Aminatta Forna

A heartbreaking story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances by acclaimed writer Aminatta Forna.

The Memory of Love

Adrian Lockheart is a psychologist escaping his life in England. Arriving in Freetown in the wake of civil war, he struggles with the intensity of the heat, dirt and secrets this country hides. A story unfolds about ordinary people in extrordinary circumstances and the indelible effects of the past.

The memory of love

Lindy

Make a list of every stereotype about literary fiction and this book will represent over half of them. 

Also, it's 445 pages long, and most of them contain at least one paragraph like this: 
 Later he showers. Standing beneath the spout of water, he has the urge to urinate. He stands at the edge of the tiled shower cubicle and aims at the toilet bowl. Success brings with it his first sense of achievement of the day. (p 46)

María Belén

The writing is beautiful but the pace is too slow and it made the book boring for me.

Jessica Smith

I feel like I'm being a bit harsh, but still, I can't say I "REALLY" liked this book. Honestly I think the structure didn't appeal to me. There was no "grand narrative" – plot lines finished well before the end, and started well after the start – and it was a bit confusing. The writer rarely spelled twists out, just somehow stating that the point-of-view character at that particular moment had made a shocking discovery that the reader was meant to have got too. I rarely did and I spent a lot of time flicking backwards to try to work it out, only to usually fail. 

Aside from that it was pretty good, though. It talks about love, war, tragedy, and all those kinds of big themes. It doesn't depict this really creepy man as a lover extraordinaire (ahem, García Márquez). It's worth reading. Just not spectacular.

The Memory of Love

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