The Forgetting Time

Publication Date: 11 February 2016.

Goodreads Description

Noah wants to go home. A seemingly easy request from most four year olds. But as Noah's single-mother, Janie, knows, nothing with Noah is ever easy. One day the pre-school office calls and says Janie needs to come in to talk about Noah, and no, not later, now - and life as she knows it stops. For Jerome Anderson, life as he knows it has stopped. A deadly diagnosis has made him realize he is approaching the end of his life. His first thought - I'm not finished yet. Once a shining young star in academia, a graduate of Yale and Harvard, a professor of psychology, he threw it all away because of an obsession. Anderson became the laughing stock of his peers, but he didn't care - something had to be going on beyond what anyone could see or comprehend. He spent his life searching for that something else. And with Noah, he thinks he's found it. Soon Noah, Janie and Anderson will find themselves knocking on the door of a mother whose son has been missing for seven years - and when that door opens, all of their questions will be answered.

My Review

I really wanted to love this novel and from the description I thought that I would. The concept of reincarnation and, in fact, topics about death and the afterlife have always fascinated me. I'm fascinated by haunted houses, possessions, ghosts, orbs, connecting with people that have passed over and anything related to the afterlife. So, it was a great disappointment to find that I didn't really enjoy this book. It was decidedly mediocre. The main problem for me was that I never really felt absorbed by the story. At times I even found myself skimming chapters that didn't hold my interest. There seemed to be a fair amount of padding which slowed the story down. I also felt that the quality of the writing was slightly weak, especially in the first half of the story when the author seemed to rely on far too many similes and metaphors which, personally, I find a sign of weak writing. Things did seem to improve in the second half and the story picked up pace but I still wasn't engrossed and I found myself checking how many pages I had left to read to finish the book.

Was this book terrible? No it wasn't, and I can see how it may appeal to book clubs as the topics covered in the book could lead to great conversations. And let me also say that a number of people I know really enjoyed this book, so all is not lost. If the blurb appeals to you, then perhaps give this one a try. Unfortunately, for me this one will be logged as one of my reading disappointments of 2016.

* I bought my own copy of this book for review purposes.