Within the first few pages of this book, the reader is whisked away to another world. Hana lives in a place where people come to forget the choices they once had. On the face of it, this service seems like a good one - everyone has a choice they have made where they later wonder what might have happened if they had chosen differently. Hana and her father take that away, leaving the person with no memory of that choice ever having existed.
But here's the thing:what price is paid for that forgetfulness? It made me wonder if I would like to forget any possible paths my life might have taken. If I'm honest, I'm not sure I would. We are a product of the choices we make in life and if we forget those choices and the emotions tied up in them, I think we risk losing a part of our current selves.
The book also makes the reader question how we think about the universe. Most people spend much of their life running from one task to the next, myself included. I read this book at the end of a blissful week in rural France, where I did little but relax and read. I think this is the first time I've ever had this kind of holiday and one of the reasons it was so wonderful was because it was much needed. This has been a very stressful year and to have the opportunity to do nothing was very welcome. Time is a luxury we don't often have and we were determined to make the most of it. In the book, time can be bought but it has been gathered from the time lost by those whose lives were cut short. It is not only Kei who is brought up short by this revelation: it is a stark reminder to the reader quite how precious a commodity time is.
However, the overriding theme of this book is love and the lies it makes us tell ourselves and others. Love makes people cowardly, foolish, brave and everything in between. It has the power to bond people for life or tear them apart and every angle is explored here. The characters do the most awful things in the name of love, but it also inspires them to act more courageously than they imagined possible.
Samantha Sotto Yambao has created a terrifyingly beautiful world and whilst it's not one I would want to live in, it's one I was reluctant to leave.
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