MEMORABLE! (Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern)

Member Name: Skyedame

Product:	Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern
Date:	14/04/08 (181 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engaging characters

Disadvantages: None

Cecelia Ahern's novels are magical and quirky. Sort of fairy tales for adults. And we all need a little bit of magic in our lives.

The author must have sat down one day and said "What if.....? What if someone donates a pint of blood and the person who receives the blood takes on the characteristics, and cravings, of the donor? Even acquires the donor's memories?

Far fetched? Strangely enough, in the Daily Mail recently there was the story of a 47-year-old woman who was given the heart and lungs of an 18-year-old boy. Her first inkling that things were changing was, when she was still recovering in the hospital,
two reporters came to interview her. One asked: 'Now that you've had this miracle, what do you want more than anything else?' She answered that she fancied a beer. But considering she had never liked beer before, she realised her reply was a little odd. As time went on, she also developed a taste for Snickers bars, green peppers, Kentucky Friend Chicken takeaway.... just like most 18-year-old boys.

Cue 'Twilight Zone' theme music.....

So, perhaps Ms Ahern's plot wasn't so far-fetched after all.

Set in Ireland, Justin Hitchcock donates blood and Joyce Conway is the recipient. Joyce starts experiencing such a strong sense of déjà vu about things she previously knew nothing about (architecture, places she'd never visited, people she didn't know) that, before you know it, Joyce is dragging her elderly father from Ireland to London where the scrapes they get into wouldn't look out of place in an Ealing comedy.

The relationship between Joyce and her father was such fun to read and there is no doubt this 75-year-old Irish daddy is the beating heart of the story. I loved him and wanted him for my very own. There were so many little episodes - like one off comedy sketches - between Joyce and her father that I laughed out loud on many occasions.

Whether the plotline is feasible or not, I didn't care, I just enjoyed the story for itself. I couldn't fault it. I have read two of Celia Ahern's previous and couldn't say I absolutely loved them both - I enjoyed PS I Love you but If They Could See Me Now was just so-so. I didn't even attempt Where Rainbow's End because when I browsed a copy in the bookshop and discovered the characters wrote in email and texts to each other, I immediately put it back.

PS I Love You has been made into a film and If They Could See me Now has been optioned. That the author is still only 26-years-old shows that she has an awesome writing talent for one so young. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Thanks for the Memories will eventually make it into films, although I doubt I'd watch the film version - they're bound to make a bollocks of casting the daddy.

There are 372 pages in the book and I managed to finish it in less than a weekend which, for me, is the mark of a good story.

If you like pure escapism and enjoy the company of memorable characters, this is a book you shouldn't miss.

Thanks for reading.

© Louise Saunders 2008

Summary: Pure escapism with memorable characters