Remember Me - Book Review

Remember Me - Book Review

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Posted 2013-03-26 by TheOnlyFionafollow
Remember Me? - Book Review


Eyes opened. Where am I? Who am I? Why am I here? You might expect to be in your bed, waking to find yourself on holiday. You might mistake yourself for a younger self, having dreamt of that exam from high school. Alternatively, you might wake up with a nagging feeling, only to find the results disastrous.

We've all had days where we've woken up without a clue. Lexi Smart literally didn't know what hit her. One minute she's having a night out with friends, the next thing she knows she wakes up in hospital. Imagine waking up and nothing is the same. Lexi finds herself older, fitter, unrecognisable, a successful career-woman and married to property developing tycoon with model looks. Not bad for someone who 'fell asleep' with a dead-end job and a scummy boyfriend called Loser Dave. However Lexi finds herself trying to navigate her dream life without any of the memories that brought her from point A to B.

Hilarious and cringe worthy situations occurs as our likable amnesiac realises she's a horrible person in her dream life. The new Lexi is a corporate shark, her old friends hate her and she was never there to stop her baby sister from becoming a troubled teen. Her husband, Eric, expects her to be the money driven, bread hating health nut, he met on an 'apprentice' style show. Everyone pressures Lexi to return to her perfect life and find her personality change threatening. After a koi incident, she finds an ally in John, her husband's architect, who knows more than one secret that others would prefer stay forgotten. He's the catalyst that pushes her to dig up the shocking truth behind her life.

For Lexi, her dream life is akin to a beautiful statue, beautiful from afar but it is when you get close do you see the cracks in the stone. It's a fun hypothetical situation, perfect to make your friends take turns considering at a get-together. What would we each do if we attain our dream lives? Would we be forever happy? Does the dream life equal happiness and fulfilment? What next if there is even a next or is it merely spending the rest of our lives maintaining our own dream lives? The novel takes a jab at questioning living your 'dream life' if it isn't as perfect as you thought it would be.

Remember Me could have included the predictable, clichéd plotline where Lexi will suddenly remember everything. The only memory she does regain is the most telling of all. It proves there was only one thing worth remembering from the 3 years of her perfect life. The plot is more comedy and happiness philosophy than predictable romance than certain cover blurbs would have you believe. Like a midlife crisis, Lexi shows substantial character growth from making bad decisions and then creating better solutions to remedy them.

Sidenote: For fans of 30 Rock, there is a fan-fiction based on this novel, with the same name that adeptly casts the characters of 30 Rock into the storyline. I found it amusing and helpful when visualising the characters as I read Remember Me?

A funny novel which adeptly portrays the hilarity of amnesia and the consequences of attaining your dream life. It may challenge your ideas of goals for happiness and fulfilment.

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90039 - 2023-06-11 08:15:55

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