Books like The Memory Box

Catherine's birth mother, Susannah died when she was just a young baby, leaving her with no memories of her at all. Her father remarries shortly afterwards and Catherine is only too happy to accept this new woman into her life as the only mother she will ever need. Throughout her childhood she manages to block out all references to Susannah and refuses to hear of any traits they may have in common when family members speak of her.It is only years later when she stumbles across a box of objects Susannah had carefully selected for her when she knew she was dying that Catherine becomes intrigued. But what starts off as a hunt for clues about her dead mother and her past may end up revealing just as much about Catherine and her present. I was hoping that Catherine would discover something huge about Susannah. In this case I was totally disappointed.The book is effectively Catherine's internal monologue about her feelings towards her mother, aunt, and stepmother, with no dialogue and virtually no interaction with other people. The character of Catherine, however, I feel is not one you immediately warm to. She comes across as spoiled and more than a little self-absorbed, something the first person narration only emphasizes in my opinion. The basic premise of this book is a great one, however, and you can't help but wonder what you would leave loved ones to help them get a sense of the person you really were.I think one of the things the book captures really well is how elusive and fragile memories can be. Our sense of those that have died is an amalgamation of so many things - our memories of them if we have any but also what we have been told about them (good and bad) and our judgement of the way they lived their lives. At the end of the book you will be left wondering how well we can ever really know those that have gone before us.