The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller

Synopsis:

Humans are useless at learning from their mistakes. We just have to keep making new plans .

When Neffy wakes up from an uneasy sleep in a hospital bed, nothing is as it should be. There is no food and nobody to tend to her. The city streets outside her window have fallen silent. She doesn't know it yet, but a debilitating new virus is sweeping the globe, and the world will never be the same again.

Feverish, confused and wary of the strangers trapped inside with her, Neffy finds solace in her own memories of the past - even the memories of the mistakes that led her here.

But as the days turn into weeks, it is clear that Neffy will have to make a choice. How do you choose between a past that has already disappeared for ever, and a future you can't begin to imagine?

Humans are useless at learning from their mistakes. We just have to keep making new plans .

When Neffy wakes up from an uneasy sleep in a hospital bed, nothing is as it should be. There is no food and nobody to tend to her. The city streets outside her window have fallen silent. She doesn't know it yet, but a debilitating new virus is sweeping the globe, and the world will never be the same again.

Feverish, confused and wary of the strangers trapped inside with her, Neffy finds solace in her own memories of the past - even the memories of the mistakes that led her here.

But as the days turn into weeks, it is clear that Neffy will have to make a choice. How do you choose between a past that has already disappeared for ever, and a future you can't begin to imagine?

Review:

I personally feel that this book was a complete waste of my energy. It's not even that I didn't enjoy it because there have definitely been more boring books. But the plot literally does not go anywhere. The whole premise is sold as a mysterious apocalypse, and in the end that is exactly what it stays as. And the mystery isn't even presented as unsolvable (I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler) but in the end there are just two massive time skips- the first is just under 2 years and the whole chapter is spent explaining everything that happened in that skip, and right after is a 54 year skip in which we don't even learn anything ever. It actually would've been better to just leave it before the second time skip because it was already left at a cliff hanger. You don't need to write another chapter which does nothing for the story whatsoever. The whole story is spent showing that instead of solving any of the mysteries presented, Neffy prefers to never look past her own nose and instead has to make US suffer through her horrid memories, which quite literally never make sense. I feel like there was the opportunity to make her a really complex character, but the plot goes by too quickly to actually unpack her problems, so she becomes infuriating as she continues to ignore all the red flags around her. The only thing I appreciate about this book is the plot twist, which I definitely did not see coming, but even that goes by too fast. The Memory of Animals could be enjoyable for someone who wants to be entertained by all the drama going on in this girl's life, but other than that there is no real sustenance in there.

*Spoilers ahead*

At least the title is accurate because overall you read more about this woman falling in love with an octopus than anything going on with the world currently. Instead of finding out where everyone went, why they were abandoned, what happened to the vaccine, you spend the whole book going back in this girl's memories to find out she has weird relationships with everyone ever. Especially with the bit where she is dating her stepbrother, which everyone acts like is a totally normal occurrence??? I can guarantee that if you asked anyone in real life they would not be okay with that. Speaking of the stepbrother, why is there a whole dramatic build up to him being stuck on a plane, with people screaming and everything- and all of that is forgotten for the rest of the book?

I feel like this whole review is me just asking why there's so many plot points that are completely ignored. But I just cannot understand what was meant to be conveyed in this book because even going back in her memories, we never find out what we are meant to learn from them, except the fact that she clearly has never made a good decision in her life and instead of trying out experimental vaccines, she probably needs about seven psychiatrists to help fix what is going on up there in her head.

I personally feel that this book was a complete waste of my energy. It's not even that I didn't enjoy it because there have definitely been more boring books. But the plot literally does not go anywhere. The whole premise is sold as a mysterious apocalypse, and in the end that is exactly what it stays as. And the mystery isn't even presented as unsolvable (I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler) but in the end there are just two massive time skips- the first is just under 2 years and the whole chapter is spent explaining everything that happened in that skip, and right after is a 54 year skip in which we don't even learn anything ever. It actually would've been better to just leave it before the second time skip because it was already left at a cliff hanger. You don't need to write another chapter which does nothing for the story whatsoever. The whole story is spent showing that instead of solving any of the mysteries presented, Neffy prefers to never look past her own nose and instead has to make US suffer through her horrid memories, which quite literally never make sense. I feel like there was the opportunity to make her a really complex character, but the plot goes by too quickly to actually unpack her problems, so she becomes infuriating as she continues to ignore all the red flags around her. The only thing I appreciate about this book is the plot twist, which I definitely did not see coming, but even that goes by too fast. The Memory of Animals could be enjoyable for someone who wants to be entertained by all the drama going on in this girl's life, but other than that there is no real sustenance in there.

*Spoilers ahead*

At least the title is accurate because overall you read more about this woman falling in love with an octopus than anything going on with the world currently. Instead of finding out where everyone went, why they were abandoned, what happened to the vaccine, you spend the whole book going back in this girl's memories to find out she has weird relationships with everyone ever. Especially with the bit where she is dating her stepbrother, which everyone acts like is a totally normal occurrence??? I can guarantee that if you asked anyone in real life they would not be okay with that. Speaking of the stepbrother, why is there a whole dramatic build up to him being stuck on a plane, with people screaming and everything- and all of that is forgotten for the rest of the book?

I feel like this whole review is me just asking why there's so many plot points that are completely ignored. But I just cannot understand what was meant to be conveyed in this book because even going back in her memories, we never find out what we are meant to learn from them, except the fact that she clearly has never made a good decision in her life and instead of trying out experimental vaccines, she probably needs about seven psychiatrists to help fix what is going on up there in her head.

The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller