Mister Memory by Marcus Sedgewick
Jul. 27th, 2016 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
In Paris, at the end of the nineteenth century, a man with a perfect memory murders his wife.
But that is only the start of the story …
In Paris in the year 1899, Marcel Despres is arrested for the murder of his wife and transferred to the famous Salpetriere asylum. And there the story might have stopped.
But the doctor assigned to his care soon realises this is no ordinary patient: Marcel Despres, Mister Memory, is a man who cannot forget. And the policeman assigned to his case soon realises that something else is at stake: for why else would the criminal have been hurried off to hospital, and why are his superiors so keen for the whole affair to be closed?
This crime involves something bigger and stranger than a lovers’ fight – something with links to the highest and lowest establishments in France. The policeman and the doctor between them must unravel the mystery … but the answers lie inside Marcel’s head.
And how can he tell what is significant when he remembers every detail of every moment of his entire life?
Paris, 1899. Marcel Despres (known as Mister Memory) and his wife, Ondine, run a famous memory act at the Cabaret of Insults but theirs is a fractious marriage so when Despres finds Ondine committing adultery with another man and shoots her in front of witnesses, it seems an open and shut case. But Inspector Petit is not so sure. Perturbed by the speed with which the authorities close the case by declaring Despres insane and moving him to an asylum, he suspects there’s more to the case. Meanwhile Dr Morel, who’s been charged with Despres’s treatment, makes an extraordinary discovery about his patient: Despres remembers every detail of his life.
As Petit and Morel piece together what’s really going on, they unlock a conspiracy involving sordid secrets and political cover-ups but there are people willing to do anything to stop the truth from coming out, no matter who they have to hurt to do so …
Marcus Sedgwick’s latest novel is a mash-up of historical, literary and crime thriller that features some beautifully written prose but its meandering plot spends too long contemplating the nature of memory and too little time in building a suspenseful plot or a satisfying pay off. The main problem for me is Marcel who is completely passive (especially when he retreats into his memories) and whose marriage with the two-dimensional Ondine didn’t convince me. Dr Morel’s role is mainly confined to exploring the nature of Depres’s memory and discovering its critical flaw, which means that Inspector Petit is the more interesting character – an ex-military man haunted by the murder of his fiancé while he was serving overseas – who becomes determined to uncover the conspiracy no matter what the cost. That conspiracy is itself pretty predictable and while Sedgwick tries to tie in anarchists, Russian agitators and the sordid hypocrisy of the establishment, the pace is so meandering that it lacked tension and this is exacerbated by the fact that some key events happen off page and are recounted third hand by others. There are some beautifully written sections, Sedgwick has a great feel for period and there’s a nice nod to the Dreyfus affair but while I did keep turning the pages, the story never got out of third gear for me. I will always check out Sedgwick’s work but if you’re new to reading him, I’d still recommend starting with his YA novels.
The Verdict:
Marcus Sedgwick’s latest novel is a mash-up of historical, literary and crime thriller that features some beautifully written prose but its meandering plot spends too long contemplating the nature of memory and too little time in building a suspenseful plot or a satisfying pay off. The main problem for me is Marcel who is completely passive (especially when he retreats into his memories) and whose marriage with the two-dimensional Ondine didn’t convince me. Dr Morel’s role is mainly confined to exploring the nature of Depres’s memory and discovering its critical flaw, which means that Inspector Petit is the more interesting character – an ex-military man haunted by the murder of his fiancé while he was serving overseas – who becomes determined to uncover the conspiracy no matter what the cost. That conspiracy is itself pretty predictable and while Sedgwick tries to tie in anarchists, Russian agitators and the sordid hypocrisy of the establishment, the pace is so meandering that it lacked tension and this is exacerbated by the fact that some key events happen off page and are recounted third hand by others. There are some beautifully written sections, Sedgwick has a great feel for period and there’s a nice nod to the Dreyfus affair but while I did keep turning the pages, the story never got out of third gear for me. I will always check out Sedgwick’s work but if you’re new to reading him, I’d still recommend starting with his YA novels.
MISTER MEMORY was released in the United Kingdom on 14th July 2016. Thanks to Amazon Vine for the ARC of this book.
But that is only the start of the story …
In Paris in the year 1899, Marcel Despres is arrested for the murder of his wife and transferred to the famous Salpetriere asylum. And there the story might have stopped.
But the doctor assigned to his care soon realises this is no ordinary patient: Marcel Despres, Mister Memory, is a man who cannot forget. And the policeman assigned to his case soon realises that something else is at stake: for why else would the criminal have been hurried off to hospital, and why are his superiors so keen for the whole affair to be closed?
This crime involves something bigger and stranger than a lovers’ fight – something with links to the highest and lowest establishments in France. The policeman and the doctor between them must unravel the mystery … but the answers lie inside Marcel’s head.
And how can he tell what is significant when he remembers every detail of every moment of his entire life?
Paris, 1899. Marcel Despres (known as Mister Memory) and his wife, Ondine, run a famous memory act at the Cabaret of Insults but theirs is a fractious marriage so when Despres finds Ondine committing adultery with another man and shoots her in front of witnesses, it seems an open and shut case. But Inspector Petit is not so sure. Perturbed by the speed with which the authorities close the case by declaring Despres insane and moving him to an asylum, he suspects there’s more to the case. Meanwhile Dr Morel, who’s been charged with Despres’s treatment, makes an extraordinary discovery about his patient: Despres remembers every detail of his life.
As Petit and Morel piece together what’s really going on, they unlock a conspiracy involving sordid secrets and political cover-ups but there are people willing to do anything to stop the truth from coming out, no matter who they have to hurt to do so …
Marcus Sedgwick’s latest novel is a mash-up of historical, literary and crime thriller that features some beautifully written prose but its meandering plot spends too long contemplating the nature of memory and too little time in building a suspenseful plot or a satisfying pay off. The main problem for me is Marcel who is completely passive (especially when he retreats into his memories) and whose marriage with the two-dimensional Ondine didn’t convince me. Dr Morel’s role is mainly confined to exploring the nature of Depres’s memory and discovering its critical flaw, which means that Inspector Petit is the more interesting character – an ex-military man haunted by the murder of his fiancé while he was serving overseas – who becomes determined to uncover the conspiracy no matter what the cost. That conspiracy is itself pretty predictable and while Sedgwick tries to tie in anarchists, Russian agitators and the sordid hypocrisy of the establishment, the pace is so meandering that it lacked tension and this is exacerbated by the fact that some key events happen off page and are recounted third hand by others. There are some beautifully written sections, Sedgwick has a great feel for period and there’s a nice nod to the Dreyfus affair but while I did keep turning the pages, the story never got out of third gear for me. I will always check out Sedgwick’s work but if you’re new to reading him, I’d still recommend starting with his YA novels.
The Verdict:
Marcus Sedgwick’s latest novel is a mash-up of historical, literary and crime thriller that features some beautifully written prose but its meandering plot spends too long contemplating the nature of memory and too little time in building a suspenseful plot or a satisfying pay off. The main problem for me is Marcel who is completely passive (especially when he retreats into his memories) and whose marriage with the two-dimensional Ondine didn’t convince me. Dr Morel’s role is mainly confined to exploring the nature of Depres’s memory and discovering its critical flaw, which means that Inspector Petit is the more interesting character – an ex-military man haunted by the murder of his fiancé while he was serving overseas – who becomes determined to uncover the conspiracy no matter what the cost. That conspiracy is itself pretty predictable and while Sedgwick tries to tie in anarchists, Russian agitators and the sordid hypocrisy of the establishment, the pace is so meandering that it lacked tension and this is exacerbated by the fact that some key events happen off page and are recounted third hand by others. There are some beautifully written sections, Sedgwick has a great feel for period and there’s a nice nod to the Dreyfus affair but while I did keep turning the pages, the story never got out of third gear for me. I will always check out Sedgwick’s work but if you’re new to reading him, I’d still recommend starting with his YA novels.
MISTER MEMORY was released in the United Kingdom on 14th July 2016. Thanks to Amazon Vine for the ARC of this book.
