THE FORGETTING CURVE by Angie Smibert

My first read of 2013 was MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert, and I Afterglowed that one, too.

But Book 2 in the series?

Even. better!

I just clicked out of my kindle copy of THE FORGETTING CURVE and I am experiencing some serious Afterglow feels. Angie Smibert is an expert at giving me a less-than-happy ending that manages to offer both hope and meaning. I kind of feel like part of the revolution now.

Before I get too rambly, let me show you the book I'm gushing over:

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"This sequel to Memento Nora follows tech-wiz Aiden, who joins the growing underground resistance."

DISCLAIMER: Not the actual blurb. Goodreads was lame, so I wrote my own:

Fresh out of his boarding school in Switzerland, where terrorist attacks are only just beginning, Aiden is looking for trouble, doors to rattle on, code to de-crypt, something--anything--to hack and charm his way into. 
His cousin Winter sent him some strange hollowed out book filled with a homemade comic called MEMENTO, but when he joins her in the states, she doesn't remember sending it... or printing it... or ever seeing it before in her life. All she can tell him is that it's definitely her friend Micah's artwork. 
Winter, you see, is crazy. Her parents think so. Her doctors think so. The hummingbirds that flutter in her mind disagree. So do her kinetic sculptures, lurching and ticking and beeping in the breeze of her grandfather's Japanese-style rock garden. 
Velvet knows Winter isn't crazy, not that anybody would ask a thrift store clerk with no specific talents or hobbies other than being able to throw together a killer retro outfit. Velvet has Aiden's number from the beginning, and she won't be charmed into anything. But when Aiden comes up with a way to save Winter from the over-medication that's turning her into Stepford Winter, even Velvet is impressed... a little bit. 
Then things get intense. People aren't just forgetting anymore. They're remembering things that didn't really happen. The MemeCast infiltrates mobiles. The revolution will be co-opted. 

No place is safe anymore.

My Afterglow: 

I read a review for this second book before I had the chance to start it myself, which I always/usually regret. This time it set my expectations kind of low because the reviewer didn't enjoy the narrating characters (Winter, Aiden, and Velvet)  as much as she had in the first book (Nora, Micah, and Winter).

Boy, I couldn't disagree with her more!

As much as I enjoyed the first book, I LOVED the second book.

The narrators were my kind of crazy (literally, different brain chemistry from "normal" folks), and each with his or her own unique way of seeing the world.

For Winter, it's the hummingbirds (caged bird motif?) that drive her to tinker, to create.

For Aiden, it's this idea of needing to rattle doors, see which ones will open to him (hacker).

For Velvet, it's a killer sense of thrift store fashion with her very own Book of Velvet filled with rules that keep her emotionally safe.

See what I mean? They're crazy. And I LOVED it. Set against a backdrop of corporate/government conspiracy to control the populace with TFC's (the distributor of a neurochemical that "helps" you forget traumatic events), crazy is exactly what we need for tour guides!

Beyond the killer concept of this, and the fantastic characterization, there's this wellspring of emotion that just freaking geysers at the end. The last few scenes are short and painful, and yet...

Like I said before, there's this hope. There's this meaning.

It's profound.

Without the violence of the Hunger Games series (which I also read and loved), MEMENTO NORA and THE FORGETTING CURVE give you all that deep, thoughtful exploration into the mind of man, his free will vs. the machine. Even though both series are dystopias, it's not really a comparison because the books have completely different tones. The narrators of MEMENTO NORA and THE FORGETTING CURVE are more accessible than Katniss, at least to the modern teen. It's a glossy future, not a dusty coal town. It's a future within which many teens can probably picture themselves trapped... in a "safe" living compound with parents who make sure they're properly chipped according to the law. As such, it feels more present, like something you might live through in your lifetime.

The character arcs totally worked. The relationships felt genuine (which is why the emotion geyser at the end hit me so hard). I can't wait to read The Meme Plague.

Here's what the author says about the third book, set to release August 13, 2013.

MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert

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The Blurb:

On an otherwise glossy day, a blast goes off and a body thuds to the ground at Nora's feet. There are terrorist attacks in the city all the time, but Nora can't forget.

In Nora's world you don't have to put up with nightmares. Nora goes with her mother to TFC--a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic. There, she can describe her horrible memory and take a pill to erase it so she can go onlike nothing ever happened. But at TFC a chance encounter with a mysterious guy changes Nora's life. She doesn't take the pill. And when Nora learns the memory her mother has chosen to forget, she realizes that someone needs to remember.

With newfound friends Micah and Winter, Nora makes a comic book of their memories called Memento. Memento is an instant hit, but it sets off a dangerous chain of events. Will Nora, Micah, and Winter be forced to take the Big Pill that will erase their memories forever?

Angie Smibert's remarkable debut novel takes readers on a thrilling ride through a shadowy world where corporations secretly rule and consumerism is praised above all.

The Afterglow:

Memento Nora had me from hello. The title caught my interest because it was so different. Then the blurb held my interest. I immediately put it on my to-read list on goodreads, hoping to spend money on it another day since I was already maxed out that month (a common problem for me). It was just before Christmas that I remembered it. Maybe you can figure out why from the timing. I thought about all the things people wish they could forget, things they can't explain, traumatic things. And I wondered how it would be handled in a book where a pill can help you forget a trauma. 

It was handled well.

From three different points of view, Angie Smibert leads you into this world where consumerism is more than a fashion thing, it's a way of life. And if you stop consuming/buying things long enough to notice what's wrong in society, you might just disappear. 

Things I loved:

• a friendship where half the dialogue takes place through thoughts and facial expressions because they're just that tight. And it actually works. 
• a romance that didn't hit me over the head, was subtle and realistic in a surreal world. 
• a character with an artistic temperament (read: crazy) who builds kinetic sculptures!
• accidental revolutionaries
• unique characters with solid back stories
• the ending. Here's where I always have to be careful because I don't want to give any spoilers. I'll just say that the ending is both inevitable and surprising, troubling and satisfying. Can't figure out what that means? Me neither. Just read the book!

Also, the voice is fantastic! There's art in much of the prose, but it doesn't detract from the story at all. In fact, Winter's POV wouldn't be Winter without it.

As with many excellent books these days, this is the first in a series. I'll be hopping into the next one here soon:

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