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The Memory Artists

The Memory Artists

by JeffreyMoore (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2004

    $4.09
Synopsis

Noel Burun has hypermnesia and synaesthesia: his memory is unrelentingly exact and when people speak he sees their words as vibrant explosions of colour, often leaving him befuddled and bewildered. His mother Stella, on the other hand, is slowly sinking into the quicksand of Alzheimer's. A man who remembers too much, and a woman who remembers too little -- both struggle to make sense of their worlds in a house bloated with memories. Norval is Noel's double: a one-time novelist and full-time Lothario whose memory is tainted by an unfinished love story. He, along with Samira, who is trying to escape a former identity, and JJ-who is trapped by nostalgia for his childhood -- all have a role to play in Noel's sometimes heartbreaking, and often hilarious, quest to find a cure for his mother's condition. THE MEMORY ARTISTS is the outstanding, hilarious second novel from a writer whose work is so full of quirks and quick-turns, wit and erudition (The Guardian) that readers will find it impossible to put down.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 336
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: W&N
Published: 12 Aug 2004
ISBN 10: 0297607987
ISBN 13: 9780297607984
Book Overview: Jeff's previous novel won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, attracted fantastic review coverage worldwide and was translated into several languages. Ben Richards called it 'the funniest book I have read in years' Topical and engaging theme based on the author's own experience with both his Alzheimer's parents. Prize potential The novel will look eye-catching and unusual. It is peppered with sketches and charts (like THE CURIOUS INCIDENT...) and will have a colour section to explain the synaesthesiac's world. Penguin Canada acquired the Canadian rights (for a large amount of money), and it will be their lead fiction title next summer.

Media Reviews
'the story is unforgettably human...[Moore] leaves the reader spellbound.' -- Samantha Boyce SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY (22.8.04) 'Althought Moore tantalisingly leaves many questions unanswered, all the hallmarks of his fiction are here. They include an ability to create engaging characters, and a fine balance of warmth, insight and eviscerating humour.' -- Julie Wheelwright iNDEPENDENT (27.8.04) 'Jeffrey Moore uses Noel's genius and synaesthesia to offer beautiful descriptions of other luridly coloured (and memory dysfunctional) characters, as well as his experience of his mother's disease to portray the agony of watching a loved one's inevitable decline. He also finds time to delve into the sometimes murky world of medical research and comment on the role of medicine as an interface between science and art...wonderfully intense.' -- Lindsay Banham THE LANCET (4.9.04) 'Jeffrey Moore's second novel is a model of inventiveness...Parts of the novel are very moving. The excerpts from Stella's and Noel's diaries, as Alzheimer's takes its hold, and the depictions of Stella's condidtion, show how the disease kills two people.' -- Alan White TLS (17.9.04) 'Jeffrey Moore presents us with a truly bizarre group of characters engaged in incredible pursuits. He mixes straight narrative, overseen by a rather sinister Svengali-like professor of neurology, with diary entries, newspaper reports and end notes providing a sense of scholarly authenticity to his fantasy.' -- Gordon Parsons MORNING STAR (8.11.04) 'A challenging book, bristling with scientific and literary references from Feynman to Baudelaire by way of Nietzsche and Rossetti, this will not fail to make a huge impact.' GOOD BOOK GUIDE (1.12.04) 'The Memory Artists is extraordinarily erudite and written with consummate elegance. It is hilarious, filled with pathos and irony, twisted, satirical, tragicomic and extremely challenging. It is a delight...beautiful...inspired, what more can I say? Read it.' CHATSHOW NETWORK (Book of the Week - 22 November)
Author Bio
Born in Montreal, Jeffrey Moore was educated at the University of Toronto and the Sorbonne. He works as a translator and also lectures at the University of Montreal and Concordia University.