Review: The Sea of Forgotten Memories
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 19, 2011
**I received this complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my review**I enjoy reading new books by unknown (at least to me) authors - it's like an adventure to discover new characters and settings, to experience how another writer crafts their characters and the journey they are taken on.Well, I was taken on a journey - a journey to the Maltese Islands . . . a Southern European country in the middle of the Mediterranean . . . and along this journey I met a varied cast of characters who call Malta home. Among them include two brothers in love with the same woman, a woman whose passion and intellect far exceed what the island can provide her and a young man struggling with the truth of who he is and the family he thought he knew.Before venturing into what I liked or did not like about this book, I want to sat that one of its high points were the four amazing, thought provoking, memorable quotes that I came across that cause me to stop a moment and reflect. I will share two of them here . . ."But once words have been said there is no way to un-say them." So simply and yet so profoundly true. The power of words and the impact that have are so potent that even when said in a moment of anger or without thought, cannot be taken back no matter how much you regret saying them."Writing is like sculpturing words out of a block of imagination. Sentences chisel the story, then characters make it their own." Wow. This one really made me stop. As a writer myself, I know exactly what is being said here. My belief is that it's not the writer who is telling the story, but the characters and if you let them loose, it's amazing where they can take you.The main thing that I liked about this book - beyond the quotes above and two others I had come across - was the imagery the words evoked. Right from the beginning, never even having heard of the Maltese Islands (you can see how well versed I am in geography) through the words the author chose I got a sense that I knew these islands and the waters surrounding them. The descriptions of the storms at sea, of being thrown into the waters, being conscious of almost drowning . . . Federico Chini made me feel like I was there . . . feeling those very things in that moment.But even with this amazing use of sensory imagery, the one thing that bothered me throughout the entire book was that there were too many characters, too many stories, to much going back and forth in the time line between past and present, that I didn't have a chance to connect fully with any of the characters. Once I thought I had a feel for one of them and could feel myself getting into their story, there would be a shift and I'd be in another part of the story, a different time, with a different characters. If the story had stuck to telling about Gorg, Karmenu, Dwardu and Ana Marija, it would have been a wonderful story and I would have been able to tell where the murder mystery was and tried to figure out who did it and delight in being right or surprised in being wrong. But I couldn't do that. Instead, I was tossed all over the place - like one of the luzzu boats in the middle of a storm at sea. More than once I lost sense of the story and the fact that there was a murder mystery.Federico Chini has amazing potential. As long as he retains his use of sensory imagery through his word choice and focuses the story on one plot and not a large stable of characters, he will be an amazing author with amazing stories to tell.