The Story of Forgetting

by Stefan Merrill Block

This is one of my two favorite books for 2009 - the other is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Of course, they are totally different stories, time periods, settings, characters and writing; but both memorable and masterfully told.

The Story of Forgetting is told from two different perspectives. Abel, a 70-year-old twin, tells his story looking back at the past while he waits for the return of his daughter. Seth is living a mystery that he is trying to solve and he narrates alternating chapters revealing his teenage struggles and his goal to solve his mother disease.

Each chapter ends with a remembrance by one of the narrator's of the story they both know about the imaginary land of Isodora.

I don't want to tell you very much of the storyline because so much of the goodness was in being surprised and/or predicting what was coming. I was surprised more often than correct. I finished the book with a big sigh of satisfaction. Then today I discovered this was Stefan Block's first book. Oh, goody - more to come. I hope.

This is a drama. I wanted to make that clear since I did hint to Seth trying to solving a mystery. More accurately he wants to learn all about his mother's disease in the hope's of finding a remedy and he wants to solve the secrets of his mother's past.

The Story of Forgetting is a book that will stay with me. I have marked several passages with bookdarts so I can pick up this book and read through those parts and bring back some of the feelings I had as a I read. And someday I will reread this book.