#ReadAroundTheWorld. #Sierra Leone

"And there are others still who say love is but a beautiful form of madness."

The Memory of Love is a dual timeline historical fiction set in Sierra Leone in the 1960s and 2000s. The author Aminatta Forne was born in Scotland and raised in Sierra Leone where her father was from. He was executed on trumped up charges when she was only 11. The book is set in a post-war context and deals with both love and trauma. It has been shortlisted for both the Warwick Prize for Writing and the Orange Prize for Fiction and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

British psychologist Adrian Lockheart arrives in Sierra Leone in 2001, after the civil war between government forces and rebel insurgents has ended. The war began in 1991 and left fifty thousand people dead, and 2.5 million displaced. He specialises in PTSD and has been sent there to try and help the Sierra Leoneans process their grief and trauma. Adrian is something of a great white saviour figure, and takes a long time to recognise that he may not actually be wanted there, and that possibly 99% of the population is suffering from what he calls PTSD but they call life. As Forna points out, “War had the effect of encouraging people to try to stay alive. Poverty, too. Survival was simply too hard-won to be given up lightly.”

One of Adrian’s patients is a retired professor Elias Cole whose health is failing. Elias begins to tell the story of his life in the 1960s when he became obsessively enamoured of Saffia, the wife of his colleague Julius. Elias’ obsession has far reaching consequences of betrayal that echo into the next generation.

Adrian also develops a friendship with Kai Mansaray, a local surgeon who also suffers nightmares related to war-time trauma and a broken relationship with Nenebah. Adrian becomes involved with musician Mamakaye despite having a wife and child back in England. This relationship draws the three characters together in an unexpected turn of events.

This was a beautifully written book with well-fleshed out characters. The audio-narration by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
was excellent. My only difficulty was I didn’t like many of them. Elias was entitled and manipulative, Adrian was just meh. The women in the story may have been more likeable, but sadly did not have a voice of their own, their stories being told by the men. I would definitely read another book by this author. ( )

‘This is their reality. And who is going to come and give the people who live here therapy to cope with this?’ asks Attila and waves a hand at the view. ‘You call it a disorder, my friend. We call it life.’ – Aminatta Forna, The Memory of Love

In 2001, British psychologist Adrian Lockheart volunteers to help with mental health services in Sierra Leone, where residents are recovering from civil war. Terminally ill, aging academic Elias Cole, one of Adrian’s patients, tells Adrian his story of love and loss, almost as if he is seeking absolution. Adrian develops a friendship with local surgeon, Kai Mansaray, who is haunted by his own past traumas and lost love. Adrian is the focal point for the convergence of these three storylines.

This is a novel that works on multiple levels. It is a story of obsessive love, betrayal, the transience of memories, the recent history of Sierra Leone (1960s to 2000s), political corruption, and the traumatic impact of war on mind, body, and soul. Forna expertly weaves the storylines together and the common elements become more pronounced as the story progresses. The writing is stunning – elegant, expressive, and emotionally convincing. It is a pleasing blend of plot and characterization. I found it engrossing and kept trying to figure out all the interconnections. I am not sure what else I could ask from a book.

Be aware that it contacts graphic descriptions of war-related violence and symptoms of PTSD.
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The novel is set in Sierra Leone, at various times in its tumultuous history. There are two main story lines. Adrian Lockheart is a British psychologist who takes a government posting in the capital city near the turn of the 21st century, hoping to help people suffering from PTSD in the wake of civil unrest and outright war. He is less than successful at this, in great part because he completely lacks understanding of the nature of the problem his prospective patients face. What would “normal” mean to a population that is continuing to live with the aftereffects of multiple conflicts, political upheaval and widespread deprivation? This is pointed out to Adrian by two local residents who each become very important to him: Kai, an orthopedic surgeon who is a victim of trauma himself; and Mamakay, a woman with whom Adrian falls in love. He is also drawn into the history of a dying man, Elias Cole, who tells Adrian his version of revolutionary events of the 1970s, somewhat in the manner of a man seeking absolution for his role.

My knowledge of the history of this country was minimal to non-existent before I picked up The Memory of Love. I found myself floundering a bit, precisely because I could not put the characters and their background into any familiar context. An early reference to book titles intrigued me. I looked them up, and they are actual books. I did a little more research, and penciled in a rough time-line inside the cover of my paperback for ready reference. This helped me immensely, and I am extremely glad I took the trouble. But....BUT....did the author expect her readers to be better informed than I was going in? And, in general, were they? SInce the book was published in Britain, and since Sierra Leone was once a British colony/protectorate, and later an independent member of the Commonwealth, I suspect the answer may be "yes". In general, I have no problem with an author giving their readers the benefit of the doubt this way, or even expecting them to do their homework before or while reading. It did make for a bit of a slow start for me, but I am more than happy that I put in the extra effort, and stuck with the story.
I thought the parts where Adrian was confronted with the Big Question---what am I doing here?---were very revealing. The curse of "the white man's burden" acting on him, in his naivete about what his sort of therapy might accomplish under the existing circumstances. Perhaps some actual personal guilt, as his own grandfather had been a part of the colonial government.
Having finished the novel, I considered whether to give it 4 1/2 or 5 stars. The hesitation came from one or two elements that left me wondering "why" and from pondering whether being left with that question is a good thing or a bad thing. I settled on 4 ½, but that is not to say that I didn’t find this an incredibly powerful read. I may return to it one day, and a second read could very well cause me to bestow that last half star. ( )

I feel like I'm being a bit harsh, but still, I can't say I "REALLY" liked this book. Honestly I think the structure didn't appeal to me. There was no "grand narrative" – plot lines finished well before the end, and started well after the start – and it was a bit confusing. The writer rarely spelled twists out, just somehow stating that the point-of-view character at that particular moment had made a shocking discovery that the reader was meant to have got too. I rarely did and I spent a lot of time flicking backwards to try to work it out, only to usually fail.

Aside from that it was pretty good, though. It talks about love, war, tragedy, and all those kinds of big themes. It doesn't depict this really creepy man as a lover extraordinaire (ahem, García Márquez). It's worth reading. Just not spectacular. ( )

This novel is set in Sierra Leone, after the civil warm of the 1990s and up to 2002. Adrian is a psychiatrist who has come to Sierra Leone to try and help.
There are certainly people suffering here, with post traumatic stress from the atrocities during the civil war and he struggles to understand these and find a way to help. The novel begins with the story of Elias Cole and his infatuation with a colleagues wife. It becomes clear that Elias Cole is narrating this story to Adrian. Adrian meets Kai, a surgeon at the hospital, born in Sierra Leone. His best friend has emigrated to the US and Kai is keen to join him but his ties to Sierra Leone are clear. These stories are eventually woven together cleverly and painfully and after initial indifference I found myself drawn in to the lives and compelled to finish the novel. A well-crafted novel that does not hide the cruelty and pain of a civil war but is ultimately about love and relationships. ( )