Review: The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagan

Publisher: Penguin
Publishing Date: June 9th, 2011
Genre: Adult Fiction
Pages: 290 pgs
ISBN: 9780525952190

Rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from GoodReads:
Marissa Rogers never wanted to be an alpha; beta suited her just fine. Taking charge without taking credit had always paid off: vaulting her to senior editor at a glossy magazine; keeping the peace with her critical, weight-obsessed mother; and enjoying the benefits of being best friends with gorgeous, charismatic, absolutely alpha Julia Ferrar.

And then Julia gets hit by a cab. She survives with minor obvious injuries, but brain damage steals her memory and alters her personality, possibly forever. Suddenly, Marissa is thrown into the role of alpha friend. As Julia struggles to regain her memory- dredging up issues Marissa would rather forget, including the fact that Julia asked her to abandon the love of her life ten years ago- Marissa's own equilibrium is shaken.

With the help of a dozen girls, she reluctantly agrees to coach in an after-school running program. There, Marissa uncovers her inner confidence and finds the courage to reexamine her past and take control of her future.

The Art of Forgetting is a story about the power of friendship, the memories and myths that hold us back, and the delicate balance between forgiving and forgetting.

My Review:
I got this book via NetGalley and it was the cover that drew me in. The cover for this book is AMAZING! At first I thought the book would have more to do with ballet though so when I started reading and I was surprised to find that there was a very small link to ballet in the book. When I did read this I had just finished a book about a woman who loses her memory and wakes up everyday thinking she is 20 years younger. This book also has a component of memory loss. Julia is hit by a cab and is left with an acquired brain injury and her friendship with Marissa is changed forever. I have to admit that I was once in a friendship like the one in this book between Julia and Marissa. Julia was quite a dominant person in the relationship and Marissa oftentimes just agreed to things to avoid causing conflict. I was the one avoiding conflict and so I could relate to Marissa in one sense. I have to admit though that she frustrated me sometimes. She allowed this type of friendship to continue for years and years. In the friendship that I was in I eventually had to say enough is enough. I wanted to yell at Marissa when they cut to scenes of the past. After the accident, I could see that Marissa would be in a difficult predicament. How do you stand up to bad behaviour when the person acting that way has a brain injury? I like that in the end Marissa is able to learn new things about herself. Overall it was a good read and I give it 3.5 stars.