What isn’t written, isn’t remembered. Even your crimes. Nadia lives in the city of Canaan, where life is safe and structured, hemmed in by white stone walls and no memory of what came before. But every twelve years the city descends into the bloody chaos of the Forgetting, a day of no remorse, when each person’s memories — of parents, children, love, life, and self — are lost. Unless they have … have been written.In Canaan, your book is your truth and your identity, and Nadia knows exactly who hasn’t written the truth. Because Nadia is the only person in Canaan who has never forgotten.But when Nadia begins to use her memories to solve the mysteries of Canaan, she discovers truths about herself and Gray, the handsome glassblower, that will change her world forever. As the anarchy of the Forgetting approaches, Nadia and Gray must stop an unseen enemy that threatens both their city and their own existence — before the people can forget the truth. And before Gray can forget her.
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Wow. Just wow. I was totally enthralled by this book. Here’s what reading it looked like —
0% to 20% – Huh. This is a really interesting premise for a story. Everyone forgets on a regular 14-year cycle and they don’t know why, so they write down the truth in their books and keep the books with them at all times. Lots of great thoughts on “truth” and what it means. I like the heroine a lot. I’ll keep reading because I’m intrigued.
20% to 40% – What is going on in this world? I am now REALLY intrigued as to why this girl, Nadia, is so different from everyone else. This guy, Gray, is really interesting too. What’s going on with her mom and sister? And wow, there’s a lot of great backstory.
40% to 50% – Holy crap. It’s just got sci-fi on me AND IT’S AWESOME.
Then I feverishly read from 50% onward until my eyeballs fell out. Not only did I love this story to pieces, I also learned a lot about storytelling from this one. I realized that sometimes it’s better to withhold details from the reader. Readers shouldn’t always be spoon-fed all the story elements. I’m going to do more withholding in my own work. I want readers to question everything.
Really excellent book. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
I may be a writer, but I read a whole lot more than I write and I’m always looking for something that will entirely take me away. Finding something entirely new and different in the YA genre is getting difficult, but this one definitely met that expectation!
I picked up the audiobook version of “The Forgetting” on a whim, but quickly grabbed the ebook so I could read and listen. The premise that an entire society forgets almost everything they know on a personal level every 12 years was so original that I had to have more.
The main character, Nadia, is a teenager who has a secret…but then again, almost everyone in this book has secrets. Like all people, Nadia writes the truth in a book every day. She does this because every 12 years something happens and everyone forgets all their personal history. They learn who they are by reading their own books…so they write their truth.
But, truth is relative, isn’t it? We sure find out how true that is in this book.
My honest review is that I liked the audiobook far better than the written version, simply because it was acted with such brilliance in the book. The whispered internal conversations, the pace of the dialogue, the emotion…wow. Brilliant. The book is written in a very close, first person, so if you’re not a fan of that format, it might not be as wonderful. I loved it. This one has a super high recommendation for those who like Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy, particularly in first person with a literary twist to the wording.
Seriously a great read!! I was fortunately surprised that the story wasnt what I thought I was getting into. It was a great plot and I loved the characters!! The characters were realistic and mature, they made smarty choices and the bad guy was that who I suspected at first. The author did a great job time up all the lose ends!! Over all such a great book!! I have two littles and managed to finish it in 2-3 days I had such a hard time putting it down…
Got this book in my September Uppercase box. I don’t know that it is one I would have picked out by reading the jacket. At first this book starts out like a new world type book but as you get farther into the book, you learn more and more details about what is really going on.
In this new world, everyone forgets every 12 years. So, in order to remember who they are, they carry books with them in which they record their truth. Nadia is different. She doesn’t forget. She isn’t sure why but she can remember everything.
The further into the book I got, the more I wanted to not put it down. This book may have started out slowly, but once it got going I couldn’t stop.
Overall this book gets four stars (four and a half if goodreads would let me!) Amazing story, complete ending, compelling characters. Loved it.
This book has an interesting premise, but it did take a while for the plot to advance. Other than the slow moving plot, this book was enjoyable!
It took me a while to get into the book but once I did I loved it.
There were turns but it also always kept you thinking. There is romance, mystery, and action in this dystopian society where every twelve years they forget. I love it. Ate it up!
This is now one of my all time favorites. It is an absolutely amazing book. I could go on for pages and pages about how much I love it, but I’ll try to keep this short. The characters were so well developed, I felt like I really connected with them. The plot was well thought out and absolutely adored the subtle humor that was thrown in so that the topic didn’t become too serious at some parts. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that is okay with shedding a few tears and getting a better understanding of people.
Plot, characters, everything was amazing, I’m just not 100% for the writing style. It felt choppy and too distant from the characters.
Very unique!
This book was a wonderful use of imagination. Filled with unexpected turns and twists.
Enjoyed this fast read. 🙂
This story had 5 star potential, but the ending was disappointing! Loved the female lead, she was strong, problem solving oriented and independent!
While I found the setting somewhat contrived, I loved the way the author, through relatively light storytelling, brings up some really heavy questions regarding identity (what is it that makes us who we are?), accountability ( if we cannot remember our actions, does that make this culpable?), truth and right vs wrong. Great for book club discussion.
This book felt like a load. I would say it felt like a mouthful as I ate it up, but it was more like a headful, if that helps explain how it was to read this book. It was good. I liked it. It would make a great movie. It leaves you hanging, ready to delve into The Forgetting #2. I was a little confused as I pieced the info together during this book, and it had more passion than I was interested in between the main characters. I read this as part of a reading challenge our 13-year-old daughter is part of for school. Eventually I might read the rest of the series, but it’s not killing me to jump in right away or anything.
Very confusing style of writing. The author needs to get a professional editor.
Didn’t finish it – it just bored me.