The Reminders
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4.4 • 9 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
From the author of Dear Evan Hansen, The Reminders is perfect for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan's The Engagement or Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, and follows what happens when a girl who can't forget befriends a man who's desperate to remember.
Grief-stricken over his partner Sydney's death, Gavin sets fire to every reminder in the couple's home before fleeing Los Angeles for New Jersey, where he hopes to find peace with the family of an old friend. Instead, he finds Joan.
Joan, the family's ten-year-old daughter, was born Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM: the rare ability to recall every day of her life in cinematic detail. Joan has never met Gavin until now, but she did know his partner, and waiting inside her uncanny mind are startlingly vivid memories to prove it.
Gavin strikes a deal with Joan: in return for sharing her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help her win a songwriting contest she's convinced will make her unforgettable. The unlikely duo set off on their quest until Joan reveals unexpected details about Sydney's final months, forcing Gavin to question not only the purity of his past with Sydney but the course of his own immediate future. Told in the alternating voices of these two irresistible characters, The Reminders is a hilarious and tender exploration of loss, memory, friendship, and renewal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Emmich's quirky first novel tracks the developing friendship between 10-year-old Joan and 30-something Gavin as they unite to try to win a songwriting contest. Joan, who lives with her musician dad and teacher mom in urban New Jersey, is one of a few dozen people in the world with a condition called highly superior autobiographical memory, which means that she remembers everything that has ever happened to her and on what day. TV actor Gavin has just lost his partner, Sydney, to a heart attack. He flees California to grieve at the home of his college friends, Joan's parents, who are facing their own issues about finances and career choices. When Gavin learns that Joan has met Syd, they agree that he will help her write a song, and she will recall every meeting she had with Syd in detail. As Gavin listens, he must face a mystery about Syd's last few months. Told in the alternating voices of Joan and Gavin, and illustrated with doodled line drawings from Joan's journal, the breezy novel raises intriguing questions about the nature of memory.
