A resonant, emotionally rich novel about friendship, marriage and memory , this smart debut focuses on three compelling people whose shared and separate lives have been inextricably connected since their twenties.From the opening scene in which a woman wakes from a coma with a black hole, as she describes it, where most of the past used to be. Trying to piece a few fragmented memories of her life in the decade since college, when she and Charlie and Rachel shared a house in Boston ,she's impatient with how slowly she's recovering from the injury to her brain and how reticent Charlie and Rachel are about what happened during those missing years. She remembers her life as a journalist, but not why she spent most of it away from Charlie; she recalls her childhood in great detail, but can't seem to access the memories of her marriage or when and why it mattered to her in ways it now seems not to. Her struggle to take her life back despite or even because of the injuries to her mind, her body, and her most important relationships, is a story worth telling - and reading.

Thanks Netgalley for the preview. The book starts out very exciting with the main character fighting for her life and her husband by her side. There was much in the beginning that made me think it was going to turn into a great mystery. I kept waiting and reading and reading and waiting. Finally I gave up thinking I knew what type of book it was and I had to press reset and see where it would go. Told from 3 perspectives. I finally started appreciating the boo for what it was. A very honest look at friendships, regrets, growth or lack of in relationships and the need to be true to ourselves. I ended up really liking the book and I'm glad I stuck with it.

Memory loss is a scary thing for everyone involved. Not knowing when you will know is frustrating and sad; not being in control of your mind is an awful thing to have happen. Claire's memory is gone due to a mosquito bite and it has caused long term and short term memory loss, in addition to seizures. Her hubby and best friend are trying hard to help her relive experiences to see if her memory will return.
I found myself skimming the book, looking for the memories to return and have a happy ending. It was not for me. Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Remind Me Again What Happened by Joanna Luloff

June 2018
Fiction
Algonquin Books

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

What happens when all your memories from age 17-34 disappear? That’s exactly the situation Claire Scott faced when she learns it has been 3-months since she was admitted to the Lower Keys Medical Center in Florida. Claire was working as a journalist in India when she develops Japanese encephalitis from a mosquito bite. She suffered central nervous system damage with febrile seizures and consequent memory loss.

The story is told through alternating perspectives of Claire, Charlie and Rachel. The trio developed a bond while in grad school. After Rachel’s parents die, Claire and Charlie move into her parent’s Boston brownstone to support Rachel. They are the best of friends until Charlie and Claire get married and move to Vermont. Through each character’s perspective you learn the past relationship was more complicated.

Once Claire is medically stable they settle into a routine at Claire and Charlie’s home in Vermont to continue her rehabilitation. Rachel soon moves in to assist with her physical care and hopeful of rekindling her memories. They soon experience the frustration of Claire’s memory loss and fragile health. It seems Charlie and Rachel become overwhelmed by the past memories often filtering stories to Claire who senses that things don’t feel right.

Life after a serious illness can be frustrating especially when having to overcome physical and mental obstacles. The story seemed disjointed and incomplete by the end. I felt frustrated and unsatisfied with the conclusion as there didn’t seem to be a resolution. I suppose it’s similar to what the characters felt in the book. Remind me again...

I found this book very compelling. It must be very scary to have lost most of your adult memories and not to know if your husband and best friend are on her side in her recovery. It is told from the 3 characters points of view which gives the reader some insight into the dilemma. The ending is unresolved, yet is in satisfying, because life is most often like that.

This was a very quiet book. Perhaps a little too quiet for my tastes. Essentially this is the story of three people who love each other and the secrets they keep. These secrets become even more complicated when one of the three loses her memory. Ultimately it's a book about relationships among cowards.

Normally in books where the narrative involves memory loss there is some sort of big reveal (or memory coming to light) that shakes up the story or drives the plot forward. That doesn't really happen here. Claire appears to have simply become bored with her life in the past and stayed from the path before her. She doesn't remember what exactly she did, but you the reader get that information. There is no shocking reveal, confrontation, or even deep wrestling of the soul. There is just a woman who can't remember she was unhappy currently being unhappy again.

So then what happens in the book? Unfortunately, from my perspective, not a whole lot. There is a lot of reminiscing about the past and how the dynamic between these three got so messed up and dysfunctional. There is a lot of time spent talking about how sad each of them are with the changes in Claire and how her memory loss has impacted their lives. There is (thankfully) some sense at the end that some of these characters might be ready to move on. However, that's about it. Don't get me wrong, all of this is handled well and artfully written, it just ended up not the book I was expecting to read.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. It seemed promising. It just wasn’t fast paced enough for my complete liking.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC.
A book about the truth of a relationship when all the extras have been stripped away. A journalist contracts Japanese encephalitis and becomes disabled and dependant on her best friend and estranged husband. She remembers very little of her life before and suffers from seizures and bouts of confusion. Good character study.

I love when a novel grabs you from the beginning! Remind Me Again What Happened captured my undivided attention and kept me “on the hook” with it’s well developed storyline! The novel is told from 3 perspectives which worked well- as the reader I felt that added a lot of insight into the characters/situations. Joanna Luloff does a nice job with combining several book genres (general fiction, women’s fiction & mystery) to create an intriguing storyline. Remind Me Again What Happened is a 4 star read that will keep you entertained until the very end.

In the beginning of this novel we learn that Claire Scott is a 34-year-old freelance journalist who was working in India when she got bitten by a mosquito and contracted Japanese encephalitis (JE). [The CDC reports that most human infections are asymptomatic or result in only mild symptoms, but a small percentage of infected persons develop inflammation of the brain (encephalitis). About 1 in 4 cases are fatal. There is no specific treatment for JE.]

Claire had high fever and seizures and was put in an induced coma to allow her body to repair itself while she was being treated. The doctors told her she will recover but might never get back her memories from the age of seventeen to thirty-four, which were largely a blank to her now. As Claire mused: “I am both lucky and terribly unlucky. I have survived, but am forever altered.”

For the rest of the book, the story is narrated alternately by Claire, her husband Charlie, and their BFF Rachel, who comes to Vermont to stay with them and help take care of Claire. Clearly all three have a bunch of resentments about the past, but Claire doesn’t remember them, and Charlie and Rachel won’t talk about them. And so goes the rest of the book, except for long, irrelevant (to me) forays into Claire’s memories about her parents and grandparents.

I kept waiting for some kind of epiphany from any of them, but nothing much ever happens. There is a bit of an unexpected ending, but it doesn’t ring true.

Evaluation: To me, this book was boring and ultimately disappointing.

If memories anchor our sense of self, how does one go forward into the future without them? The novel Remind Me Again What Happened by Joanna Luloff explores the ephemeral quality of memory and its power to shape our present and future. The main character, Claire, a traveling journalist, catches the mosquito-borne virus Japanese encephalitis that puts her in a coma and erases her memory when she awakes. Her dutiful husband Charlie and her best friend Rachel put their lives on hold to care for Claire and are forced to confront the trio’s complicated relationship, secrets, and past hurts. Told in alternating points of view between Claire, Charlie, and Rachel, the trio reveals a codependency on each other, dating back to their days sharing a house in graduate school.

The author Joanna Luloff seamlessly weaves this riveting story together with three voices that reveal the elusive nature of reality. Perception is subjective not science and memory helps ground what’s really real in relationships. If you no longer had a shared past, no memory of what once was—would you pick that person as a friend or as a lover again?

Claire Scott was a globe-trotting journalist whose life changed in the blink of an eye. While on assignment in Jamil Nadu, she developed Japanese encephalitis transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. Her life was now characterized by seizures, the result of temporal lobe damage. She is a mystery to herself, husband Charlie and best friend Rachel.

Charlie and Rachel met in England when Rachel was studying abroad. Claire and Rachel met in a college class stateside. The trio were inseparable. At least they were during their graduate days. Each of them has secrets, anger and resentments that have driven their life choices. Claire used to be the go-getter, orchestrating their forward movement in life's journey. The strongest link had become the weakest link. Claire depends upon husband Charlie and bestie, Rachel.

Claire, Charlie and Rachel "adopted" each other ten years ago upon the death of Rachel's parents. Would Rachel and Charlie be able to help Claire adjust to the "black hole" of memory loss? Claire has many questions. Charlie and Rachel need to ignore old hurts and carefully minister to a fragile Claire who remembers the distant past but has lost her memories from ages 17-34. Life as she knew it had drastically changed.

"Remind Me Again What Happened" by Joanna Luloff is the story of Claire as her memories shift in and out of focus after a deadly mosquito bite. Claire has an uphill battle trying to find her way back to the former Claire. Is it even possible for her to jump start some recollections? The importance of this literary fiction read cannot be understated.

Thank you Algonquin Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Remind Me Again What Happened".

Rather slow-moving, ending seems a bit unresolved. Characters were underdevelooed.

Told from three alternating viewpoints, this is the story of Claire, her husband, Charlie and Claire’s best friend, Rachel. Claire is trying to reawaken memories lost after she wakes up in a hospital with no idea how she got there. Pictures of her husband and her best friend fill in some of the blanks, but there’s something, just at the corner of Claire’s mind that tells her that something is very wrong. Are Charlie and Rachel still even in her life. What happened to the life she knew? An intricate and intimate portrait of married life, friendships and the changes we must all face