Thanks for another good book... (Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	Thanks for the Memories - Cecelia Ahern
Date:	12/07/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Likeable characters, easy to read

Disadvantages: ending seemed rushed

After reading 'Where Rainbows End' by Cecelia Ahern, and absolutely loving it, I was keen to read her novel 'Thanks for the memories' which I had bought at the same time.

~The Story~

Justin Hitchcock is an expert on art and architecture. He's an American living in London, but on a trip to Dublin where he visits once a month to give lectures, he is confronted by an attractive young doctor, who is encouraging the students to donate blood. Justin is terrified of needles, but she is the first woman he has been attracted to since his divorce and so reluctantly agrees. He is keen to know who will receive his blood, but as the doctor explains, there is no way that a donor can trace where it has gone.

Joyce Conway wakes up in hospital and is told she has had a huge blood transfusion after losing her unborn child. She doesn't think too much about this, the pain of losing the child she had wanted for six long years numbing her thoughts. In the days that follow though, something strange starts happening to her. She realises her tastes in food and music have changed drastically. She suddenly knows the history of the buildings around her, and can speak Italian and Latin. She also dreams about a little blonde girl and a man with green feet every night. It's almost as though she has someone else's memories...

After a strangely coincidental meeting at a hairdressers, both Joyce and Justin get a strange feeling that they somehow know each other. It nags at them both, as they start seeing each other around. They feel they have a connection, but they can't quite figure out what it is....

~What I thought~

The idea behind this novel seemed very interesting to me. I don't think I was really expecting a very realistic story, as the idea was perhaps a little far fetched, but still I was looking forward to finding out where the story would go.

The book starts with Joyce lying at the bottom of the stairs slipping in and out of consciousness. I think this dramatic start hooked me right in from the beginning. I didn't even know the character at this point, but I already wanted her to be alright and find out if she was going to be OK.

I did really like the character of Joyce, she seemed very genuine, down to earth and just generally likeable. I thought the scenes after she lost her baby and felt like her whole world was collapsing were very well written and quite emotional.

Justin in contrast, was a character I didn't really 'get'. He didn't come across as being particularly likeable to me, and seemed almost constantly grumpy or stressed out, which did nothing to make me like him.

By far my favourite character in this novel, was Joyce's dad, who she ends up moving in with. Aged 75, and having never ventured too far from the Irish village he has lived in all his life, he was written perfectly and was a character I'd love to know if he was real. I felt he was perhaps the most well written character, as he reminded me of so many people, and his confusion at dealing with the modern world was both humorous and endearing.

Although I thought the plotline was a great idea for a novel, to be honest in theory I am not sure if it worked. For a start, I did not understand if Joyce and Justin were supposed to like each other romantically, or if their attraction was merely due to the strange goings on following the blood transfusion. I also couldn't help wondering where the story was going as I read, and was slightly disappointed in the ending, as I thought it seemed a little rushed. I don't know what I was expecting really, perhaps some huge dramatic twist, that unfortunately never materialised. It almost felt to me, that the author had had this great idea with the plotline and come up with some fantastic characters, but then didn't quite know where to take the story.

Although the book did not have the ending I was expecting, I did still enjoy it a great deal, and would read it again. As well as the emotional early scenes with Joyce, I also found myself laughing out loud at some of the crazy situations that Joyce and her father got into - the airport scene especially had me in stitches.

I often measure how good a book is by how long it took me to read it. I have a very short attention span and it can often take a month for me to get through a novel. This one took me two days, which I think is a testament to Ahern's easy to read writing style, and overall, I do still think it was a good book, which is why I am going to give it four stars, although perhaps if we were allowed half stars, I might suggest 3.5 was more appropriate!

Summary: Another good read, but I don't think Cecelia Ahern's best