The Memory Room

Rating:
Summary: good writing, scary reading
Review: Briefly, the beautiful and courageous writing outway the
terrifying details and 'memory' the book leaves the reader

Rating:
Summary: The Memory Room: A compelling and accessible read
Review: I loved this book! First of all, the writing is exquisite -- poetic, compelling, restrained. The novel's pace strikes the perfect note. Rakow's masterful interweaving of poetry and prose, of religion, psychology and art, serves the story well and mercifully prevents the subject of childhood abuse from sinking into the grotesque or sensational. Rather, it brings it to a level of universality, and moves the reader to compassion.
This is a breathtaking masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful novel
Review: I was so surprised by the Memory Room. I picked it up not knowing what to expect and I found that it fed me mentally and spiritually more than anything else in my life for the past two years! Now, I know that's not saying much for my life, but I need to impress upon you that any time spent with Mary Rakow's novel will be time spent pondering the most essential quesitons about human nature and that every reader will be given a gift with Rakow's eloquent prose. I absolutely loved it. It was intelligent, graceful and ambitious.

Rating:
Summary: Echoes of An Interior Life
Review: Mary Rakow writes with a poet's spirit and a poet's eye. On each page she provides a pause, a space for the contemplative reader - to reflect on the sacred and profane.

On the surface level she takes the reader into the world of one woman's tortured psyche. Yet this is no ordinary story of abuse. It is a homage to the multilayering of a human being's interior living. In this aspect, Ms. Rakow's novel is unlike most novels since it does not read only as purely linear narrative. The movements of the story flow in the immediacy of the main character's voice.

The reader, upon entering this novel, adjusts, as to a darkened room, reaching into the unknown to find the familiar. Making that shift, one reads with awe. We bear witness to a woman's faith that her dismembered life can be rewoven into a new beginning, which the novelist calls "a holy place. A new Jerusalem". And in the use of language itself, with its rawness and exquisite purity, she uses the white spaces of the page with a sacristan's devotion and the eye of the true artist.

To read her is to gaze upon the profound and complex nature of what it is to be human.

Rating:
Summary: I did not want this book to end.
Review: Mary Rakow's prose knocks your socks off, I am now a fan of her Paul Celan as well. It is not an easy book but one well worth the effort. I am buying this book as gifts for very special people.

Rating:
Summary: I did not want this book to end.
Review: Mary Rakow's prose knocks your socks off, I am now a fan of her Paul Celan as well. It is not an easy book but one well worth the effort.

I am buying this book to give as gifts to very special people. I eagerly await her next book.

Rating:
Summary: redefining the form
Review: Most novels are content to follow a basic pattern of beginning, middle, end. Occasionally, very occasionally, a novel will come along that redefines the form. Mary Rakow's "The Memory Room" is a striking example. Yes, there is a plot, there is a back story, but these things, effective as they are, matter less than Rakow's pure inventiveness with language, thought, image - all the tools at our command with which we communicate.

This book takes the kind of risks that reward readers who care about writing. The story transcends its particulars to express a universal desire in us all: the desire to be recognized, to recognize ourselves, and become more whole. If that sounds ponderous, don't be mistaken. This is, as the phrase goes, a good read.

Rating:
Summary: hope
Review: The first time I read this book, I was struck by her suffering, I could not bear to read it all. With about a fourth of the book left, I skipped to the end and read it backwards. Glad for an ending that seemed hopeful. This time I read the book normally, knowing what would happen and not as worried for an end I couldn't read.

The poetry in this book traces out a past that almost feels like it could be mine. Yours. Any readers. I read a review of this book where the reader complained that memory does not work this way. That the story is ridiculous for it's portrayal of repressed memories. I don't know the truth of that, and I don't care to. This book is not about repressed memories as much as it is about confronting our fears. Reaching deep inside of ourselves, through all sorts of darkness, to find whatever hope and love and beauty that we can.

This book is beautiful. It is entirely characterized by this quotation: "A conspiracy of language gently bending my perception in a more hopeful arc." I found hope in this book.

It reminded me to focus on the things that I love rather than the things that I fear. The first time I read it, I needed that reminder very badly. Today, I'm just glad to once again realize that there is a great deal of beauty in the world.

Rating:
Summary: The Poetry of Horror
Review: This book is simply brilliant. The author uses poetic phrases to describe a childhood too horrific to remember. But through it all, comes music as a balm for the wounded soul, comes phrases of poetry and the poetry of the King James Bible as she calls on psalms for redemption. The music of Rakow's language is startling and beautiful. The journey she takes with her psychiatrist is extremely moving and very real. At times I found myself re-reading a passage just for the aesthetics of a phrase. Other times I found myself too caught in the pain and so had to leave the book for a short time. Always, though, I returned to find out how Barbara found her way to healing. I tasted the beautiful words through the salt of my tears and remembered Sylvia Plath. This author should receive highest awards for this wonderfully-written story and her memorable characters. Anyone who loves beautiful language will be thrilled with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This book was incredible from start to finish! Mary enables you to explore your past safely, walk through the present gently, and guide you into the future with comfort and assurance.

I highly recommend this book for anyone dealing w/a haunitng past.