"So what's the point in saving someone's life if they don't even know you're the one who saved them?" (p. 396)Justin Hitchcock.Empat puluh tahun. Duda cerai dengan satu anak. Professor dalam bidang Art and Architecture. Sinis, sedikit egois, childish, bitter. Dengan semua masalah yang dihadapinya, pengalaman pertamanya dalam mendonorkan darah mengubah semuanya."How can you even die when you haven't even been born yet?" (p. 416)"I want to be on my own to grieve. I want to feel sorry for myself without sympathetic words and clinical explanations. I want to be illogical, self-pitying, self-examining, bitter and lost for just a few more days, please, world, and I want to do it alone." (p.424)Joyce Conway.Tiga puluh tiga tahun. Pernikahannya diambang perceraian. Tidak bahagia menjadi alasan terbesarnya, kemudian bayi yang telah ditunggu-tunggu selama ini harus pergi karena kecelakaan yang dialaminya.Hidupnya berubah setelah kecelakaan itu. Mengapa? "Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you." (p. 520)Henry Conway.Tujuh puluh lima tahun. Ayah yang menyayangi putrinya, dan mengingat mendiang istrinya, dengan caranya sendiri. Terkadang salah memanggil Joyce dengan Gracie, nama mendiang istrinya."When she died, he surrounded himself with all the things she adored. he put Gay (Byrne) on the radio every morning, watched Mum's television shows, bought her favorite biscuits in his weekly shopping trip even though he never ate them. He liked to see them on the shelf when he opened the cupboard, liked to see her magazines beside his newspaper. He liked her slippers staying beside her armchair by the fire. He liked to remind himself that his entire world hadn't fallen apart. Sometimes we need all the glue we can get, just to hold ourselves together." (p. 464)"Do you miss her?""It's been ten years, love."It stings that he can be so dismissive. I fold my arms and look away, silently fuming.Dad leans closer and nudges me. "And everyday, I miss her more that I did the day before."Oh. I immediately feel guilty for wishing that on him."It's like my garden, love. Everything grows. Including love. And with that growing everyday how can you expect missing her to ever fade away? Everything builds, including our ability to cope with it. That's how we keep going." (p. 594)Cecelia Ahern sekali lagi menunjukkan kepiawaiannya dalam memengaruhi emosi pembaca.Membaca buku ini, gue bisa ikut menangis merasakan kepedihan, terharu atas kekuatan cinta, hingga tertawa sampai keluar air mata membaca kekonyolan-kekonyolan tokoh Henry Conway.Ide ceritanya sungguh menarik. Cukup familiar. Terasa begitu nyata dengan semua rasa sakit dan cinta yang dituliskan dilembar-lembarnya. Seakan-akan kita adalah bagian dari ceritanya. Tidak banyak penulis yang bisa menghanyutkan pembaca seperti halnya Cecelia.Tapi buat gue, jalan cerita yang awalnya begitu nyata ini mulai terasa fiktifnya saat Joyce mengirimkan tiket opera kepada Justin melalui perantara Thomas. Sampai disini, gue langsung berasa antiklimaks. Seperti halnya kita sedang melamunkan hal-hal yang indah, begitu indah sampai terasa seakan-akan nyata, tapi kemudian dengan satu kedipan saja semua kembali ke dunia nyata.Tapi ini menjadi salah satu buku favorit gue lagi dari Cecelia Ahern. Kalau bukan untuk membaca kisah Joyce dan Justin, pasti untuk 'menghidupkan' Henry Conway di dalam kepala gue.Dibawah adalah potongan dialog saat Henry dan Joyce terbang ke London, dan ini adalah pengalaman pertama bagi Henry. Di bagian ini gue ketawa ngakak kenceng banget jam 2 malem. hahaha..'What's this for, Gracie?''It's a sick bag.''What does this do?''It's for hanging your coat up.''Why is that there?''It's a table.''How do you get it down?''By unlatching it, at the top.''Sir, please leave your table-top up until after take-off.'Silence. *muahahahaha*'What are they doing outside?''Loading the bags.''What's that yoke?''An ejector seat for people who ask three million questions.' *HUAHAHAHAHA*'What's it, really?''For reclining your chair.''Sir, could you stay upright until after take-off please?' Silence. *hihihihihi*'What does that do?''Air conditioning.''What about that?''A light.''And that one?''Yes, sir, can I help you?''Eh, no, thanks.''You pressed the button for assistance.''Oh, is that what that little woman on the button is for? I didn't know. Can I have a drink of water?''We can't serve drinks until after take-off, sir."Udah yah, segini aja. Nanti kalo dilanjutin yang ada gue nyalin satu buku disini hahaha..PS: Buku yang gue baca ini sebenernya jadi satu sama buku A Place Called Here. Jadi 2 books in 1 gitu. Makanya jumlah halamannya banyak. Tapi di Goodreads, belum ada edisi bukunya. Jadi sementara dibuat terpisah dulu.
Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of this book. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, because it's not that Ahern can't write. The prologue is beautifully written and sets up an intriguing mystery. Who is this woman? How pregnant is she? Has she lost the baby? How did she fall down the stairs? Who was on the phone? I couldn't wait to get into the book and find out what happened. And then - I just didn't believe it. And I'm not even talking about the plot, as implausible as it is. (Boy donates blood, girl gets boy's blood after falling down the stairs, girls suddenly has all of the dude's memories.) The problem was that I didn't believe the characters, at all. They didn't seem like real people, they seemed like devices to churn the plot. I feel the need to give examples of what I mean, though they probably will seem petty. Joyce's dad is described as having planned his entire life out, yet when they're in London doesn't know how to pack a suitcase and makes a disaster of it. It seems like anyone who is all about organization should be able to fold his clothes and put them in a bag. Joyce, on the other hand, is described as just rushing into things in life without thinking them through - yet she's spent the past ten years redecorating her house in a loveless marriage. Really? So, she flies by the seat of her pants, but no affairs or other craziness outside of choosing drapes in all those years of boredom? Ooooooo-kay.Other stupid things that annoyed me: Justin, the boy blood donor, makes a slightly cheeky remark at an elderly lady in the dentist waiting room. Her response is to throw a magazine at his head. Really? That's just not really something people do, and Justin appears unsurprised and just keeps walking away. Then, Joyce again. She miscarries in the middle of her second trimester, and in one scene there is very detailed description of her pulling on her jeans. So ... she's already back in pre-pregnancy jeans? And if so, she doesn't feel a pang or anything about that during the FIVE PAGES she's busy pulling them on? I could go on, but I suspect I'm the only one who would be interested.Other that all that crap, though, there are other really well-written pieces sprinkled throughout the novel. At one point Ahern describes staring into a mirror, how your face looks like a stranger's. (I never knew other people did that.) The grieving that Joyce does for her baby, including her wanting to just be alone and feel self-pity - that was great. (Not for Joyce, but you know what I mean.) And the way Joyce and her dad talk about slowing down and enjoying the present rang very true for me. So, in summary, eh. It wasn't my favorite, and I wouldn't recommend it to most people I know - though I do know a few that would probably really like it.
What do You think about Thanks For The Memories (2008)?
A weird little story. I guess this is "chick lit"!I wanted to know what happened next and cared about the characters who are all pretty likeable, but nobody had much flesh about them. While there is the odd deep and meaningful philosophising paragraph, this is not highbrow stuff - just a gentle and occasionally funny read - worth it just for the Dad character!I enjoyed it - it was OK, if a bit frothy. The premise of someone gaining the tastes and memories of someone else through a blood transfusion was different, but ultimately this is no more than a romantic boy-and-girl-trying-to-find-eachother story and it wasn't that exciting.
—Andee-louise
"Thanks For The Memories","Cecilia Ahern","","review","Thanks for the Memories is one of the few books i never dare put down when i started it. the book is soooooo good at every aspect that it made me roll with laughter, look deeper into why people are always in a hurry with life (instead of sometimes just look and appreciate everything around them). it made me feel to want to spend more time with my mom, tell stories and laugh with her as to nobody knows how long we'll all be here on earth. made me fall in love all over again. the ""pull"" of love between the two main characters are sometimes romantic, funny and unbelievable, but otherwise made me believe more in TRUE LOVE. and that, when one thing ends, another will start... don't lose faith and hope, for it is the only thing we have to keep on going. and LOVE, with all your heart, with all your might, with all of you and what you can give. 5 stars for the book and 2 thumbs up to Cecelia Ahern for a very very very BEAUTIFUL novel."
—Jhoie Saldua
Ahern, queen of the "soul mates will find each other" chic lit fairy tales, has another winner on her hands. There's always a bit of magic involved in her tales, but this one has the biggest dose yet. Protagonist Joyce takes a tumble down some stairs, losing her baby (and ultimately her marriage) and needing a blood transfusion. While still in the hospital, she discovers she has all sorts of new knowledge--architectural, artistic, historic, a grasp of languages--that she had no actual way of having gained. And then the memory flashes begin--of a woman on a picnic blanket, a tow headed little girl she's never met, and a life she has never lived. She's getting intimate glimpses of someone else's past, and she becomes obsessed with figuring out whose. A couple of chance meetings with a tall man set sparks flying and the comedic dance of trying to get two strangers who are meant to be together ACTUALLY together begins. It's a fun, light read coming out just in time for sunshine and beaches!Jackie
—Tattered Cover Book Store
