Forgotten, Cat Patrick.
Every summer holidays I take the opportunity to catch up with books that my children are reading. I used to try and read books before them, but simply cannot keep up anymore!
My 16-year-old daughter gave me Forgotten by Cat Patrick, and I found it a great read for young adults.
London is a teenage girl who writes compulsive lists; not just about what she has to do, but about what she has done, and even what she has worn and who she has spoken to.
London has a secret: she has extreme short-term memory loss. Every night at 4.33am her memory resets, and everything that has happened to her is forgotten.
Without her lists she wouldn’t know who she has met, important conversations, what work is due for school, and she would probably wear the same outfit every day.
However, London’s memory problem is even more bizarre. It doesn’t work backwards, but it does work forwards! She can ‘remember’ things that are going to happen.
With clever writing, Cat Patrick traces through the complications and opportunities of London’s condition.
There is the terrible moment when she accidentally falls asleep with her new boyfriend, and wakes up with a stranger. And her memory of the future causes a rift with her best friend Jamie, as she tries to help her avoid some disastrous choices.
On the positive side, many of us would love the opportunity London has to be able to leave things off a memory list, and instantly forget some of the mistakes we make.
While the story revolves around a romance, it is gently and discreetly played out without the obsessions of the Twilight series, or the sex and drugs and alcohol of much other teen fiction.
As the story unfolds, the causes of London’s memory condition are gradually revealed, and she is able to use her unique gifts positively.
I especially enjoyed London’s relationship with her Mum. While the novel is told through London’s eyes, her mother’s guidance and fierce love is evident as she seeks to protect London from her vulnerability.
This is a smart and well-written book that challenges the assumption that knowing the future would make life better, or easier. London knows that people will make their bad choices regardless of warnings, and that growth happens when we learn from the past.
