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Recursion
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Books of the Month 2019 > Recursion - November 2019 - Thriller/Suspense

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Katrisa | 207 comments Mod
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Recursion by Blake Crouch

That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face-to-face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?



Katrisa | 207 comments Mod
I really enjoyed this one. Thinking so much about the nature of memory and its relationship to reality made my brain hurt a bit though, lol.
One of my friends who read this one said that she thought there were too many iterations as Helena and Barry strive to fix the world, but I thought it was well done because it showed just how worn down the two of them got after having to try so many times to no avail.


message 3: by D (new) - rated it 4 stars

D Dyer | 66 comments I finally got a chance to read this one and I definitely agree that it was highly enjoyable. I had no problem with the number of iterations, especially seeing Helena deteriorate as she did emphasized both the difficulty of the decisions they were forced to make and how much of a toll living multiple lives took on them. One thing I found interesting was how frequently Barry mentioned feeling like himself only when he could remember all of his past lives, he is in the unique position of knowing what to expect on the day when the memories return and of not having to bear that burden Long term but it brings up an interesting question about the right they had to deprive other people of the knowledge of their other lives and potential realities. This question is somewhat further complicated by the fact that the author never offers Helena’s direct viewpoint on this after at least having had the lived experience of years of multiple existence.


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