Reviews

Memory Board by Jane Rule

alic59books's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review against another edition

5.0

Jane Rule’s 1987 Memory Board was recommended to me as the novel I should start with when approaching this Canadian lesbian writing legend who passed away in 2007. I followed the advice of the professors who gave me a quick Jane Rule 101 via facebook (thanks Wendy and Douglass!) and read Memory Board before being familiar with any of Rule’s other writing, so I can’t confirm (yet) that for me this is indeed her finest work. I can say, though, that it is definitely a book written by an experienced writer in firm control of her craft and the narrative at hand. Although it’s a novel, Memory Board is also a calculated psychological character study that has more going on in the heads and hearts of the characters than anything conventionally called action. There are a few events, of course, but Rule deals with these developments in such an understated manner that even the revelation that one of the minor characters has AIDS doesn’t feel as shocking as it ought to....

read the rest of my review on my website: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/a-glimpse-into-a-different-kind-of-queerness-a-review-of-jane-rules-novel-memory-board/