Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Formidable Forgetting

The Forgetting Curve by Angie Smibert

4 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes

Short but sweet, this book will stay with you kind of like a memory you just can't shake.  These are probably the tiniest page-wise YA books that I've read and they just immerse you in this tense claustrophobic feeling world.  Memory is just such a superb commodity in this world because you can get rid or your bad memories and get points (and who doesn't have a bad memory that they'd like to have gone).  It's a great look at the consumerism in society and how the whole ignorance is bliss saying could lead to a slew of problems in the future.  

Everything seemed to have been exposed in the last book but when people's memories are easily erased evidence and truth is more tangible than anyone would like it to be.  The story is told from three different points of view that of Aiden, Velvet, and Winter.  This is interesting because it connects you back to the first book but through very different outlooks.  Aiden is Winter's cousin and in boarding school when some interesting things start happening in Europe.  It seems that TFC aka the Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic is looking to spread around the world.  He receives a mysterious package and knows that he has to see his cousin.

I wasn't sure about Aiden at first but his character slowly grew on me. He's the kind of character who puts up a front at first but in the end will fight for those that he cares about.  He may also be the only one that can stop TFC from essentially taking over the world.  He's a computer hacker who is always looking for another "door" to open.  

Then there's Velvet who along with Winter has an interesting way of looking at the world.  Velvet is trying to find what she's good at and make a difference.  She's also the one that looks like she's getting into a potential love triangle.  Starting to see more of the world leads Velvet in life changing directions.

I also like Winter more in this book.  Getting to find out more about her is great and she has a lot of problems to overcome.  It's just not easy to get over her problems though because of complications and that even though she doesn't remember much she does indeed know too much.  

There are seeds or rebellion out there and a major plan in the works by the bad guys.  The scary part in all of this is that the bad guys have a ton or resources behind them and slowly but surely governments are on their side too.  The atmosphere is tense and you can practically feel the tension from the pages.

The ending, I thought it was going to end very badly but then you begin to see some hope.  The last chapter shows that they may be well on their way to ending the tyranny of the TFC.    I am really looking forward to whatever Angie Smibert writes next.






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