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A review by julianav
The Memory of Water by J.T. Lawrence
4.0
J. T Lawrence created the anti-hero we all love to hate. Slade Harris is not a mercenary who used to kill for hire or a smuggler working on the side of the good guys. He is a writer of literary fiction, who's had enough of a success to be in debt for his large expensive house and his expensive Jaguar. In the beginning of the book Slade is in the throes of writer's block. It's been a year since he strung together a sentence good enough to be printed, he's spent his advance from his publishers and he's hopelessly in love with his best friend Eve. In a last ditch effort he tries to regain some sort of control, but the effort fails and costs him his relationship with Eve.
Afterwards, in a moment of anger and reflection, Slade decides that killing the woman he still loves will be his next great story. And true to his credo of writing from his own experience, he needs to kill Eve for real, not just on the pages of a book.
I really love the idea that it's murder that gets Slade's creative juices flowing. Lawrence does an amazing job revealing Slade's background, his escapades and trauma to make him what he is. Through this journey, I realized that Slade's imagination only unlocks when the gauge of his real experience is reached, without it he cannot write a plausible sentence. Following his progress throughout the book, I never thought that my dislike of the main character could intensify... and yet with each chapter passing, I hated him more than ever. The book is told from Slade's point of view, who cannot pass a street corner or have an independent thought without attaching a paragraph where a phrase will do. Enamored of the literary greats, Slade views everything as an adventure to be immortalized. In the end, to me, despite his partial redemption Slade remains an unlikable sod, who finally managed to achieve some emotional growth. Sort of like the common first victim in cozy mystery books, where the protagonist has to figure out who didn't want him dead.
This is not an easy book, mostly because I think the character journey and experience defies expectations that readers (and listeners) must love the hero. After this book, that rule isn't really true for me. I would give it 4.5 stars, but the narration, whilst great in many ways, is about an adventure taking place in South Africa, was delivered in slightly Southern US accent. That and the pronunciation of some of the words and names were jarring enough to warrant the loss of a half a star.
Afterwards, in a moment of anger and reflection, Slade decides that killing the woman he still loves will be his next great story. And true to his credo of writing from his own experience, he needs to kill Eve for real, not just on the pages of a book.
I really love the idea that it's murder that gets Slade's creative juices flowing. Lawrence does an amazing job revealing Slade's background, his escapades and trauma to make him what he is. Through this journey, I realized that Slade's imagination only unlocks when the gauge of his real experience is reached, without it he cannot write a plausible sentence. Following his progress throughout the book, I never thought that my dislike of the main character could intensify... and yet with each chapter passing, I hated him more than ever. The book is told from Slade's point of view, who cannot pass a street corner or have an independent thought without attaching a paragraph where a phrase will do. Enamored of the literary greats, Slade views everything as an adventure to be immortalized. In the end, to me, despite his partial redemption Slade remains an unlikable sod, who finally managed to achieve some emotional growth. Sort of like the common first victim in cozy mystery books, where the protagonist has to figure out who didn't want him dead.
This is not an easy book, mostly because I think the character journey and experience defies expectations that readers (and listeners) must love the hero. After this book, that rule isn't really true for me. I would give it 4.5 stars, but the narration, whilst great in many ways, is about an adventure taking place in South Africa, was delivered in slightly Southern US accent. That and the pronunciation of some of the words and names were jarring enough to warrant the loss of a half a star.