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Summary: A wonderful story of intrigue and fantasy
Review: I picked this book up on a whim,and I really am glad that I did. The story has kept me intruiged and wanting more. As an artist my self I really enjoyed the story of Isabelle, her paintings and the mystery that surrounds them. It is well worth the time to read it, plus it is short. I am now a Charles de Lint fan and will search out his other books.
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Summary: An Emotionally Moving Urban Fantasy
Review: I really didn't think I'd like this book. I usually try to avoid fantasy books without any science. I avoid them because they are either simplistic rehashes or cliche. There seems to be too much of this fantasy stuff around and much of it mediocre, and I avoided Charles De Lint as seemingly in this category. Finally though the cover and title of this book grabbed me and I tried it. I was really surprised at how this book kept my interest and really made me feel for the characters. Memory and Dream is a beautiful book that made me recall the love, memories, sadness, pain, redemption, forgiveness, and letting go that we all have to do with our dreams, pasts, and artistic creations. The book made me cry and laugh and feel..and that's what a dream should do...
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Summary: Where does fantasy begin and reality end?
Review: Memory and Dream made it into my reading list as a study of sorts. The fiction I've written and that I want to write perhaps best fits into the categories of magical realism and urban/contemporary fantasy. De Lint is considered by many to be one of the masters of the latter sub-genre, and Memory and Dream a representative work.
Memory and Dream is very different from the fantasy that I'm used to reading--it starts slowly, and devotes a lot of time developing the main character (an art student named Izzy) and her relationships with her brilliant but abusive mentor, her best friend and roommate, and the spirits that she brings into this world through her painting. De Lint doesn't have to spend as much time on world creation as traditional fantasists, but the world he creates and the rules of magic in it are believable and detailed.
I love reading introspective writing, and you could say that Memory and Dream is as much about Izzy and her paintings as it is about de Lint and his books and about any artist/author and the children that they so painstakingly create and then send forth into the world. The numena that Izzy brings into this world through her art are tied to their paintings--destroy the painting and you kill the numena. At first she refuses to sell them (or even display them much), feeling that they are much safer in her hands. Later (after talking to some of the beings she is responsible for bringing across), she is able to sell some of the paintings, and regrets it when she finds that some are killed (devoured, in a sense).
Both parents and artists can relate to Izzy's struggles, as we inject a portion of our souls into our children (of the brush, of the mind, of the loins) and then set them free to experience for themselves this harsh and beautiful world. And anything set free in this way ultimately asserts its own influence and is in turn transformed by the world, for better or for worse.
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Summary: A special look at art and life and magic
Review: My first DeLint, I am hooked on the eloquent prose, this dialogue and development of the characters..I felt I knew them and didn't want to book to end. The picture he paints with words about art and the arts in general are so true to life/ A good read for the summer
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Summary: Thought Provoking and Emotionally Evocative
Review: There is something hauntingly beautiful about Memory and Dream, like a bittersweet vignette that one cannot confirm is real or fantasy. It is within the subterranean world of dream, shadow, delusion, and instinct that the underlying themes of the herione's story unfold. Her struggles with her mentor, her tenuous hold on reality, and the creative force she tries to cut from her life are all very reminiscient of the growing pangs of a child into maturity... and of our collective fear of what our shadow could release in the midst of the creation process.
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Summary: This book was a real journey through my past
Review: This book hit a very strong chord with me.....for much of my young life I struggled to be an artist and while my creations didn't have the true magic Isabelle's did, to me and my friends they did...it was very emotional journey for me to read this book, in some ways it mirrored my life and in others it was vastly different. Even in the real world to be an artist is a magical thing and so much of what De Lint puts in this tale deals with what it is like to really be an artist, I just love it.
It is an amazing story and one of CDL's absolute best..dark and terrifying at points, beautuful and magical in others. This book is brilliant and will always remain one of my favorites...
Rating:
Summary: One of De Lint's strongest
Review: This book is very near the top of my favorites list. "Memory & Dream" is one of the most emotionally powerful books I have read. I felt such a strong connection to the characters, and found myself mirroring their emotions as they felt them. Anyone who has ever felt unsure of herself will see some of herself in Isabelle, and Kathy's story will absolutely break your heart. Rosalind and Cosette make me smile whenever I think of them. This book will make you laugh and cry, and you'll feel as though you have made a whole new set of friends that you'll have to revisit again and again.
Rating:
Summary: One of De Lint's strongest
Review: This book is very near the top of my favorites list. "Memory & Dream" is one of the most emotionally powerful books I have read. I felt such a strong connection to the characters, and found myself mirroring their emotions as they felt them. Anyone who has ever felt unsure of herself will see some of herself in Isabelle, and Kathy's story will absolutely break your heart. Rosalind and Cosette make me smile whenever I think of them. This book will make you laugh and cry, and you'll feel as though you have made a whole new set of friends that you'll have to revisit again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing
Review: This book starts out with a chance meeting between Isabelle, an aspiring artist, and Rushkin, a famous painter. Rushkin offers to take Isabelle on as a student and begins teaching her the finer points of his art. As Isabelle begins to discover, one of the finer points of Rushkin's art is the ability to bring faerie creatures to life through the paintings. These creatures would "cross over" from "the before" to take up real lives in Isabelle's world. But soon after Isabelle discovers the pleasure of bringing these creatures to life, she has to deal with the grief of losing them because somebody is preying upon these faerie creatures. Isabelle must fight to save them from destruction.This was the first novel I've read by Charles de Lint and it certainly won't be the last. My favorite part of the book was the way everything was tied together and chance encounters brought quick results. It seemed like every action of every character was somehow part of the big picture, and it tied things up into a very neat little package. I loved the interactions of the characters, especially the faerie characters. Every person seemed vibrant and alive, like I could meet them outside of the book. Although I don't see this book as being one that epic fantasy readers would get excited about (it was a relatively short book and not very deep) it might be good for a break between epic novels. I would definitely recommend it to people who like light fantasy or people who enjoy books where our world collides with a more mysterious one.
Rating:
Summary: A vivid, page-turning read!!
Review: This is the DeLint book to give to a friend or loved one. The characters are well developed, interesting, and seem to float off of the page into reality--this is fantasy at its best!!
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