Book Review: My Name is Memory

My Name is Memory
Author: Ann Brashares
Pages: 352 pgs
Reading Level: YA
Release Date: June 7th 2011 (paperback)
Review Source: Penguin Group
Available: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Borders

Summary: (from goodreads) From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Last Summer (of You and Me) comes an imaginative, inspired, magical book-a love story that lasts more than a lifetime.

Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. Daniel has "the memory", the ability to recall past lives and recognize souls of those he's previously known. It is a gift and a curse. For all the times that he and Sophia have been drawn together throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart. A love always too short.

Interwoven through Sophia and Daniel's unfolding present day relationship are glimpses of their expansive history together. From 552 Asia Minor to 1918 England and 1972 Virginia, the two souls share a long and sometimes torturous path of seeking each other time and time again. But just when young Sophia (now "Lucy" in the present) finally begins to awaken to the secret of their shared past, to understand the true reason for the strength of their attraction, the mysterious force that has always torn them apart reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.

A magical, suspenseful, heartbreaking story of true love, My Name is Memory proves the power and endurance of a union that was meant to be.

The concept of the book grabbed me, a love story that transcends time, but it really never gave me that strong feeling connection that I was expecting. My thoughts were , what is there not to like, it has suspense, love and reincarnation to add the paranormal side of it, but I was not impressed.

The story as you would imagine is full of flashbacks being narrated by Daniel, and they didn’t feel as lived experience they felt more like an outsider telling a story. His character seemed weak and lacking that thrill you would expect of someone with this much experience. Lucy was unimpressive and not interesting, making her forgettable. The fact that these souls could jump from one life to the other without regards at how old the new body was, is kind of confusing, made you ask yourself what happened to the soul that was there or did this person not have a soul?

The story is kind of juvenile, although is marked as adult reading. It is not an easy read, but it is entertaining and expect a cliff hanger for an ending to open the trail for the sequels to come.