The Book of Memory
by Petina Gappah, 2015.
I picked up this book after hearing a bit about it on NPR. It sounded interesting: a woman with albinism, living in Africa, who experiences prejudice because she isn't black, nor is she white. She is also on death row for killing a white man, whom she lived with.
How did Lloyd come to buy Memory? Why did her parents give her up? Is she truly innocent of his murder, as she claims? This book is full of interesting characters, and the plot is what kept me going, but it wasn't as enriching a read as I'd hoped, because the author includes lots of dialogue in Shona phrases, and I can't detect what they're saying.
For that reason, I'm sure that there's some symbolism and metaphor that I missed. People who lived/live in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe do indeed give their children names like Memory, Gift, Loveness, Patience, etc. These form many of the characters' names. It would be interesting to have a discussion of each of them and how they are similar or different from their names.
Memory is indeed symbolic, as the story is recounted as her writing down her memories in a series of notebooks, to be given to an American reporter. At one point in the story, she comes to realize that she knows nothing about her parents' history--where did they meet? Who are her grandparents? Why has she learned nothing about them?
"The Book of Memory," as "Memory" writes later in her story, refers to a quote from the book of Malachi in the Bible: Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17"They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."
I'd like to learn more about this book someday, and would like to give the author another chance. I can say that I learned something about African culture & history from reading this book, but only hoped I could have learned more. This book would have been a good Kindle read, if it has translations for the phrases she uses in her writing and other cross-references (geography, etc.).
I picked up this book after hearing a bit about it on NPR. It sounded interesting: a woman with albinism, living in Africa, who experiences prejudice because she isn't black, nor is she white. She is also on death row for killing a white man, whom she lived with.
How did Lloyd come to buy Memory? Why did her parents give her up? Is she truly innocent of his murder, as she claims? This book is full of interesting characters, and the plot is what kept me going, but it wasn't as enriching a read as I'd hoped, because the author includes lots of dialogue in Shona phrases, and I can't detect what they're saying.
For that reason, I'm sure that there's some symbolism and metaphor that I missed. People who lived/live in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe do indeed give their children names like Memory, Gift, Loveness, Patience, etc. These form many of the characters' names. It would be interesting to have a discussion of each of them and how they are similar or different from their names.
Memory is indeed symbolic, as the story is recounted as her writing down her memories in a series of notebooks, to be given to an American reporter. At one point in the story, she comes to realize that she knows nothing about her parents' history--where did they meet? Who are her grandparents? Why has she learned nothing about them?
"The Book of Memory," as "Memory" writes later in her story, refers to a quote from the book of Malachi in the Bible: Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17"They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."
I'd like to learn more about this book someday, and would like to give the author another chance. I can say that I learned something about African culture & history from reading this book, but only hoped I could have learned more. This book would have been a good Kindle read, if it has translations for the phrases she uses in her writing and other cross-references (geography, etc.).