Surprisingly moving tale of two teenagers put together by circumstance in the chaos following the 9/11 attacks in NYC.

Other reviewers and the official marketing blurb do a good job of summarizing the plot, so I won't do that here. Polisner has taken an event that is seared into nearly everyone's individual memory and done two things: set a coming-of-age story against it, and captured the emotional spirit of how most everyone, in the days following the attacks, just wanted to do something -- anything -- to help.

The story is emotional without being treacly. It is YA, and there is a bit of a love story involved, which may dissuade some readers from choosing this book; however, I found the writing to be quite good.

My one quibble is the narrative voice of the teenaged girl in the story. For the majority of the book this voice is written as a fractured poem/stream of consciousness text. This did not work for me at all. The girl is suffering from amnesia and I believe the this text is supposed to show her mental state, but it was confusing and detracted from the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a galley of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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The Memory of Things/Gae Polisner On the morning of September 11, 2001, sixteen-year-old Kyle Donohue watches the first twin tower come down from the window of Stuyvesant High School. Moments later, terrified and fleeing home to safety across the Brooklyn Bridge, he stumbles across a girl perched in the shadows, covered in ash, and wearing a pair of costume wings. With his mother and sister in California and unable to reach his father, a NYC detective likely on his way to the disaster, Kyle makes the split-second decision to bring the girl home. What follows is their story, told in alternating points of view, as Kyle tries to unravel the mystery of the girl so he can return her to her family. But what if the girl has forgotten everything, even her own name? And what if the more Kyle gets to know her, the less he wants her to go home? The Memory of Things tells a stunning story of friendship and first love and of carrying on with our day-to-day living in the midst of world-changing tragedy and unforgettable pain—it tells a story of hope.
This story was a gorgeous tribute to 9/11 and a really sweet tale of a developing friendship between two teens surviving trauma.
 
I thought Polisner did an excellent job of detailing the tragedy, and it meant a lot to me simply because I was too young at the time to really appreciate the gravity of the event. I think this book can be valuable to many teens and young adults today simply for the historical context and the way she so aptly recreates the events.
 
The girl's sections were all written in poetry, which threatened to quickly turn me off as I need to be in a certain mindset in order to be reading lyrical prose; however, the sections were short enough that they weren't disturbing and served only to shed some mystique on her and give an entirely different picture of how a mind might work after a tragedy.
 
I loved that Polisner included a lot about Uganda and the events there, because it really is so easy in our Western-centric media to forget many of the terrible events happening elsewhere. Kyle's friend had come to the US as a child from Uganda and I found it subtle yet powerful how Kyle thought about his background as the story went on.
 
I additionally loved that Kyle's uncle was suffering from paralysis, and had gone from living a completely ordinary life and being quite a hero to needing someone to aid him with the most menial of tasks. This really demonstrated how life goes on even after a tragedy and was really powerful in showing how Kyle hated that his uncle had to go through his own personal tragedy.
 
This was gorgeously written. I think it's a topic that needs exploring and for that a story as such could be done aptly by many; however, Polisner has written this extraordinarily and had me feeling all of the emotions.
 
This story was definitely a tale of hope and despite the tears I really loved reading it.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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3.5 Stars

CW: PTSD, serious disability caused by car accident, being a carer for a disabled person, 9/11 - descriptions of plane crashes and the search for survivors and then removal of bodies, suicidal thoughts, grief/depression after death of mother from cancer

Well this was moving, but had so much going on that it felt a bit diluted, if you know what I mean.

I can't give too many details because they would be spoilers, but if you are interested, then look at the CWs. Despite all of these things, I wasn't burdened with grief or sadness which I was a bit grateful for, but I have a feeling it was because I didn't feel overly connected to the characters. Then of course a hint of romance starts to creep in on an already busy story. It ended up feeling too much of everything and not enough of some things. Does that make sense? This isn't so much about 9/11 as it is about the connections forged in it's immediate aftermath, and the feelings of anxiety for people waiting to hear about loved ones. There was some lovely writing throughout and overall I did enjoy it. ( )

Fictional story of two teens that meet in the devastation and confusion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. As they flee the scene, the protagonist, Kyle, stumbles across a girl covered in ash and wearing costumed wings. He sees that she needs help and brings her home with him. She has no memory of her name. Told in alternating perspectives, Kyle narrates in first person, and the girl’s voice is written as a series of short fragmented poems (this choice shows her state of mind, but it will not be to everyone’s taste). His father is with the NYPD, and his live-in uncle is confined to a wheelchair due to a recent accident. His mother and sister are stranded in California when the air space is closed due to the attacks. Kyle must step up to take care of his uncle and the girl during the time his father is working around the clock at Ground Zero. A tender and sweet relationship develops between Kyle and the girl, as they get to know and trust one another, and he tries to help her regain her memory.

Themes include the tenuousness of memory, hope, vulnerability, kindness, healing, and people standing together to help each other in midst of trauma. I enjoyed the character growth in Kyle, as he takes more responsibility during the crisis. I also appreciated that it showed how people focus in on what is most important in life when confronted with tragedy. At times, it strayed a tad too far into romance for my personal taste. Nevertheless, I found it a poignant story and a tribute to human response in the face of overwhelming events. Recommended for high school age and up.
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Kyle is in school on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. When the second plane hits the second tower of the World Trade Center, his school is evacuated; Kyle heads back to Brooklyn on foot, but becomes separated from his classmates, and then he sees something on the bridge. At first he thinks it's a bird, or an angel - it's got wings, after all - but it's a girl: a girl wearing costume wings, covered in ash, with no memory of who she is. Kyle brings her home with him. Uncle Matt is there, in his wheelchair, but Kyle's dad is a cop at Ground Zero, and his mom and sister were supposed to fly back from California today. Kyle struggles through the next few days, frantically trying to get through the jammed phone lines to reach his parents and friends, watching the news, doing laundry, taking care of Uncle Matt, wondering about the girl.

Gae Polisner captures and renders Kyle's experience with realism, including details from the attack and its aftermath: the missing posters, the TV news, the memorials with candles and flowers, the difficulty of understanding the magnitude of everything. Slowly, the girl's story comes through too: most of the book is Kyle's first person, present tense, but there are small interludes in a different font, free verse, also first person, from the girl's perspective, and she tries to keep her memories out. Eventually, however, they come back, and Kyle pieces together her shredded school ID.

Although 2001 was less than 30 years ago, this will read as historical fiction for today's teens.

See also: Hope and Other Punch Lines by Julie Buxbaum, Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan, Towers Falling by Jewel Parker Rhodes

Quotes

...I wish [Dad] would understand me better, care more about the things that matter to me... (98)

As we pass one another, our eyes catch and we exchange these sad, pathetic smiles, as if we've all lost the same friend. (115)

No wonder no one can find her. The city is full of people looking for people. (148)

"...remember how you asked me earlier how it feels, how I feel, to be me right now? To remember things and not remember?....Well, it feels like...I'm adrift, in soaking wet clothes that are too heavy with the weight of things I don't even know." (183)

"Sometimes never being ready is the best kind of ready to be." (260)

Are you okay? his eyes ask. I know that's what he wants to know.
And I guess I am. What are my choices? What else am I going to be other than okay? (264) ( )