Book Review: The Weight of Memory
The Weight of Memory by Shawn Smucker (Revell, 2021)
Shawn Smucker’s The Weight of Memory is hard to describe. It’s part minimalist modern novel, part Gothic novel, part magical realism, part fairy tale, part mystery. Like another book I’m fond of, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, it’s light on characterization but rich in atmosphere, and it’s one of those books that keeps pulling you back every time you put it down.
The book opens with Paul, the narrator, receiving a diagnosis of terminal cancer. His greatest concern is for Pearl, his 11-year-old granddaughter, who lives with him—if he dies, who will take her in? Impulsively, he decides to take Pearl to Nysa, the hometown that he left 40 years ago under tragic circumstances. He hopes against hope that he can find someone there willing to raise Pearl.
But the Nysa Paul knew has changed even more than he could have expected—and Pearl appears to have plans of her own, revolving around a strange silver-haired woman who keeps showing up in her life.
And before you ask, no, it ain’t no kindly Hallmark movie grandma.
Smucker’s tale, deceptively simple in some ways, is at the same time so full of twists and turns that I had no idea where it might be going at any given point. Fantasy mingles with reality to an extent that blurs all boundaries between them. Some things that happen in the story’s real world (e.g., two high school seniors driving off and getting married without their parents’ knowledge) seem more bizarre than anything that’s going on in the supernatural realm, yet everything is told us so matter-of-factly and convincingly that we accept it and keep reading, just wanting to know what’s coming next.
Paul’s quixotic quest, and Pearl’s inability ever to stay where she’s put for five minutes, at times got me upset with both of them, and yet I was wild to find out what was going to happen to them—the mark of a good storyteller. What does happen will linger in your mind, marked by equal parts surprise, admiration, sadness, and hope.
As you’ve no doubt guessed by now, The Weight of Memory isn’t one of those cheerful pick-me-ups. But it is a strangely compelling journey.
Thanks to Revell for the review copy.
(Cover image copyright Revell.)
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The Weight of Memory on Amazon
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In my latest piece at Christ and Pop Culture, I offer some reflections on Simone Biles and J.D. Vance. Trust me, there’s a connection.