I really liked the first half of the novel My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. I love the premise of retaining one’s memory from life to life as you are reincarnated in a different body each time. It reminded me of  ‘Interview with a Vampire,’ or ‘Highlander.’ Even though those characters are immortal, Daniel, the main character in this novel shares many characteristics with them. Such as learning  many languages through the centuries, playing many instruments, stockpiling wealth, knowing science, history, medicine, sailing etc., all because he’s done these things many times over.

I also liked the format of the novel, taking us back in time to Daniel’s earlier lives, then bringing us up to date in the present, until the two meet. He is looking for his lost love Sophia, who also continues to reincarnate, but has no memory of her previous selves, or of Daniel. He has finally found her again in the present, after centuries of searching for her, and her name now is Lucy.

As I got about half way in, I kept thinking that this would make a great movie, and in fact I think Brashares wrote it with just that intention (It’s meant to be a movie in 2012.) Therefore, she had to introduce an evil villain – Daniel’s brother Joaquim, and set up an epic battle that even death wouldn’t end. This is where I got a little bored, and by the end I was pretty disappointed, as it became more of a silly movie script than what could have been a really good book. It’s also obvioulsy set up to be a sequel, so at the end we’re left hanging, with so many loose ends not tied up. This is an extremely unsatisfying way to end a book-especially when you’ve come to care about the characters, and you’re left with no idea what happens to any of them.

I think the movie will be a huge hit-maybe even a trilogy, and she’s obvioulsy found a way to make money off of this, but this does not make it a good novel, unfortunately. That being said-will I read the next one when it comes out?-sure-or maybe I’ll just see the movie.