Stevie‘s review of The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
Young Adult Fiction published by Philomel Books 02 May 17
I’m fond of unreliable narrators, particularly the type who warn us from the outset not to believe everything they tell us. Best of all are stories where even the narrator can’t be certain what’s true or the extent and scope of their deception. Flora Banks has to rely on others, and on her own written words, to tell her about recent events – or indeed anything that has happened to her in the past seven years – and we can’t be certain at any given time whether those around her are being entirely honest with her, or whether the notes she makes before her memories fade are a strictly accurate account of what she just experienced.
We first meet Flora at a farewell party for her best friend Paige’s boyfriend, who is about to leave and study overseas. Unlike the other guests, Flora is dressed in clothes more appropriate for the ten year old whose memories she retains, than for the girl of seventeen whose body she inhabits. The book Flora’s mother started for her, and which Flora regularly adds to, tells of a brain tumour, whose removal seven years earlier prevents her from forming new memories, and the most vivid of the words written on her arms remind her of her name and to “Be brave.” At the party, Flora accepts a glass of wine – even though the writing on her arm tells her not to drink alcohol – and later she follows a boy – her best friend’s boyfriend, Drake – to the beach. There, they talk and kiss, but she makes excuses not to go home with him.
The next day, Flora finds that her memories of kissing Drake are just as clear as events that happened before her memory problems began, but after that no other new events stick in her mind. She wants to tell Paige, who has already found out about the betrayal, and no longer wants to be her friend. While Flora is trying to make sense of events, her parents announce that they have to leave her to visit her older brother who is in Paris, and very ill, but that Paige will be staying to keep Flora safe and ensure that she takes her medication. Flora sees her parents off, without telling them of her estrangement from Paige, and begins trying to take care of herself.
Flora and Drake exchange emails, and when it becomes clear that Flora’s parents will be away longer than planned, and that no one else can explain to Flora what is happening, she sets out to find Drake at his research centre in the Arctic Circle. Although she’s been told she has no passport – hence her parents leaving her behind while they travel to France – she finds it easily and books a flight to Norway using her father’s emergency credit card: and writing its PIN prominently on her arm.
I loved Flora and her adventures, not all of which we see; it becomes apparent early on that she is repeating her actions and following up on the same ideas frequently, but not always doing so when we are following her. The narration meanders rather than flows, sometimes speeding up and sometimes looping back on itself as Flora tries to make sense of the world around her with the help of her notebook, the words written on her arms and her saved emails and text messages. At times it’s hard to know who Flora can trust, or even whether those around her should trust Flora, but as the story progresses we realise that even those closest to her have been lying – often with the best of intentions – while some strangers prove to be her greatest allies of all.
A book I know I’ll have to reread in order to make sense of every aspect of events, and I can’t wait for the author to write more Young Adult books.
Grade: A
Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora’s brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend’s boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora’s fractured mind, and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world, Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life.
With little more than the words “be brave” inked into her skin, and written reminders of who she is and why her memory is so limited, Flora sets off on an impossible journey to Svalbard, Norway—the land of the midnight sun—determined to find Drake. But from the moment she arrives in the arctic, nothing is quite as it seems, and Flora must “be brave” if she is ever to learn the truth about herself, and to make it safely home.
A remarkable and powerful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit—and the mind—against all logic.
No excerpt available.
