Book Review: Forgotten

Forgotten: A Novel

About the Book:

Emma Tupper is a dedicated lawyer with a bright future. But when she takes a month-long leave of absence to go on an African vacation, she ends up facing unexpected consequences. After she falls ill and spends six months trapped in a remote village thanks to a devastating earthquake, Emma returns home to discover that her friends, boyfriend, and colleagues thought she was dead—and that her life has moved on without her.

As she struggles to re-create her old life, throwing herself into solving a big case for a client and trying to reclaim her beloved apartment from the handsome photographer who assumed her lease, everyone around her thinks she should take the opportunity to change. But is she willing to sacrifice her job, her relationships, and everything else she worked so hard to build?

In Forgotten, Catherine McKenzie tweaks a classic tale of discovering who we really are when everything that brings meaning to our lives is lost.

My Comments:

What if you died and then, six months later, came back to life?  Of course, everyone else's life would have moved on without you.  Emma didn't die; everyone just thought she did, and their lives moved on.  Now she is back, but nothing is the same.  What should she fight to reclaim; to what should she say "good riddance"?  To what should she move?  

I enjoyed spending a few months with Emma as she was forced to look at her "old" life and decide what was worth reclaiming--and what was not.  She had to look at other people's expectations for her, and what she expected of herself.  While all of us have more control over the trajectory of our lives than we sometimes admit, the reality is that for most of us, inertia takes over, and barring some outside force, we continue along much the same path without considering whether another path would suit us better.  

What does Emma decide?  I won't tell you that, it would be a spoiler. However, I will say that though I enjoyed the book, I found the ending to be both a surprise (not a shock, but a mild surprise) and I found it a little too tidy.

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a complimentary galley via Edelweiss.  I was not obligated to write a positive review.  Grade:  B+