Memory (Phoenix Award Book (Awards)) - Softcover

Mahy, Margaret

3.7

300 ratings by Goodreads

9780689829116: Memory (Phoenix Award Book (Awards))

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689829116 ISBN 13: 9780689829116

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 1999

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Nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart, still troubled by guilt and a foggy recollection of the accident that took his sister's life five years ago, learns about memory and loss from Sophie, a gentle old woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Reprint.

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About the Author:

Margaret Mahy was born in New Zealand and has loved telling stories all her life. She has published well over a hundred titles and won several major prizes and awards, including The Order of New Zealand, for her internationally-acclaimed contribution to children's literature. She has twice won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, (The Haunting, 1982, and The Changeover, 1984).Margaret lives in the South Island of New Zealand, in a house which she partially built herself, overlooking Governor's Bay.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up Memorythe crucial center of our identities, its joy and pain, and the consequences of its dislocationis the theme of Mahy's latest novel. Nine teen-year-old Jonny Dart is both run ning away from the painful memory of his sister's death, and towards under standing his role in that death. In a mo ment of crisis he meets Sophie, an Alz heimer's victim in her 80s, and the two are drawn together. Both are trapped to some extent by their memories; both are outcasts living within a kaleido scopic vision of both past and present. Even the minor characters echo the hold of memory, and the setting is dom inated by a giant fake faucet that hangs on a sign overlooking the old lady's house. What a powerful image of the flow of memory! In caring for Sophie, including one memorable, funny, yet delicate scene where Jonny gently bathes her, readers see a process of re orientation and healing for the torment ed young man. Sophie's condition is de picted realistically as incurable, but readers' empathy and respect for the dignity that lies behind the mismatched clothing and wandering conversation will grow steadily chapter by chapter. Warmly recommended for its insight into a special relationship, vivid de scriptions and depth of character por trayal, this will be appreciated by thoughtful readers. Barbara Hutche son, Greater Victoria Public Library, B.C., Canada
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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