Review by classicaltwist -- The Stealer of Memories

[classicaltwist]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Stealer of Memories" by Mois Benarroch.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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The Stealer of Memories is a short novel told in the first person perspective of multiple people. It begins with a writer who has the ability to get a glimpse of other people's memories. He's had this ability since he was a child, but for the first time it's caused him to faint. It's this event that causes him to reflect on his ability and the nature of memories. What are memories? How can he know for sure which memories are his and which memories belong to others? It's an incredibly interesting premise, and I couldn't wait to start reading.

Unfortunately, the story falls short due to the writing. There are a lot of grammar and spelling issues throughout the book. There are issues with spacing: "...on a bicycle downhill,it..." or "Ifelt fine, Ifelt fine." There are sentence fragments: "And running down at full speed." There are problems with subject-verb agreement: "I was fainted." There are also spelling errors, e.g. "Droped" instead of "dropped." All but one of the examples I listed are from the first few pages of the book.

It's also tough to grasp the meaning of many of the sentences and passages, which made understanding more than the general premise of the story very difficult. For example, at one point the protagonist is discussing the memories of rapists and says, "although it was believed that all were guilty, because a rapist could rape 15 women, it's a mathematician." Confusing and unclear writing like this can be found all throughout the book and made it difficult to get drawn into the story.

Aside from technical issues, the writing also suffers from poor writing choices. For example, an entire passage is spent on the writer's coffee preference and how the barista got it wrong. This turns out to be an irrelevant point that's not really referenced again in any meaningful way. In general, there are many details that were shared that do not seem to be relevant to the story and could have been cut.

There are also contradictions in the story. When the writer first begins contemplating why he fainted, he determines his health can't be the reason because he's in great shape. However, in the passage just prior to that, he talks about his high blood pressure and refusal to take any medication for it. In one passage, the writer says that it's impossible to tell which memories are really his, and in other passage, he'll recall someone else's memory and confidently state that it's someone else's.

Overall, this is a book with a great premise that was marred by problems with the writing and translation. I give this book 1 out of 4 stars.

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The Stealer of Memories
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Like classicaltwist's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Manang Muyang]

Hi, classicaltwist. It seems you were tortured by the book.

Benarroch is a very unique (and confusing) writer, even without the editorial snafus. I call us who have read him "The Benarroch Survivors."

[readandsmile]

oh, how sad about this book but you have a good review. I learned something about this book and your review as well. Thank you for that. I like it. Cool.