The Story of Forgetting - Hardcover

"A fresh, beguiling novel . . . as true to the anguish of [its] questions as it is ablaze with love and vitality."--"New York Times" "The Story of Forgetting manages to feel big and small in perfect proportion, at once intimate and universal. Mr. Block has made something very beautiful out of something very ugly: a disease that steals people's lives from them . . . It's a book about love. "--"New York Observer" "Blisteringly good . . . The redemptive qualities of storytelling are gloriously displayed in this astonishing first novel."--"Financial Times, "UK "[An] astounding debut . . . compulsive and transporting."--"Publishers Weekly, "starred review "Magical and scientific . . . [Block] is a talent to celebrate and remember."--"USA Today" "Savor the moment because this is a debut worth remembering."--Alan Cheuse, contributor to NPR's "All Things Considered" "A deeply felt novel . . . The Story of Forgetting offers us both solace and illumination. Stefan Merrill Block possesses a singular mix of imagination, compassion, and scientific understanding; he is equally gifted at spinning fantastic tales as he is at bringing genetic histories to vivid life."--Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of "Madeleine Is Sleeping" "An exhilarating novel of formidable vision . . . At its center, an adolescent boy's quest to solve the riddle of his family's curse and an old man's extraordinary tale of wrong love careen headlong toward each other with urgency and wonder. A magnificent debut."-Akhil Sharma, PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of "An Obedient Father" "Block weaves together his disparate narrative strands with a deft hand, tingeing his tale with a lovely touch ofthe fantastic."--"Entertainment Weekly" "Fast-moving and raw . . . [a] tale with honesty and charm."--"Slate" "Beautiful and uplifting . . . an engrossing, well-written exploration of what it means to remember-and forget."--"Wichita Eagle"

At seventy, Abel Haggard is a hermit, resigned to memories of the family he has lost, living in isolation on his family's farm amid the encroaching suburban sprawl of Dallas. Hundreds of miles to the south in suburban Austin, fifteen-year-old Seth Waller is devastated when his mother is diagnosed with a rare, early-onset form of Alzheimer's, and he begins an 'empirical investigation' to uncover the truth about her genetic history. Though neither one knows of the other's existence, Seth and Abel share a unique tradition: as children, both were told stories of Isadora, a fantastical land free from the sorrows of memory. Spanning continents and generations, "The Story of Forgetting" is the tale of how history can become destiny; how the imagination can transform reality; and, how loss, however devastating, can ultimately forge profound meaning. It is the story of the complexity, the pain and the bliss of forgetting.