Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr

If I finish a book, it is usually because there is at least one salient feature that strikes my fancy. I may have to endure more dreary parts to reach that nugget. Not so with Anthony Doerr's works. I find myself delighting in his use of the English language alone; that would be enough to keep my interest even if the content were trivial. I find myself stopping in mid-sentence to regale in the sounds of Doerr's prose. Try saying this out loud: "Rust colonizing the tumblers in a lock". It just rolls off of your tongue. I love how he writes short, crisp and meaning-packed sentences. He is also a wizard of the semicolon as you will notice.

Even if Doerr's style weren't as mesmerizing as it is, I would still be enthralled with the content of his stories. Memory Wall deals with the human memory and how fragile and important it is at the same time. Who are we without our memory? It is akin to a car without gas in it. The reader is introduced to several scenarios ranging from South Africa to China where there are elderly characters who have a fading or nearly non-existent memory, and I can't help but to contemplate how fragile we all are; not only how short our lives are, but how short our productive lives are and how some of us end up later in life. I am in no way averse to experiencing the sadness these stories evoke or contemplating what may befall me. Instead I cherish my memory (physical part of my brain) and memories (individual snapshots and sound bytes floating around in my memory) because the stories in Memory Wall reinforce how precious and fragile it truly is.

In the story entitled Afterworld, a Holocaust survivor with epilepsy says: "Maybe, she tells Robert, during her clearest moments, a person can experience an illness as a kind of health." To read and digest this monumental concept was a shock indeed. I am still mulling over it. I feel that in accepting this statement, I, the reader take a step further into Anthony Doerr's fictional world.

I have already read Doerr's The Shell Collector twice, and there is no doubt in my mind that I will be revisiting the stories in Memory Wall for many years to come for the simple reason that one reading is but a glimpse into the whole picture portrayed in each story. I would love to go on with this review and explore every nook and cranny of Anthony Doerr's literary prowess, but I would end up attempting to rewrite his work (and do a lousy job at that). So I urge you to pick up a copy. You can even read it on your Kindle as it's available at the Amazon Kindle Store.