The One Memory of Flora Banks (2024)

Unfortunately didn't really care for this one at all

Unexpected delight worthy of 100 golden stars!
Flora has anterograde amnesia and she rocks! She does stupid stuff, I concede, but HOW she does it! Gosh! The wisdom that shines along is unsurpassable.
!Beware of spoilers!

DD 23/02/2018. A beautiful fantasy of a book! The premise is stupid-ish, of course. Still, no one said we can't switch on our fantasies every once in a while and think of the world as some miracle in the making. And because it's SO invoking, it basically grabs you and doesn't allow you to leave this world, for a while, I am willing to forgo my ranting on the medical inconsistencies and logical impossibilities of the plotline. I'll skip the ranting alogether, since after all, we all are alowed to immerse into the land of fantasies and lounge there, for a bit.

This is my new favourite, for today! I can't get over it! It's a wild, raucous pleasure of a book. A distillation of a style. A rarest gem totally unexpected of YA genre.

This novel is no thriller but it is thrilling nonetheless. More so than many of the actual thrillers! I did expect the twist (which I won't disclose so as not to spoil it) but still, it was relly well built into the storyline.

I'll be adding more to this review once I'm a bit more

Q:
His replies are sparkling and golden.
...
There is nothing, I find myself typing, that people do together that I wouldn’t do with you, if you wanted to. (c)
Q:
According to everything I’ve just read, this house has been an enchanted haven of love for days and days. It has been a gorgeous place, a glowing new universe. Everything has been flawless and perfect. ...
I walk downstairs trying to make sense of my reality. I am in love. I write love letters on the computer, and I get love letters back. This is an enchanted place. I am seventeen and I love a boy. Before that I was ten, and now I have grown up. (c)
Q:
I approve of my past self’s actions, assuming that it was me that started it. (c)
Q:
I should never write things that aren’t true. (c)
Q:
There might or might not be a breath-taking stream of emails between me and Drake: I don’t entirely believe the Flora who wrote that it happened. I am scared I will just find my side of them. I do not want to have been emailing him like a poor little damaged girl. That would be unbearable.
... I read through it with increasing amazement and excitement. (c)
Q:
There are post-it notes everywhere, and lots of them say things like: ‘I LOVE HIM’ and ‘he wants to see me naked’. I gather them all up... (c)
Q:
Hey, he writes. Have you noticed something? You’re living independently. You’ve been in that house on your own for ages. You’ve been to the police, done some investigating, set up a FB account and made friends with people mainly called Jacob Banks. You can do anything. You are brave.
I am brave. The thought is intoxicating. (c)
Q:
I take the stone out and look at it. I forget everything, but I will not forget the story of this stone. It is small and smooth in my hand. (c)
Q:
The album is over. I put on a CD by the Beatles at random and discover that I love it. The album is called Abbey Road, and I wonder whether I have listened to it before or whether this is me hearing it for the first time. I write it on a post-it note: I love Abbey Road. ...
There is rain falling outside, splattering onto the windows. I put some music on, the Beatles, something called Abbey Road and I find I like it. (c) Such a sad little detail. Imagine not remembering the songs you love. On the upside (if you happen to be brave enough to find one in this situation!), you could fall in love with songs each time anew. On the downside you would never get to remember them.
Q:
I decide to leave them a message. ‘Hi,’ I say. ‘It’s me. Flora. Call me when you can. See you soon!’ I press one, and then I say it again.
I write on a lined piece of paper that is next to the phone: Left a message on their phone.

You have ANTEROGRADE AMNESIA. You are good at keeping things in your head for a couple of hours, and then you forget them. When you forget them, you feel a sudden confusion. This is OK: it is normal for you.
When you feel confused, you have to look at your hand, your notes, your phone and this book. These things help to remind you of where you are and what is happening. You have become very, very good at writing things down. Your name on your hand makes you feel grounded, and you always follow your clues and remind yourself of what is going on.
You remember us, and you remember your best friend Paige, and other people you used to know up until you were ten. Other people you forget, but that’s OK because people around here know you and they understand.
You’ll never live anywhere but Penzance, because this is the only place in which you’re safe. This town is mapped in your mind, and it is your home. You will always live with us, and we will always look after you and you will be fine.
You are brilliant and strong. You are not weird.
You are very good at reading and writing, and you are better at noticing things than lots of medically unremarkable people are.
We will always make sure you have everything you need. You take medication twice a day, and you always will. (c)
Q:
... unlacing these boots, which have magically appeared on my feet as precisely the correct footwear for the location. My old trainers are in my bag, somehow. (c)
Q:
I know exactly where I am (Longyearbyen) and why I am here (Drake) and where I am going (the Arctic Guesthouse). I am walking in the right direction. I am taking deep breaths, relishing every second of this overwhelming relief.
...
I don’t know where I was going, but that doesn’t matter. I am happy, right here and right now. I am a girl standing in the snow, marvelling at the flakes of whiteness dancing in the air around me. I am in a beautiful place and a wonderful thing is happening. Nothing else counts for anything.
I am in the moment. Living in the moment when I can must be one of my rules for life. You don’t need a memory for that.
I forget that I have ever forgotten anything. When the flakes become smaller and the clouds start to blow away to snow in a different magical place, I feel as if I’ve been asleep for a full night. I am full of energy, and ready for anything. (c)
Q:
The kitchen is tidy, and has cupboards in it with signs telling people not to use certain things, and not to steal each other’s milk. That gives me an idea, so I put the kettle on, find a mug, and take a tea bag from a box of them, and find the best-looking milk in the fridge. No one, I am sure, would mind me taking a tiny bit. (c)
Q:
Even if this place is all in my head, I am here, on my own, and I am living. This is real. (c)
Q:
I look down at my left hand. I have written BE NORMAL on it. I see Agi looking at it too.
‘I should also remind myself of this sometimes,’ she says, with a nod. (c)
Q:
Today I am going to be brave and normal. To be normal is to be brave. I am going to sit quietly and listen to other people. I will ask them questions, rather than answering questions. I will stare at the mountains and the water, and I will breathe the cold fresh air and I will be quiet. I will leave this boat with nobody thinking there is anything odd about me. I will let everything happen in the way it is meant to happen.I don’t care where I am, or why. I am on a boat in otherworldly scenery wearing a warm coat. That, right now, is enough.
...
My head is clear. I take deep breaths, and stare at the landscape, with its ridges and spikes, its snowy valleys and black rocks. There is nothing in the universe but this.
I smile. I do not talk to people. I just breathe and stare and exist. This is the Arctic. I am here. This is my present. This is my world.
I am a little girl; I am comfortable like that. I feel the world enfolding me. I feel safe. I close my eyes and think about school and birthday parties and big brothers and the exciting day out we’re going to have tomorrow at Flambards. I can’t wait to go on the pedalcopters with Jacob pedalling me around. I lose myself in happiness. I want to go to Flambards. (c)
Q:
This seems so weird that it’s not even scary. (c)
Q:
A long time passes. This new universe encloses me entirely and the old one melts into nothingness. (c)
Q:
The inside of my head is out of control. It is on fire. It is snowing. It is a wild jungle. It is an Arctic wilderness. It is everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will happen, all at once.
Time is a random thing. It is the thing that makes us older. Humans use it to organize the world. They have invented a system to try to make order from randomness. The other humans, all of them but me, live their lives by hours and minutes and days and seconds, but those things are nothing. The universe would laugh at our attempts to organize it, if it could be bothered to notice them.
Time is the thing that makes our bodies shrivel and decay. That is why they are scared of it. It doesn’t affect me: I know I will never get old.
I am not like the rest of them. I can look out of the window for a while, and in human terms I have missed a night. I can sit for hours and hours at the breakfast table on my own, staring at the bread and fish in front of me; I can sit there and stare and wait until a day and a night have passed and it’s the next day’s breakfast, and then the woman I like will come and sit down beside me and it will turn out that in human terms, only two minutes have happened.
I stride through days and nights. I do not need to sleep.
I am superwoman. I am here for Drake so of course I will find him. (c)
Q:
Although I feel that nothing could hurt me, a fight with a polar bear is probably not a thing I should seek out. If I have already seen them, there is no need for me to do it again. (c)
Q:
‘That’s right. I’m OK, thanks. A bit …’ I cannot finish the sentence because I have no idea which word to use to end it. A bit superhuman? A bit fearless? A bit alive? (c)
Q:
It turns out that I just want to sit here and cry and cry and cry.
...
‘I’m happy,’ I tell them, through my tears. ‘I’m happy.’ (c)
Q:
‘Can I have four beers please?’ I ask the barman, as politely as I can. If I drink two of them quickly, I will catch up with the other people and be normal. (c)
Q:
You need to make the most of the freedom you have right now.
...
Be yourself. If you’re difficult or weird or strange or funny, that’s OK. That’s you, Flora. The person you are now, with all your imperfections and all your difficulties – the person who can be a total pain in the arse, who causes her parents to tear their hair out, who writes adorable wild emails, who fell in love with a boy on a Cornish beach and followed him to the end of the Earth – that’s you. That’s my sister. You have amnesia, but you are alive. Live your life. (c)
Q:
‘I come from Oslo, and Svalbard called me, even though I’m not really the rugged adventurous type. Like you, I had to come. Some of us are meant to be here. We need this place.’ He sweeps a hand around at the jagged horizon, the rocks, the snow, the wilderness that goes on and on. ‘We need to be small specks in wild nature, by the pole. The midnight sun. The midday darkness. The Northern Lights. It called to you, Flora, and you came. You overcame everything, and you came here, alone. You are the bravest person I’ve ever met.’ (c)
Q:
I will miss having feelings. I will miss thinking that I had a real memory. (c)
Q:
She never wanted anything to happen. (c)
Q:
You’ve achieved all this by writing to yourself. You have used the written word to circumvent some of the work the neural pathways should be doing. You’ve made your notebook your external memory, your memory stick. You are brilliant.
Then, this year, you kissed a boy, and remembered it, and chased him to the top of the world. (c)
Q:
Flora’s Rules for Life

Don’t panic, because everything is probably all right, and if it’s not, panicking will make it worse.
Always try to get a window seat, so you can tell exactly where you are.
Be brave.
Do not stray into polar bears’ territory.
Live in the moment whenever you can. You don’t need a memory for that.
If you have bad skin, lipstick will stop people noticing it.
Don’t eat whale.
Do not drink beer because it will make you sick.
Don’t go to Svalbard in winter.
If you see a cat with no ears, you should take it home. (c)

Trigger warnings: death of a sibling, child abuse??? Flora's mother tells her she's on medication for her brain condition, but it's really tranquilisers to keep her passive

Oof.

I was pretty intrigued by this book when I heard about it at an event late last year. I mean...teenage girl with amnesia who hasn't made a new memory in 7 years suddenly has a new memory after kissing her best friend's boyfriend? It definitely piqued my interest.

HOWEVER.

I had a lot of problems with this book.

1. Flora kisses her best friend's boyfriend. Cool. Whatever. Teenagers are awful people and they do sh*t like that. EXCEPT. Flora hasn't made a new memory since she was ten. She constantly forgets that she's NOT ten. Like, she looks in the mirror and has no idea who she is because she expects to see a ten year old. And her best friend's boyfriend is 19. Yes, Flora's 17. But when a) she thinks she's ten and b) he KNOWS that she thinks she's ten? It's squicky and gross.
2. Despite being a young adult book, big chunks of this read like middle grade because Flora largely acts like a ten year old.
3. It's incredibly repetitive on account of Flora hasn't made a new memory in seven years blah blah blah.
4. Worst fictional parents of ever.
5. I really hated that Flora's brother existed solely off the page and yet had such a massive impact on her story.
6. How the heck did Flora get from Penzance to Middle of Nowhere, Norway without attracting ANY suspicion from security personnel in train stations or airports? Or staff on planes? Or any number of other staff who might be like "Um. This teenage girl is freaking the f*ck out and doesn't seem to know where she is. Maybe let's make sure everything's okay rather than letting her board this plane to another country..." You know??
7. Paige is a sh*tty friend. Yes, I know she's hurt because Flora kissed her boyfriend. But, like, you KNOW that she can't be left alone, and yet you leave her alone for AN ENTIRE WEEK. At least tell her parents that something's come up and you can't do it??
8. There were things that Flora did that made no sense if she hadn't made any new memories since she was ten. Shaving her armpits and legs is the most obvious one that springs to mind, but knowing how to, like, use a credit card or get herself to the airport (not only from Penzance to London, but from Paddington to Heathrow) or spell a lot of the words that she uses in her diary.

Basically? I spent half the book wanting to punch Flora's parents and half the book hoping Flora would be eaten by polar bears.

I was extremely disappointed with this. A book where the protagonist has memory loss but somehow remembers kissing a boy, which changes her life and makes her doubt everything? Not for me. It was a lot more than cliché.

I ended up skipping most of the middle because I had no interest in it. It had lots of potential, and a satisfactory ending, but I personally didn't feel like the right story was being told. It would have been much better if it had started with the ending!

3.5 stars.

I don't have a written review of this book because I did a sponsored video review and it is against Goodreads policy to post sponsored reviews here. If you want to know my thoughts, you can see my spoiler free video review here: https://youtu.be/4e3GDWNf2dc

Flora Banks is one of the most unique characters I've come across this year! I loved how the writing style reflected her memory loss by always summing up what had happened in the previous chapters, I loved how I always felt like I could never really trust what was going on, and I loved reading about Flora's adventure and all her discoveries about the past, her family and herself.

I'm going to try and explain the reading experience with an analogy: You know how in the shower, when you're all intoxicated by your nice marshmallow body wash and suddenly, you get this epiphany about the your mental health or what your place is in the world? (If you don't just go with me on this one.) That's how I felt the whole time I was reading this book.

Refreshing, addicting and slightly overwhelming, The One Memory of Flora Banks is definitely a book I won't be forgetting any time soon!

3 out of 5.

Interesting premise but didnt love the writing style.
I did enjoy the ending but was looking for something more from this book.
Overall ok.

Who am I?
Where am I?
What Just Happened?

If you are asking these questions either you are Flora Banks or you just got finished reading The One Memory of Flora Banks.

I have no f*cking idea how I'm suppose to describe this book. I can't really tell you anything because I don't won't to spoil it. I almost didn't even read this book because I thought it was going to be one of those books where love cures our protagonist of her very serious illness. I'm so glad I read it because that is not what this book is about at all.

If you saw any of my status updates then you know that this book did things to me. It hurt my brain and made me dizzy. It was difficult to read this book. You are living in the head of someone with no short term memory. She repeats things....A lot. She is a very unreliable narrator. I still don't know how I really feel about this book, but it kept me completely hooked. I had to finish this book. I had to know what happened.

I'm recommending this book to everyone because frankly I need to discuss it someone.

Popsugar 2017 Reading Challenge: Book with an unreliable narrator.

This story was a real whirlwind in every sense of the word. I was swept up in the emotion, the sadness, the beauty, the wonder, the honesty. I really, really enjoyed this one.

The One Memory of Flora Banks tells the story of Flora, a seventeen year old who suffers with anterograde amnesia. Flora has vivid memories of her childhood but now her brain resets itself every few hours and she forgets everything. Through a series of notes written to herself, Flora restarts her life every few hours. This is a story of how Flora truly finds her courage and begins to discover herself and what she is capable of.

There were a lot of things that I liked about this book. The story itself was interesting although (and I have to say this) something about the first memory Flora successfully creates being a kiss with a boy really jarred with me for a while. It got a little tiring that so much of this story focussed on that but by the end I understood the necessity of it. The ending of this story really blew me away and is the real reason I had to give this book five stars. I thought it was actually fantastic and seemed like the perfect ending for Flora. It also reassured me to know that this did not turn out to be the typical YA ‘girl meets boy who fixes her’ which was a huge concern of mine at the beginning. This is actually a wonderful story of self-discovery.

I really loved Flora as a character. I thought she was sweet, funny and quite charming. It is no wonder that so many other characters in the book such as Agi and Toby were so willing to help her. There is certainly something very endearing about the character that has been created with Flora. I enjoyed the way the writing reflected Flora’s amnesia. Although it hurt my head a little to all of a sudden be thrown back into the darkness of not knowing who the people were or what was going on, this was so effective and special in the way it really made us empathise with Flora.

All of the characters in this book are relatable. All of them are well written and characters that I was genuinely interested in. I was easily able to lose myself in Flora’s world. The descriptions were so engaging and vivid that I truly felt like I was there with her on this wonderful adventure.

This story was so well written and well thought out. The end of this really blew me away and I wasn’t quite expecting it. It seemed so perfect and the last few chapters really brought my emotions to the surface. It showed just how damaging some of the most caring people in our lives can be when driven by certain emotions.

Flora’s story is truly touching, emotional but scattered with glimmers of hope and plenty of moments to make you smile.

Thank you to Netgalley, Penguin and Emily Barr for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review to come!

Full Review on The Candid Cover

4.5 Stars

The One Memory of Flora Banks is the kind of book that will keep you hooked. This story is about a girl who is unable to create new memories and travels to Norway in hopes of restoring her memory. I loved the suspense that comes along with the unreliable narrator and the bond between Flora and her brother. I absolutely recommend this book!

This book has a concept that drew me in right from the beginning. Flora Banks is a girl with amnesia who is unable to create new memories for herself. She has to remind herself who she is and what she’s doing every few hours. However, after kissing her best friend’s boyfriend, she is able to retain that memory, so she secretly follows him to Norway where he is studying. As Flora frequently forgets her identity, she has to give herself reminders often, which took a bit of getting used to. Getting a recap on everything Flora knows about her life does get a bit old. Nevertheless, the content of the book is still amazing, and there are some epic plot twists.

Because of Flora’s amnesia, she is a very unreliable narrator. I love the suspense that comes along with these types of narrators, so I really enjoyed Flora’s character. She is also so determined to find Drake and hopefully remember more about herself, which I admired. I really sympathized with Flora because of her inability to make memories, but also because others know more about her than she does. I can’t imagine a life that resets every day, but Flora is good at enduring that and staying strong. Her personal motto is “Be brave,” and she definitely abides by it during her adventures.

Another aspect of the book that I adored is the bond between Flora’s brother, Jacob, and herself. Jacob is the ideal brother. He is living in another country, but is still so supportive. He is patient with Flora when she forgets who she is and is protective of her despite being severely ill himself. I can’t say much else about Jacob’s efforts to help Flora for fear of spoilers, but prepare yourselves for a super emotional ending.

The One Memory of Flora Banks is a story about a girl with amnesia. The main character is brave and creates so much suspense. I loved the strong relationship between Flora and her brother, as well. This is such an incredible novel that I would definitely recommend, even if the ending is a tear-jerker.

Not gonna lie, at one poit after page 30, l think, l started to be hella confused! I was like, what the hell am l reading here?! And this continued on and on, but something kept me reading. Even if it felt like my brain was melting! And let me tell you this. I am glad l read every single page of it! Was a beautiful journey! Yes, with ups and downs, but a beautiful one! And the ending just melted my heart...

I would like to thank NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with this copy in exchange for an honest reviewWow this has been a very strong and difficult journey, it wasn't at all what I expected, but I still end up enjoying it a lot, a roller coaster of emotions!

5/5 Stars

You can find this one and more of my reviews in mi blog A Book. A Thought.

Flora is our main character she's a 17 year old girl who after a tragic event doesn't remember anything about her life after the 10 years old, she has a type of manesia, where she can't retain new information, whereby she can just retains information for a few minutes or maybe hours and then no longer knows where she is or what she was doing, she has created a mechanism for remembering things by writing the most important thing in her arms. One day she goes to a party in her best friend's house, a party organized to say goodbye to her boyfriend Drake who is about to travel to Norway to study, that night Flora is on the beach with Drake where they share a kiss, the kiss wich Flora continues to remember, even though they spend days and weeks and so she clings to this unique memory she possesses, falls madly in love with Drake and it's here that she will undertake a journey to find him and finally begin to heal, and all this has been more than magnificent.

Flora is such a curious and unique character, I felt so bad for her all the time, the kind of illness she has is so difficult to understand, she has so much courage and strength, I really liked her. As I have told you before Flora only remembers her life until her's 10 yeas old, so there are 7 years of her life that she doesn't remember at all, and this involves getting up every day with a body that she doesn't recognize, to see her family and to her best friend grow up,without the memories about it, is very hard guys. It would be a challenge for me to explain in words everything that she goes through the book, in her quest to be what she calls "normal", but

The plot, the way it's told, is the best of this book, manages to keep you hooked till the end in a super intelligent way, the plot twist are incredible, I think there was a moment where I could decipher what would happen, and still, it wasn't easier for me to go through that, was impressed, I was speechless, destroyed my heart, I really felt so attached to Flora and I was as committed as she to her journey and her search, that I have suffered with her, it's weird but personally I found it fascinating

I also liked it a lot as all the stories are connected in some way, as you get to doubt to everything you're reading, to know that it was real and not. Since the book is told in first person by Flora is difficult knowing exactly if you are reading something that is real or something that is simply in her head, that has been somewhat confusing but gives it a touch of suspense and intrigue that I have enjoyed. Also

There are several situations that may seem improbable or maybe they are things that would never happen in real life I understand that this is a factor that annoys people and yes, I have seen it, although it hasn't been a big deal for me

The secondary characters are so peculiar, they all have their personalities and take life as they think it's better even if itsn't always the right way. I love Jacob, he's Flora's older brother and his personal story has touched my heart, the way he supports to his sister is beautiful and I like to read about it, I enjoyed Paige as well, she's Flora's best friend , she seems somewhat rude at first but then ends up being so important in Flora's life and despite all shows that friendship can against everything

We don't have the best parents here, but it's interesting to see how Flora's parents have handled this situation, obviously itsn't easy to have a daughter with this disease, and although I don't share her decisions I can see why they do it , and I think the mother, above all, is a very unstable woman so I don't think she knows exactly what she's doing, everyone will have their point of view about it I'm sure of that

I really love this book, I recommend it if you are looking for a different story, original, with very hard plot twists and revelation that will leave you in shock, I remind you that I think itsn't for everyone, is a book that touches a very delicate subject, a disease that I honestly don't know much about and it will be hard and crude but personally it has worked for me, it has left me amazed and it has been a roller coaster of emotions, I've been happy, then sad, then I've had hope and then I've been so angry, a great experience thats for sure

1.5 out of 10

Short-Soundtrack:
Sevdaliza – Darkest Hour
Ana Zimmer - Young and Brave
WENS - Life

Genre:contemp, YA
Stuff:anterograde amnesia, Arctic
Fail:everything
WOW:nothing
POV:1st person, female
Love Geometry:sick

Quote Core: «The inside of my head is out of control».

Review

I've been waiting for this book since it was announced. Then life happened and only now I got a chance to lay my hands on The One Memory of Flora Banks. Gosh, I didn't like it.

First of all, memorize that the main character got anterograde amnesia when she was 10 years old. After that, she couldn't form new memories or rather keep them longer than for a few hours. So we have to face the fact that she's still 10 years old.

Her parents are overprotective maniacs but, at the start of the story, they leave her alone and go to another country. Okay, you think her friend will be somewhere around (then never call her to ask how they are), but your daughter is a little girl trapped in an almost eighteen woman's body. She has a credit card, freedom, and damaged drains. What did you expect?

Let's go to the minor characters. Drake the Dick. A f*cking bastard who offered to f*ck a girl with mental illness 'cause she would never remember what happened. Who cheated on his girlfriend, using her bestie. Who lied after that about serious things. He's the worst male character in YA. I swear.

Paige (the ex-girlfriend) ditched Flora (MC) after learning about the kiss (the Dick kissed Flora). She accuses her friend of sleeping with Drake. Flora: I was at home. Ask my Mom. Paige: She would lie for you. slu*t! WELL HELL. After a while, she got that Drake is the one to blame. But really? You know your friend is like a f*cking flower with a memory of a goldfish. Why were you mad at her? And I don't really get how their friendship worked. What they talked about. What had in common. Paige has been aging while Flora not and has only a few hours to learn smth to forget it soon.

Flora herself is weird, to say the least. She's 10 and, still, she made up a whole romance in her head with sexual innuendoes, nudes, and regrets about not having sex with random dick on the beach. Where did it come from? She can't develop anything outside her 10-year-old self. No new neural connections, remember? But she goes to parties, feels herself older, and isn't surprised to see her friends, family, and self look older. Anterograde amnesia is not like that. For a grown-up - maybe, but not for a child. When one writes about mental illness, one has to treat it respectfully, without fantasy. It's a serious diagnosis, for f*cking sake.

Ugh. The ending tried to improve smth and failed. I can't believe the brother couldn't go to the court or find a good lawyer and try to free the child who's been constantly dragged for no reason. This backstory sucks..

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, there was little I liked about this book. First (and mostly) being the cover. And second - I guess the ending was okay.

This book is about Flora, who suffers from amnesia. One day she kisses her best friend's boyfriend and she remembers. Obviously remembering something is a big deal to her and soon after she goes on an adventure to find this boy again, who has moved to the Arctic.

Back when I requested this book, I'm pretty sure the synopsis said nothing about the boy being her best friend's boyfriend. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have requested this. The 'romance' made me so uncomfortable. And in my opinion it romanticized Flora's healing process - with a boy being the reason she remembers and her traveling across the world just to find her true love.
I have to say though, the ending was a bit redeemable in that aspect. But still. I just didn't like it.

The writing style was another thing I really, really didn't like. First off, with Flora having amnesia, she forgets and then remembers things over and over and over and over and over... I didn't want it to annoy me as much because obviously if you have amnesia, that's how it is. But I found myself skipping several parts of the story because after the 10th time of 'I kissed a boy on a beach' I was so done.
Also the writing read very juvenile in my opinion. Sort of like middle grade.

Overall, this book just wasn't for me. If I hadn't been reading this for review, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

Absolutely brilliant. This story will stay with me for a long time. Flora Banks found a letter saying that when she was ten a tumour grew in her brain and when she was eleven a surgeon took it out with her of memory going with it. Now Flora can't remember how to do things and since that her memory has gone she can't make new memories. She has Anterograde Amnesia and can keep memories in her head for only a couple of hours. Flora's best friend is going out with Drake, but after a party Drake kisses Flora and Flora remembers this and writes it down so she never forgets the kiss. Things start go really bad for Flora after kissing her best friends boyfriend. I can promise you that there are twists in this story that you won't see coming and that's why I highly recommend The One Memory Of Flora Banks.

Initial reaction: I need to think on this one a while, because while the ending of this came to a close much better than I originally thought for the direction it intended to go, I found myself liking some parts of this book and disliking most of it for the way it was presented and dealt with certain things in the progression. Trying to decide a rating between 2 and 3 stars, but still undecided.

Full review:

I read this book over a week ago and I'm still having a hard time figuring what my end thoughts are on the book. I understand its appeal, but...I did not like this book very much. Quite the understatement, to be quite honest. To me, that's unfortunate because I understood where it wanted to go and how subversive it is to many YA tropes where "Love heals all" is often applied to characters with disabilities in notable attempts to sell the romance.

This is NOT that kind of book, despite what the main character might tell you in repeated notations throughout the novel. Ultimately, "The One Memory of Flora Banks" centers on the titular character suffering from a brain injury that affects her short-term memory. She has to relearn pieces of her life through keeping a journal and writing on her hands. There's a mystery here, however, as Flora realizes she's able to hold onto a new memory: she's kissed a boy named Drake. The same Drake that just so happens to be the boyfriend of her best friend, Paige. Paige, Flora's purported caregiver who promptly departs because of Flora's aforementioned betrayal.

As if that isn't "yikes" enough, Flora becomes completely *obsessed* with this discovery, as she believes that Drake is the key to recovering her memory and that she "loves" him. The novel takes you through a series of start-and-stop narrations, micro stories where Flora loses her memory and has to regain her bearings during each turn. It feels like "Memento" (and I'll admit, the comparison feels apt given the stylistic), but without the urgency and depth. While this style of narration wouldn't be a problem with a narrative that could handle that stylistic, the way this novel navigates Flora's voice and experiences is - for a time - tedious and exasperating. I was very frustrated pushing through the first half of this novel, and this shouldn't be Flora's fault because she has a disability and she's trying to navigate her way around events and struggle with her sentiments and actions. But when the narrative focuses on saying - in repeated measures - "I kissed Drake! I love Drake!" and even fixating on Flora diving into Drake's life and smelling his clothes and invading his room...it's not love, it's more obsessive and creepy. And I absolutely LOATHED that part of the story.

What kept me reading was more the second half of the story and figuring out what came of Flora's family and brother, not to mention her trip to the Arctic and her explorations of the culture there (which I believe the author did a great job for research and expansion). The secondary characters in this novel were FANTASTIC (at least those who supported Flora and whom she encounters in her journey. Drake was an utter douche, though). I lamented that they weren't included sooner in the narrative and given more time to shine. I feel like the first part of this novel took far too much time to get going and the second half felt a bit rushed in places, lacking digging into details that were more intriguing and had more emotional stakes given the storyline (I honestly felt Flora's brother deserved more time to shine in this novel, even given his respective fate in the narrative as events pass). There are a fair number of twists and turns the narrative takes, but they come a bit too late in the novel to have as much weight as they could've had, and for me, that was disappointing.

The problematic elements in this novel aren't things that I could overlook despite the bright spots in the latter part of the novel. Granted, not even the reveal towards the end regarding Drake's role in this narrative could absolve "The One Memory of Flora Banks" from being a hot mess regarding the portrayal of disabled characters and disability, as well as teen relationships (again, Flora's following of Drake was just plain creepy and while Drake was portrayed as the flawed character he was - I felt he was just a problematic vehicle with very little depth.)

In the end, sluggish and hampered pacing, problematic portrayals of serious issues, and a story that ultimately took too long to find its gems without necessarily giving ample time to its more alluring elements made me realize that I wouldn't willingly remember or pick up this novel again.

Overall score: 2/5 stars.

I'm a sucker for an unreliable narrator, but couple that with a Memento-like premise and I was sold.

I liked Flora well enough. She is in an odd situation and the majority of her actions are based on that. At times it was trying to be in her head because it was so so so repetitive, but it was an effective way to tell the story.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about parts of the plot. Namely the Drake parts. The ending was definitely interesting, but infuriating at the same time. Partially because I've seen it before. And yes, I'm being vague on purpose.

Overall, it was an interesting and quick read.

**Huge thanks to Philomel for providing the arc free of charge**

5 Words: Memories, family, love, friendship, betrayal.

I don't really know how or what to feel right now.

This will take time.

Edit 19/12/2017: Yup, I still can't put my feelings into words.

"Vivo este momento. Vivir el momento siempre que pueda debe ser una de mis normas de vida. Para eso no hace falta tener memoria".

En realidad, cuando empecé a leer El Único Recuerdo de Flora Banks no me esperaba nada y no tenía ni idea de cómo sería la historia, pero lo que me encontré me sorprendió muchísimo.

Aquí tenemos a Flora, nuestra protagonista, una chica de 17 años que dejó de crear recuerdos desde que tenía 10 debido a un accidente. Flora tiene amnesia anterógrada y se olvida de todo lo que vive tres horas después de que suceda, así que para ubicarse un poco siempre se escribe recordatorios en los brazos. Pero una noche todo cambia: Flora va a la fiesta de despedida del novio de su mejor amiga, quien se irá al Polo Norte a estudiar. Después de la fiesta, Flora se encuentra con este chico en la playa, se besan y, al día siguiente, Flora recuerda todo ese encuentro, el beso y al chico. De una manera extraña, Flora piensa que ese chico es la clave para empezar a curarse, así que decide ir tras él cueste lo que cueste.

Este es un libro ligero pero que, al mismo tiempo, lidia con temas súper delicados como la salud mental, la culpabilidad, la sobreprotección y la inocencia. A medida que avanza la historia de Flora te das cuenta de lo frágil que es la vida, de lo enrevesada que puede tornarse y de lo fuerte que es esta chica por no rendirse y vivir cada día enfrentándose a tener 17 años y sentirse de 10 porque no recuerda nada de lo que ha sucedido después.

Aquí, también, nos encontramos con perspectivas poco abordadas en la literatura juvenil como la de la mejor amiga que tienen que lidiar con Flora todos los días, perdonar sus errores porque no los recuerda y tratar de ser siempre una buena persona. Con El Único Recuerdo de Flora Banks vamos que no es fácil y requiere de un sacrificio grande el ser amigo de una persona con un tipo de discapacidad, pues son situaciones que requieren de conocimiento, de paciencia infinita y, sobre todo, de amor.

Por otra parte, tenemos a los padres de Flora. Son personajes que me causan un conflicto gigante porque, con la excusa de proteger a su hija de todos los males, la están ahogando, la están matando lentamente. Es una posición complicada con acciones impulsadas desde la culpabilidad, pero con las que no pude conectarme en ningún momento. Los odié sin reparos.

Ahora, hablemos del viaje épico en el que se embarca Flora. Esta es una chica tremendamente valiente, que es consciente de sus limitaciones y que las desafía en cada momento. Con cada paso que da, te preocupas un montón por ella, pues está saliendo de su zona de confort, del lugar en el que todos la conocen y la ayudan, para irse a otro país persiguiendo un quizás. A lo largo de esta travesía, nos encontramos con personas muy buenas, con personas que te devuelven la fe en la humanidad, que te hacen creer que el mundo no es un lugar horrible... aunque lo es.

No puedo decirles mucho más porque revelaría la trama completa del libro, pero sepan que esta es una historia preciosa, de valentía, pérdida, engaños, promesas cumplidas y viajes en busca de recuerdos. A pesar de que Flora es una chica a la que tienen que repetirle muchísimo las cosas porque las olvida y la narración del libro debe hacerle justicia a eso, les prometo que ni los diálogos ni las situaciones se hacen tediosas ni repetitivas. Por el contrario, estos recursos le dan muchísima fuerza a la historia.

Léanlo, les juro que no van a poder parar.

The One Memory of Flora Banks is about Flora, a girl with anterograde amnesia, kissing a boy, Drake. But here's the difference: she remembers it.

I know, I know. That premise sounds like a weird romantic drama. It sounds like instalove waiting to happen. It sounds like yet another book about love curing illnesses, because that's totally a thing that happens. And at first, I believed that too. For quite a bit of the book, Flora believed she was falling in love with Drake, and it was incredibly boring and problematic.

And yet this book narrowly avoids romanticization with a good ending. For quite a bit of the book, I was worried this would stray into “love cures illness” territory. But... love doesn't cure Flora's illness. Thank god.

SO, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ACTUAL BOOK

The plotting is a major strength of this book. It's not particularly fast-paced, yet the book flies by in a breeze. Barr fills the book with dramatic tension. Some of the reveals are slightly predictable, but some are brilliant. A few twists towards the end absolutely blew me away. There are hints and clues along the way building up to reveals, and it was wonderful to follow Flora's journey.

Flora's character got my sympathy from the start. She's an unreliable narrator to some degree, but she's also telling us everything she knows, so she's not really unreliable. Her decisions and motivations seem surprisingly well-informed. She's not an annoying character with her forgetfulness, which frankly surprised me.

Emily Barr's disjointed writing style also made this story special. It's perfect for this kind of story, where we keep changing time and place. It enables you to get a good feel for Flora's head from the beginning. It's also particularly easy to read.

Honestly, without my worries over romanticization, this book is an easy four star. I do wish Barr had picked a different memory for Flora to catch on to, but I understand why she chose this one.

div17: mc w invisible disability
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BRIEF SPOILER SECTION
• From what I've heard, the twist kind of reminds me of Everything Everything's twist, except less offensive and less romancey.
• Anyone else a little annoyed about Jacob dying? What was the point of that? It's just... depressing.
• I loved that Paige came back!! I loved her speech to Flora so much.
• I liked that the final scenes didn't get all creepy-horror-movie. It stays pretty sane, all things considered.

This book... oh, this book. I was really excited for this one and now I wish I hadn't been. I don't really want to review this one at too much length because it was so tedious to read and even more stressful to talk about.

Firstly - it took me so, so long to get into it. I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters so I put it down to read something else first. It was only after I saw my currently reading list that I decided to pick it up again - purely to get it off of that shelf. My bad feelings about it were building up.

The main character, Flora, is incredibly irritating. The repetitiveness of "I kissed him on a beach" is frustrating and I frankly never want to read the words again. The plot is unmistakably predictable - and the "twist" that occurs near the end was something that I saw coming half way through the book and, frankly, it was an incredibly dull addition. Drake is also a massive idiot. Paige was a typical "friend" used as a dramatic plot device. Her parents are little sh*ts. It's all so predictable and frustrating! There is nothing likeable about this book, really, other than it has a unique setting.

I'm incredibly disappointed, deflated and upset that this book turned out the way it did considering how promising it sounded when I first picked it up. Oh well. I'm really sad to be reviewing it like this, but it's also reassuring to know I'm not in the minority.

Wouldn't recommend. There are books similar to this that are executed in a better way. :)

¡Qué libro más lindo! Es díficil, muy, muy díficil, pero la autora hace un buen trabajo. Me gustó mucho.

This was my first audiobook experience and I really enjoyed it. The narration done by Rosie Jones fit Flora’s character very well and emotion was conveyed in a connectable way.

This story is about Flora Banks, a 17 year old girl who suffers from anterograde amnesia. She consistently writes her memories on her arms to try and remember them and remind herself about her experiences and people surrounding her.

“I kissed a boy on the beach, I remember!” Flora finally seems to create a new memory since the illness when she was 10. She obsessed over this memory, holding onto it as best as she can, as you can imagine this was very precious to her.

Unfortunate circ*mstances fall upon the family and her parents must leave her alone in Cornwall while they go to Paris. Flora doesn’t take her medication during this time, as she forgets to, and talks to the boy she kissed on the beach - Drake - via email. She seems to fall in love with him and decides that she would like to visit him. After the party where they kissed he left to move to Svalbard to study. Drake once visited Svalbard to see the midnight sun and ever since has dreamt of living there.

“Flora, be brave.” Flora is driven by her love and determination to leave Cornwall for the Arctic to find Drake - as he made her remember and Flora believes he can fix her memory. The book took a while to get to this point, from here on out I really enjoyed the story, but reaching this point was very slow.

We learn many things about Flora once she leaves the safety of Cornwall for a new adventure - she finds herself and begins expanding her horizons although she still struggles with her memory and has a few breakdowns during this time.

We discover that Jacob - Flora’s brother is ill and dying, leaving Flora conflicted about finding Drake and visiting her brother. She discovers many friends in Svalbard, but also encounters the hard truth that Drake does not love her and lied about the kiss, making Flora feel as if she had imagined this only memory she had since she was 10. Flora returns to Cornwall a much different person than when she left, however her mother limits her progression of getting better.

Both Jacob and Flora’s best friend have set up a plan however to try and keep Flora free from her mothers grasp. Her mother is scared to lose Flora and wishes to baby her forever as it turns out she is the reason Flora suffers from amnesia. She uses tranquillisers and anti-depressants to keep Flora ‘obedient’ and stop her from living her life. However Jacob and Paige (Floras best friend) wish to see her freed from this existence and be able to explore who she is. Her amnesia is improving and she chooses to leave Cornwall for help from a doctor to recover from her amnesia. ”Although I don't know much about anything, I know that I have a story. I know that it is not over. There are shades and shadows of adventures and people and wild new places.”

The end of the story was really enjoyable, I felt happy for Flora that she finally had her life back even though she’d been through so much heartache and misunderstanding, she could finally get better and have people stop pitying her being unable to remember.

Flora had an inner fire and it was beautiful to see it alight, a lovely story about a teen finding herself and being freed from constraints. Her character really portrayed that we should ”live in the moment whenever you can, you don’t need a memory for that.”

Do you know those games? Where you're supposed to imagine you wake up in a room with several items and you're supposed to figure out where you are, who you are and where you're going based on clues? Well, that is Flora's - who is the main character - life, that's her everyday existence. The idea of it is pretty daunting, and the book does a good job of making you feel like you're in this experience.

However, it takes an awfully long time to go anywhere - partly because of precisely the same thing - that Flora goes through the same stuff a lot and talks about the same stuff a lot. I know it's supposed to be repetitive to illustrate her condition, but it kind of gets old quite fast. I feel like this book could have been printed on at least half as many pages as it is... this becomes okay about halfway in the book, but before that, you might be tempted to just give up. The good thing is at least that it reads fast, and it won't take you longer than an hour or two to reach the middle of it.

However, this book talks about some very serious and important stuff. Like how people who can't fend for themselves often lose their rights because their caretakers make their decisions for them. And that disability shouldn't mean that you should relinquish your rights and not live the way you want. And how easy it is for a person who doesn't adequately understand their surroundings to be taken advantage of by someone. But it's not just about the bad stuff. It's also about the fact that good people who are willing to help a perfect stranger are always around. That as mean and dark as it gets when it comes to humanity, there's light there too.

This book also comes with a hearty dose of #FEELS. It's definitely a good choice for people who love reading YA, but if you don't like unreliable narrators or knowing only as much as an amnesia sufferer does, you might not enjoy it.

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I had to round this novel up because I think the writing is beautiful and impressive. I can't recall reading a book with such a unique narrator that is more convincing than Flora. Flora suffers from anterograde amnesia and the way the author was able to capture her story, her voice, and her thoughts are amazing. The execution really is top notch.

But--because, of course, there is a but--while I easily connected with the characters and was intrigued and completely taken with Flora, I just didn't like the direction the storyline was headed. I'm going to speak rather vaguely here because I want to keep this review spoiler free, but I just didn't like how Flora's story felt overtaken by that of a boy. It was so centered on that "aspect", that it seemed like that was all there was to her. I didn't like that at all, and sure, I realize I'm being picky here but I can't help but feel like the author missed a better story with Flora. I wished her story included more of Jacob, and her parent's... Okay, I'm just going to say it, because I clearly can't help myself: I was massively disappointed that Flora's adventure was all about finding some boy she kissed on a beach, while her estranged brother was laying on his deathbed, and she didn't even think twice about that. I think this book would have been so much better if her adventure would have been more about finding out what happened between her brother and parents to cause a fallout and adventuring to find him instead. But, sigh, I'm just a reader and I can't always have it my way, now can I?

I felt like Flora's story was building up to something big (which is partly why I kept with it) but when that time came it felt so very anticlimactic and by that time I was already bored and uninterested and completely underwhelmed. The ending felt dragged out, and I just don't think it was very good.

I know it sounds like it, but this really isn't a negative review. This is one of those books that I'm actually happy I picked up and will still recommend, but I do have very mixed feelings about it.

Descrierea perfectă: suferința din „O fată din bucăți”, neputința din „Flori pentru Algernon” și inocența din „Camera”.

It wasn't a dream, it was all a lie.

There is no better definition - borrowed from The Great Gatsby - to describe this novel.
Apparently a quiet story of a chronic forgetful, it ultimately turns out to be a bittersweet tragedy.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect better but, in the end, I'm happy that the ending raises the story a bit. We’re even, I guess.

I admire the willpower of the protagonist, her iron will cling to the only memory that remains imprinted in her mind. It’s also morbid and annoying to keep hearing it, but the disturbing thing is the type of memory.
We don’t know Flora, we can only assume that she’s never had normal experiences like her peers. Kissing a guy for the first time is exciting, emotional, and it’ll make you go out of your mind if he’ll leave and you would never see him again. However, in the light of the facts, after all these pages of continuous who kissed who and where I would have rather that the memory imprinted so firmly was another. A memory about something that happened in the past or a person very dear to her, a place she has visited or a particular day different from all others. Something a little deeper.

And then - existential question - if she can't remember anything since she was 10 except for a few hours, how is it possible that she can do things like shave, use a credit card or make tea, but she has no memories of a central figure in her life SINCE she was born. Some things just don’t make sense.

I liked the narration because it’s linear, but not monotonous. Obviously, we must know that many events are repeated endless times so that we too, once the book is finished, know all the most important memories of the protagonist.

What can I say, the ending is certainly touching for various reasons - hidden truths and nasty surprises are all contained in the last pages - but there is also this lighthouse, this light at the end of the tunnel, so we know that things will improve for her from now on.
The world is ready for Flora Banks. In the meantime, she just needs to remember to be brave.

↠ 3 stars

FULL REVIEW IS FINALLY HERE

The review is spoiler free, so no worries :)

I received this book as an e-arc on the day of its released. GOD, I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I have a bunch of things to say about this so I'm gonna write a full review as soon as possible but this book needs to be read.
I really liked it!

Ze začátku jsem myslela, že Floru nebudu moct vystát. Neskutečně mě iritovalo, jak neustále opakovala věci... Po odletu na Špicberky ale začla úplně nová kniha, která mě neskutečně vtáhla do děje. Pokud jste na tom tedy jako já... prokousejte se začátkem, to potom je fakt síla. Neskutečně emotivní příběh, který mi i vehnal slzy do očí.

4/5*