Finished early morning, Fr 3/18/15
I learned of this author last week when I watched a documentary about the work of Philip Roth. Nicole Krauss was one of the writers who commented on Roth's body of work, and her work is just as insightful.
The novel begins with a chapter about a group of military men assembled in the desert to experience a test explosion of a nuclear bomb. This was before anyone realized the dangers and the tone is somewhere between 'flagrant disregard' and 'a naive hope' that this would be a safe and reasonable method to gage the effects. Yet, all of the men are deeply traumatized.
Then the major character is introduced. A man is found in the Nevada desert, lost and dirty, with no knowledge of who he is or how he got there. Samson Greene is a professor of English from Columbia, New York City. He is married to Ana.
His last memory was when he was twelve (I think it was when he first kissed a neighborhood girl). He's 36, and he's lost the last 24 years of his memory.
He resents his wife because she knows more about his mother. Also, because Ana remembers their time together, he almost sees this as a 'negative force'; an unfair hold over him.
Sam travels to LA where he meets Dr. Ray, a scientist in the field of memory. This doctor is trying to transplant dynamic memories from one person to another.
Sam is roommates with Donald at the installation, Clearwater. Donald becomes his friend, and he has the memory of the nuclear explosion. This memory is successfully implanted into Sam's brain. Sam's mind is blown and he resents Ray and the whole experience.
Dr. Ray sees this 'blankness' in Sam as an ideal area to put this memory. Kind of 'virgin soil, perfect for new growth, and uncluttered by anything to contaminate the new sensation'.
Sam meets Lana, a young girl who has recently returned from India, searching for self awareness. She's converted to Christianity and Sam meets her on a bus in the desert. She's reading the bible and Sam asks her if it's any good.
They have a platonic relationship. She lives in Los Angeles and is trying to break into the management side of show business. She lives in an apartment with Winn, a computer wiz.
While drunk in Las Vegas Sam meets Luke, a young man with some friends trying to get drunk and laid. They are dressed in gangster suits, I guess, trying to look older than they are.
Sam convinces Luke to go to the lab that stored the tumors that were removed from his brain. These caused the memory loss. Tumor the size of a cherry.
Sam was basically raised by his mother (absent father) and the only male in his life was his great uncle, Max. This man is nearly one hundred and lives in a rest home. Sam 'liberates him' and the final scene is where he takes Sam, in his wheelchair, to the home where Sam lived with his mother. Sam believes that he would have buried his mother under the magnolia tree out back. This is where he buries the slides of his tumor.
The final chapter or Epilogue is seen through Ana's eyes. She remembers how much she loved Sam and how terrified she was if he was ever to leave her. She remembers a trip to a cabin by the lake in the Fall.
Excellent novel, very moving. I want to read more by Nicole Krauss.
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