Teens Read and Write: Book Review: MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Book Review: MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert

MEMENTO NORA
by Angie Smibert
genre: Teen Fiction/Dystopian

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Nora, the popular girl and happy consumer, witnesses a horrific bombing on a shopping trip with her mother. In Nora’s near-future world, terrorism is so commonplace that she can pop one little white pill to forget and go on like nothing ever happened. However, when Nora makes her first trip to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic, she learns what her mother, a frequent forgetter, has been frequently forgetting. Nora secretly spits out the pill and holds on to her memories. The memory of the bombing as well as her mother’s secret and her budding awareness of the world outside her little clique make it increasingly difficult for Nora to cope. She turns to two new friends, each with their own reasons to remember, and together they share their experiences with their classmates through an underground comic. They soon learn, though, they can’t get away with remembering.

Angie Smibert's MEMENTO NORA uses a clever writing style that has the main characters in a government detention telling their story just before their memories are to be erased.

Nora - average teen living a comfortable upper middle class life, with mom and dad and their seemingly happy home life. But she makes a brave choice in the beginning to face some unexpected ugliness, and develops from clueless consumer to courageous rebel with a cause.

Micah - strong free spirited artist living through tough circumstances who becomes Nora's budding romantic interest. He's sweet and strong and has an authentic voice that I found adorable. His friend Winter, spunky, smart, lives with her grandfather because her parents were sent to detention for bucking the government system.

These unique teens pool their talents to right some of the terrible wrongs going on in the society, a grim world where bombings from a shadowy terrorist group are a daily occurrence, and forgetting all the bad in the world is only a white pill away.

Smibert does a wonderful job of intertwining events of the past into the lives of those in the present. Great world-building too. It's a different society but with so many similarities to our own, it was scary to see how this one could develop.

Most of the secondary characters turn out to be something other than what they seem, which adds to the many surprises and unexpected twists that make MEMENTO NORA a fun read. The last third of the book I flew through because I was so invested in the story, the characters, the outcome. I was rooting for them all the way.

The ending was happy and fulfilling, yet sad and bittersweet. I'm excited for the sequel so I can see how this all plays out.

For only 184 pages and a small sized book (7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches), MEMENTO NORA packs a bundle of layers, compelling characters, political intrigue and high stakes drama in a brisk-paced thriller!

Thanks to Teen Book Scene and author Angie Smibert for letting us be part of the tour! And for a chance to win this great read just fill out the form below. Good luck!