Book Review – The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller ★★★★☆

Title:  The Memory of Animals

Author:  Claire Fuller

Genres: Literary Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Dystopian,

Pages: 320

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Expected Publication Date: 20 Apr 2023

Source: Netgalley

Neffy is a young woman running asway from grief and guilt and the one big mistake that has derailed her career. When she answers the call to volunteer in a controlled vaccine trial, it offers her a way to pay off her many debts and, perhaps, to make up for the past.
But when the London streets below her window fall silent, and all external communications cease, only Neffy and four other volunteers remain in the unit. With food running out, and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets, Neffy has questions that no-one can answer. Does safety lie inside or beyond the unit? And who, or what is out there? 
While she weighs up her choices, she is introduced to a pioneering and controversial technology which allows her to revisit memories from her life before: a childhood divided between her enigmatic mother and her father in his small hotel in Greece. Intoxicated by the freedom of the past and the chance to reunite with those she loves, she increasingly turns away from her perilous present. But in this new world where survival rests on the bonds between strangers, is she jeopardising any chance of a future?

 

Claire Fuller is an author who’s work continues to surprises me. I never know what to expect and this book is no exception. For the first time in her published work she has delved into the realm of speculative fiction, almost sci-fi but with a contemporary or very near future setting.

I am sure many writers in the middle of our recent pandemic may have played with the idea of what may happen if the disease was truly deadly, but she has ran with it and although the story can be bleak, the violence and death is mostly played off camera. This may well be a little bit too close to home for some readers but this isn’t Covid, it’s something much worse, more scary but fairly improbable by epidemiological standards. My main criticism is that any disease that made people as sick as this one seemed to, it would never spread widely as it’s victims would be confined to bed.

The narrative device of the prototype technology that lets her revisit childhood memories was a clever way to introduce an alternative timeline in a natural seeming way.

Neffy also writes letters addressed to Dearest H which all centre around Octopuses (or Octopodes if you prefer) and her work with them and they are a delightful restbit from all the tension and carnage.

All the characters are in their 20’s and this is not a particularly kind portrait of that generation. They mainly come across as flaky and selfish, not so much the protagonist but the rest of the group.

This is often quite bleak but the ending is guardedly hopeful. So much so that I wonder if there is any possibility of a sequel, but as she hasn’t written one to any of her other books it’s unlikely.

What I liked:

• I loved the Dearest H octopus interludes.

What didn’t work for me:

• Unlikable characters

Suitable For: Adults Only

• Sex: Some, and quite explicit.
• Violence: Yes, mostly implied and off camera.
• Drug Reference: Only alcohol
• Swearing: Yes

A pandemic novel with some interesting twists.

Goodreads

Claire Fuller trained first as a sculptor, then worked in marketing for many years. She did a masters degree in creative writing in 2013 at the University of Winchester.

This is her fifth novel. Her debut: Our Endless Numbered Days won the Desmond Elliott Prize and is an unsettling coming of age story. Her second book Swimming Lessons I liked but hated the ending (my review). And her third book Bitter Orange was one of my best reads of 2018 (my review). Her fourth Unsettled Ground about recently bereaved twins was one of my five star reads of 2021 (my review).

She lives in Winchester with her husband and two grown-up offspring.

Twitter: @ClaireFuller2

Website: http://www.clairefuller.co.uk