I am obsessed with reincarnation. In the West, most of us are raised to ridicule the notion of living more than one life, but the more I study it, the more I am convinced it is actually one of the more merciful things G-d does for us hard-headed humans. It doesn't seem fair to get only one chance at doing it right.
I have wanted to write a novel with reincarnation as a theme for awhile now, but lo and behold, Ann Brashares already did, and much better than I could have done.
My Name is Memory is the story of a boy who can remember every life he has ever lived, and the girl he loves and loses each time.
With a beautiful plot that weaves together snatches of his past lives with his current one, Brashares manages to share wisdom and philosophy without a soapbox or a block of cheese.
My favorite paragraph so far:
"That was always a source of amazement to him, the blind devotion to making things new. People didn't seem to realize what a slender edge they stood on in human history and that every person before them stood on that same edge, thinking it was the world. If they were to look back they would see quite a landscape spreading out behind them, but mostly they didn't."
I'm not even halfway through, and I've already recommended it to at least two people. Now I'm recommending it to you. :)
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