Two novels and one incredible idea portrayed in two completely unique ways. Meet Me at Blue Hour by Sarah Suk and Remember Me Gone by Stacy Stokes both explore the idea of memory erasure and recovery. Of finding love and peace in a world as complicated as a broken mirror with a thousand different reflections and possibilities.
Meet Me at Blue Hour is a story about seventeen-year-old Yena Bae who is spending the summer in Busan, South Korea, working at her mom’s memory-erasing clinic and trying to figure out her future. Little did she know that she’d run into her childhood best friend who left without a word over four years ago. As she reconnects with Lucas she realizes he doesn’t remember her, he’s had her completely erased from his memories. Not only is Yena confused she’s also shocked, why would he take such a drastic measure and what brought him to it?
Remember Me Gone is a novel about sixteen-year-old Lucy Miller, who lives in a tiny practically off grid Texas town, Tumble Tree. For generations her family has been unburdening people (what they call memory erasure) taking away their pain and giving them a fresh start. Lucy’s dad finally agrees to let her learn to unburden by practicing on him. But nothing is as it seems, not in the guilt-tinged memories that flash through her dad’s head, not when she wakes up with a pocket of dessert sand in her pocket and no memory of how it got there and not with Marco. They’ve lived in the same town as him her whole life but he’s practically a stranger, or is he?
Both books beautifully tackle the idea of memory erasing, one in a sci-fi modern setting, where it is seen as nothing more than a clinical procedure. Whereas in Remember Me Gone it’s seen as a spiritual gift, a talent passed on from generation to generation. But in both books it’s seen as a way to relieve pain, provide a fresh start, and reduce stress at least at first. I loved how each character, although leading completely different lives and possessing totally different personalities, began to question, to see things from different sides: the good and the bad of memory erasing.
In my opinion it’s a fascinating concept, what if you could just forget the most embarrassing moments, your grief, the things that hurt you. But would you? Erasing something that is so crucial in shaping the kind of person we are, the kind of person we become.
As Lucas and Yena get to know each other again he suffers headaches; his brain’s reaction to this girl who he doesn’t remember knowing. When asked about that fateful night, the sand in her pocket Lucy can’t say much, when Marco digs deeper she can’t find words, sweat pooling in her arm pits. Each author illustrated the complexities of the human brain and the consequences of abusing it.
Memory recovery, is it possible? An experiment in Meet Me at Blue Hour, an undiscovered possibility in Remember Me Gone. Seeing the change in people by both erasure and recovery throughout the books. It’s both heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. Each novel explores the idea that removing negative memories removes pain but also that memory erasure can add insult to injury. It can be abused, and manipulative and it can skew our view of the world.
Can you fall for someone you’ve been forced to forget?
Love. It’s risky and beautiful and fragile, especially in such complicated circumstances. But Yena can’t help remembering everything she and Lucas shared, can’t help yearning for it, although he’s chosen to forget her. Lucy, on the other hand, can’t explain the undeniable connection she feels towards Marco. Her heart remembers something her mind doesn’t.
So Yena and Lucy can’t help digging deeper. What are their parents hiding? What exactly is going on? Who can they trust? Yena’s felt disconnected with people her own age since Lucas left without a word all those years ago and Lucy’s always been on the edge of her dusty town with dreams of getting out and a strange family business. Buried secrets, self discovery; unraveling the past isn’t easy. And in some circumstances it can be dangerous. Each girl must decide whether the truth, even if painful, is worth remembering.
Both Meet Me at Blue Hour and Remember Me Gone are beautifully written, completely unique novels. Memory erasure intrigues me, not just the idea of memories being a tangible physical thing, but also of a fresh start, a new life. But is true peace really possible? Is it worth losing ourselves in pursuit of it?
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