Noel Burun has hypermnesia and synaesthesia: his memory is unrelentingly exact and when people speak he sees their words as vibrant explosions of colour, often leaving him befuddled and bewildered. His mother Stella, on the other hand, is slowly sinking into the quicksand of Alzheimer's. A man who remembers too much, and a woman who remembers too little -- both struggle to make sense of their worlds in a house bloated with memories. Norval is Noel's double: a one-time novelist and full-time Lothario whose memory is tainted by an unfinished love story. He, along with Samira, who is trying to escape a former identity, and JJ-who is trapped by nostalgia for his childhood -- all have a role to play in Noel's sometimes heartbreaking, and often hilarious, quest to find a cure for his mother's condition. THE MEMORY ARTISTS is the outstanding, hilarious second novel from a writer whose work is so "full of quirks and quick-turns, wit and erudition" (The Guardian) that readers will find it impossible to put down.
- ISBN10 0297607987
- ISBN13 9780297607984
- Publish Date 12 August 2004
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 22 July 2008
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Orion Publishing Co
- Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 336
- Language English