For my birthday, my work colleagues treated me to a book called The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin. I’d never heard of it before, but the colleague who chose it for me bought it under the recommendation of Jodi Picoult, an author we both enjoy.
I am
pleased to say that The Forgetting Time was
exactly what I wanted to read but for ways I definitely didn’t expect. I am
very much a lover of psychological thrillers and crime fiction, coupled with
the odd YA and contemporary fiction. I couldn’t seem to fit this book into any
particular genre, but arguably that made it all the more approachable. I was a
bit sceptical about the book having read a few reviews before getting stuck
into it, but it was thoughtful and intriguing and definitely kept me hooked until
the very end. I read it over the course of a return train journey to where my
parents live- a five-hour return stint which normally would have found me
staring into space and tapping away on twitter. This book entertained me for
the entire five hours.
Firstly, we are introduced to Janie. We are told of her taking a trip
abroad, to get away from everything and everyone. Whilst there, she meets a man
and they divulge in a one-night affair. The result of this affair is her son,
Noah, an intriguing little boy who has more than enough mystique about him for
a four-year-old. Noah repeats, time after time, that he wants to go home. Janie
cannot understand this, as he IS home. She is his home. She is his mother. Not
this other woman, her identity unbeknownst to her, that Noah cries out for
night after night.
We are also introduced to Jerry, an old psychiatrist who has recently
been diagnosed with a degenerative disease. His research falls in the
supernatural, for lack of a better word, and the cases of children who believe
themselves to be “reborn” in the bodies of passed beings. After discussing with
Janie, Jerry comes to the conclusion that the same phenomenon has happened to
Noah and the couple set off to discover who exactly Noah used to be.
The story was beautifully warming and very, very intriguing. I didn’t
expect it to progress in the direction it did, but once you knew what was
coming then it was pretty easy to guess the whole “point” of the tale. This isn’t to say it’s predictable but I
definitely didn’t think that at any point through reading but it was nice to
follow the story and have a general idea over what was happening and why. I absolutely
loved the little character relationship that formed between Janie and Jerry
throughout the story and I definitely think that having likeable, approachable
characters helps a plot on its way and makes it all the more successful and enjoyable.
I’d definitely recommend this one to someone who’s looking for a light, easy going
read to get themselves stuck back into reading.
4/5
