The Memorist (thoughts)

This was supposed to run this morning, but WordPress has informed me it ‘missed its schedule.’ Sorry about that! -Eva I read lots of good things about M.J. Rose’s The Memorist back during her blog tour, so when TLC Book Tours asked if I’d like to review it, I jumped at the chance. I was hoping for a page-turning literary thriller…and I got the page-turning thriller part.

In case you missed all the book blog reviews previously, you can read about the plot here. Reincarnation, Beethoven, a flute, Vienna, and a Jewish secret society: got all that? And while this book takes place in the same world as Rose’s earlier book The Reincarnationist, it’s a stand alone novel (I know this because I haven’t read The Reincarnationist and I never felt like I was missing things).

There were aspects of the book that I really liked. I’ve only been to Vienna once, and it was quite awhile ago, but Rose really evoked a sense of place. We get to see both modern-day Vienna and the Vienna of Beethoven’s time (through flashbacks). In both instances, I felt as if I was walking through the city alongside the characters, appreciating its architecture, popping into a cafe, exploring old cemeteries and churches. It was fun, and unexpected in a thriller-type book, to have the setting play such an important role. Rose used Vienna to create the book’s atmosphere, to great effect. I also loved the importance of music in the book; many of the characters were musicians or music-lovers, and the whole frantic quest is about a very old flute and a melody that will make people remember their past lives. As someone who grew up with music (I played the violin and the clarinet and sang first soprano), I loved seeing one form of art-a book-celebrate another. And it had me on youtube playing performances of the various pieces mentioned, so it definitely promotes classical music! Also, Rose has the tricks of the thriller-trade down: she uses really short chapters and jumping narrative points of view to great effect. I always wanted to turn the page to find out what would happen next. It didn’t feel like a chunkster (which, at 453 pages, it just qualifies as) at all! This partly has to do with the fact that I really liked the main character-Meer Logan. I think it’s important in thrillers that you care what happens to the protagonist, and I definitely was rooting for Meer. :) And of course, there was the past lives aspect. While not a part of my religious beliefs, I love the *idea* of reincarnation (and who doesn’t? It’s so romantic to imagine yourself in your favourite time period…dying tragically, having to come back to Earth to learn new lessons…), and I thought it provided a fresh background for the action to play out against.

All of that being said, though, I wouldn’t call this a *literary* thriller. The writing style was nothing special, many of the characters felt cliched (the 6’3″ Texan security guy, the Israeli journalist bent on revenge after his family is blown up, an FBI agent determined in his pursuit of justice, a ‘Jewish Indiana Jones’), and it while it was a good thriller it didn’t transcend the genre. Excepting the incorporation of reincarnation, there was no inventiveness in the book. And the ending was too pat for my tastes (although those who like everything tied up very neat and tidy will probably love it!).

So, would I recommend this? It depends. If you enjoy thrillers, or books with tight, fast-moving plots, I’d definitely give this one a go. But if you put more emphasis on characters or writing style, you’ll probably find yourself disappointed. In the end, I’d categorise this as a fluff book: fun while you’re reading it, but it’s not going to leave much behind once you close the back cover. (Speaking of covers, though, doesn’t it have an awesome one?)