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Memory and Madness

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A likeable, intelligent high school senior, Mateo Bernard is new to Little Rock. Cody Redan has lived there all his life. Yet, when they meet, there's a familiarity, a sense they've known each other before. By turns funny, romantic, insightful, and sad, this evocative novel brilliantly recreates the landscape of late adolescence, when friendships seem eternal and loves reincarnate. Memory and Madness is a unique contribution to coming of age literature.

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First published April 20, 2018

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About the author

Luke Hartwell

31 books61 followers
Readers can track Luke Hartwell's book releases on the Watersgreen House website. Luke's books are available from Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Gardners, Baker & Taylor, Smashwords, Scribd, Odilo, and OverDrive.

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5 stars
11 (61%)
4 stars
3 (16%)
3 stars
2 (11%)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for LenaRibka.
1,462 reviews433 followers
August 16, 2018
First I was surprised that there was a NEW novel by Luke Hartwell that I had overlooked. I am a HUGE fan of the author's works and I wish he could publish at least one novel per year (like some other authors do).

Anyway, I checked it and read a publisher note and now I know that Memory and Madness is not Luke Hartwell's NEW novel, but his first novel Clicking Beat on the Brink of Nada that was first published over 20 years ago, in 1983, not only under different title but under a different name. I learned that Keith Hale =Luke Hartwell and that Luke Hartwell has spent the past two years rewriting all of his previously published books. *sigh* Why not to write something new? This publisher's note is bit hidden and it is not in the description of this book. Well, I won't probably read the re-written Locomotives in Winter that you can have under the title Love Underneath, just because this novel doesn't belong to my favorite by the author and because I am not a re-read type actually. But I am extremely happy that I have yet another gem to discover, a semi-autobiographical work Who You Are and Where You Come From: With Outtakes, the second novel by Luke Hartwell that was also first published long ago under the name of Keith Hale.

About this book...
i can only endorse what SAFE teen (a reviewer) said:

This book is about being gay, and being straight, and a teenager, in Little Rock, Arkansas, but it is about so much more that it defies definition. … It contains exquisite poetry, beautiful prose, very little sex, and lots of love.


No doubt, this book belongs to the best works of classical gay literary fiction.
I can't recommend it highly enough.



Profile Image for Shane Pennell.
54 reviews
June 1, 2018
If anyone, like me, has wondered what Hartwell has been doing for the last three years, now we know. His publisher has released four titles already in the spring of 2018, with the promise of more to come. It appears that Hartwell has rewritten his entire catalogue, adding a lot of new material. This book, in its previous form, has been my favorite novel for a long, long time. Although I am very attached to the original version, I have to admit that this version is far better, something I didn't think possible. It's an astonishing book. Read all the reviews on amazon from when it was first published. It deserves every word of that praise. And if, like me, you've read the previous version, read this one too. There's a whole new brilliance going on. Wish I could give it ten stars.
Profile Image for Hemmel M..
793 reviews53 followers
June 4, 2019
Well written prose about a boy and his friends. Lots of focus on literature, philosophy, existentialism and substance abuse. Less focus on the plot. Somewhere halfway through the arc started showing, in this collection of ideas and events.
The narration could be more lively and the narrator kept handling his microphone, which was sometimes distracting.
Profile Image for Silvia.
1,212 reviews
May 17, 2020
Thought provoking

This book is so much more than a coming of age book. It reminded me of how I felt as a teen. How the majority of my ideas and beliefs were an extension of my father’s beliefs. Like the MC’s parent, my dad was a single parent and he had the biggest influence on my young life. Reading this account of Mateo and the nucleus of family and friends that surrounded him brought back fond and wistful memories.
21 reviews5 followers
August 30, 2018
Exceptional Read

A thorough and multidimensional exploration of friendship, love, family, and spirituality - and the expression of all of it as a personal experience. Simple and yet intense.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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