{ Memento Nora by Angie Smibert }

Memento Nora by Angie Smibert

April 1, 2011 by Marshall Cavendish

Source: ARC - won from Jen @ I Read Banned Books

From publisher:

Nora, the popular girl and consumer, witnesses a horrific bombing on a shopping trip with her mother. In Nora's near-future world, terrorism is so commonplace that she can pop one little white pill to forget and go on like nothing ever happened. However, when Nora makes her first trip to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic, she learns what her mother, a frequent forgetter, has been frequently forgetting. Nora secretly spits out the pill and holds on to her memories. The memory of the bombing as well as her mother's secret and her budding awareness of the world outside her little clique make it increasingly difficult for Nora to cope. She turns to two new friends, each with their own reasons to remember, and together they share their experiences with their classmates through an underground comic. They soon learn, though, they can't get away with remembering.

Review:

I was very excited to win a copy of this ARC from Jen @ I Read Banned Books. I had heard a lot of good things about this one. I will be honest though. Once I had the book in my hands? I was not too sure what to expect. It is a VERY small book - only 184 pages. How good could it really be? Is there really enough time for proper character development and even story development? Oh ya! I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. The story itself is something different from other books out there right now. The one thing I loved about it is that there are enough slivers of truth in the story that as a reader you can see how this could be totally plausible. It is a very horrifying and sad future world, but still full of hopeful characters. Another thing that I really enjoy on a whole was the absence of stupid slang terms! The only word that is a constant throughout the book is 'Glossy', but it is very fitting within the story.

The 3 main characters, Nora and her two new friends, Micah and Winter, are believable right from the start. I loved hearing from each of their points of view throughout the story. They each come from different backgrounds yet are brought together by their unwillingness to 'forget'. I found each one of them to be very enjoyable, strong characters that you truly care about. I also found myself drawn to Winter's grandfather, Micah's 'guardian' Mrs. Brooks and Nora's mother. Each one of them are very strong secondary characters, that I found myself wanting to know more about.

The overall pacing was spot on. There may have been a few predictable moments, but nothing that really disappointed me. I guess my only real complaint would be that...I want more! It was over in a flash! I am very happy to hear that there is a second book in the works. If you are looking for a quick enjoyable read, I definitely recommend this one.

Rating: 4 stars