Lint, Charles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shows us the world is a magical place, October 1, 2001

By	wysewomon "wysewomon" (Paonia, CO United States) - See all my reviews

After I read _Memory and Dream_, I stumbled around for about a week just thinking, "Wow..." De Lint's work often affects me that way, but this book did it to me even more than usual. I think it's because the characters who populate De Lint's stories are so much like people I know. Most people don't tend to write about people I know, or people who think the way I do.

The story is a deceptively simple one of an artist who is going through a change in her life being forced to own her past and her power. But although the theme is one that is seen often, De Lint makes it real in a way that no one else can. He has a very good heart knowledge of the true pain of life and he presents it in a way that neither minimizes it nor romanticizes it. He does the same with his urban settings; this is not a clean or perfect world, and stories are just as likely to happen in an alley as in a mansion.

Because the settings and the characters are so real, it is easy to believe in the fantasy elements. De Lint's work often deals with the lives and experiences of artists, musicians, and storytellers. Their work is a kind of magic anyway; all De Lint does is make the magic more vivid. He really shows us how the world is a magical place, and when everyone else is saying real magic is dead that's a message I want to hear over and over again.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, July 31, 2000

By	HH (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This book starts out with a chance meeting between Isabelle, an aspiring artist, and Rushkin, a famous painter. Rushkin offers to take Isabelle on as a student and begins teaching her the finer points of his art. As Isabelle begins to discover, one of the finer points of Rushkin's art is the ability to bring faerie creatures to life through the paintings. These creatures would "cross over" from "the before" to take up real lives in Isabelle's world. But soon after Isabelle discovers the pleasure of bringing these creatures to life, she has to deal with the grief of losing them because somebody is preying upon these faerie creatures. Isabelle must fight to save them from destruction.

This was the first novel I've read by Charles de Lint and it certainly won't be the last. My favorite part of the book was the way everything was tied together and chance encounters brought quick results. It seemed like every action of every character was somehow part of the big picture, and it tied things up into a very neat little package. I loved the interactions of the characters, especially the faerie characters. Every person seemed vibrant and alive, like I could meet them outside of the book.

Although I don't see this book as being one that epic fantasy readers would get excited about (it was a relatively short book and not very deep) it might be good for a break between epic novels. I would definitely recommend it to people who like light fantasy or people who enjoy books where our world collides with a more mysterious one.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all who search for magic and recreate enchanted reality., October 31, 1996

By A Customer

As a book is read and moved from shelf to bedside and back again, it always gathers signs of how much it is loved. My own copy of Memory and Dream, a creamy hardcover, has now obtained a large watermark, countless bent and rippled pages, and worn edges that speak ofhow much love it. Memory and Dream is a book for anyone who wishes for a little magic in a world which can be such a cruel and bitter place. The story follows an artist, Isabelle Copley, who is brought back suddenly into her own past, jolted by a letter from a long- dead friend. As Isabelle went through her life, she unconciously developed the self-protective habit of rewriting her memory, creating a story of her past that is what she wants it to be rather than what it was. As she is slowly forced to confront the truths of the past and her own part in the events which drove her to her solitude, her past comes back to haunt her in many ways. The tale is also told by a variety of characters, from Isabelle to her friends and loves both past and present. The narrative travels back and forth between present and past, each timeline following its own progression until they collide in a revealing and extraordinary finish. The book is full of the excitement and danger of magic, the joy of creating, and characters who become people you know and care about. The emotional trip through the story is not a kind one, the desriptions of the beginning slowly building into a spiral of emotion and action that is haunting by the end. As with all of Charles de Lint1s novels, it ends as so often stories end in real life, bitter-sweet, something to be remembered and pondered over.