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Book Reviewed by:They tell me that my memory will never be the same, that I'll start forgetting things. At first just a little, and then a lot. So I'm writing to remember.
Sammie McCoy is a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as possible. Nothing will stand in her way - not even the rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly steal her memories and then her health.
So the memory book is born: a journal written to Sammie's future self, so she can remember everything from where she stashed her study guides to just how great it feels to have a best friend again. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime-crush Stuart, a gifted young writer home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood friend Cooper, and the ridiculous lengths he will go to make her laugh. The memory book will ensure Sammie never forgets the most important parts of her life - the people who have broken her heart, those who have mended it - and most of all, that if she's going to die, she's going to die living.
This moving and remarkable novel introduces an inspiring character you're sure to remember, long after the last page.
The Memory Book has more than its share of pain, anger, and suffering, but it also has plenty of laughter, joy, and especially hope. It’s a novel that touches on the full spectrum of adolescent (and adult) emotions. Sammie’s story is special. It’s the kind of book that readers won’t want to put down and one that will be shared among groups of friends during these last weeks of summer...continued
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(Reviewed by Bradley Sides).
A terminal diagnosis is difficult for any family to accept, but it's especially hard when the patient is a teenager. In Lara Avery's The Memory Book, Sammie McCoy is a bright and successful teen. She's going to a national debate tournament. She's her high school's valedictorian. She's going to NYU. Suddenly, though, Sammie begins to change. She has trouble remembering, and she can't control her body. Soon she is diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC), and her life takes an unexpectedly dark turn.
NPC (sometimes referred to less formally as "childhood Alzheimer's") is an especially cruel disease, even by terminal standards. According to the National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation, the disease occurs when "patients are not able to ...
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Adi Alsaid, author of Let's Get Lost and Never Always Sometimes
Things you will probably experience while reading this wonderful book: gut-wrenching hope, ugly-crying, the joy of finding beautiful moments in the midst of difficult times. Enjoy.
