The Memory Box

by Margaret Forster

A young woman leaves a sealed memory box for her baby daughter before she dies. Years later, as a young woman herself, Catherine finds her mother's box full of unexplained, even weird objects. Finding out what the objects represent is her only chance to find out about the mother she never knew...

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Modern, Novels

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Margaret Forster was educated at the Carlisle and County High School for Girls. From here she won an Open Scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where in 1960 she was awarded an honours degree in History.

From 1963 Margaret Forster worked as a novelist, biographer and freelance literary critic, contributing regularly to book programmes on television, to Radio 4 and various newpapers and magazines.

Forster was married to the writer, journalist and broadcaster Hunter Davies. They lived in London. and in the Lake District. They had three children, Caitlin, Jake and Flora.

Reviews

[Mansuriah Hassan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Catherine's birth mother, Susannah died when she was just a young baby, leaving her with no memories of her at all. Her father remarries shortly afterwards and Catherine is only too happy to accept this new woman into her life as the only mother she will ever need. Throughout her childhood she manages to block out all references to Susannah and refuses to hear of any traits they may have in common when family members speak of her.

It is only years later when she stumbles across a box of objects Susannah had carefully selected for her when she knew she was dying that Catherine becomes intrigued. But what starts off as a hunt for clues about her dead mother and her past may end up revealing just as much about Catherine and her present. I was hoping that Catherine would discover something huge about Susannah. In this case I was totally disappointed.

The book is effectively Catherine's internal monologue about her feelings towards her mother, aunt, and stepmother, with no dialogue and virtually no interaction with other people. The character of Catherine, however, I feel is not one you immediately warm to. She comes across as spoiled and more than a little self-absorbed, something the first person narration only emphasizes in my opinion. The basic premise of this book is a great one, however, and you can't help but wonder what you would leave loved ones to help them get a sense of the person you really were.

I think one of the things the book captures really well is how elusive and fragile memories can be. Our sense of those that have died is an amalgamation of so many things - our memories of them if we have any but also what we have been told about them (good and bad) and our judgement of the way they lived their lives. At the end of the book you will be left wondering how well we can ever really know those that have gone before us.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping that Catherine would discover something huge about Susanna. In this case I was totally disappointed. I do not fancy people who seem to enjoy wallowing in their unhappy states, and clearly Catherine is one of such. she cuts off people who try to reach out to her (admits she has no friends to speak of, ignoring them till they take the hint and leave her alone), Edging out Tony, who clearly loves her, then digging deep into her to find fault with Charlotte, who she describes as having loved her unconditionally, so much that she did not feel that she missed Susanna. Not everything in life is to be analyzed and understood. Some things just are, and should be taken as such. Life is to be enjoyed, something Catherine needs to learn!

[MARY FRANCES SMART · Rating 1 out of 5]

Irritating read

Eventually I became irritated by her conjectures about people's motives. I thought her emotional responses unconvincing. I was intrigued at the start by her story but lost interest by the last 25% of the book.

[Emma Shubrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this book when I first read it many years ago. No dramatic twists and turns but a slow gentle unfolding of information carefully showing how complex relationships can be and how those relationships can change over time.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear, another disappointment picked up in the second-hand bookshop. This mines the same family history vein as several of Forster's other novels, but with a twist. Catherine's mother died when she was only six months old, and she was brought up by her father's second wife, whom she sees as her true mother. She resents attempts by her family to evoke the perfect, beautiful and talented mother that she never knew, but after the death of her parents when she is 31, she discovers a "memory box" left for her by her real mother, filled with objects that are presumably significant. She sets out to try to discover the meaning of these objects.

The trouble is that Catherine is a really antipathetic character. Rich enough not to need to work (she dabbles at being a freelance photographer) she comes across as a spoilt, self-centred brat. Living on her own, she appears to have no friends except for her even more obnoxious cousin Rory, and the whole book is effectively her internal monologue about her feelings towards her mother, aunt, and stepmother, with no dialogue and virtually no interaction with other people. It's true that Forster skilfully exposes Catherine's repressed anger towards her mother, and subtly shows the development and maturing of her character as she gradually comes to accept the reality of her mother's true character, but I just couldn't overcome the fact that I disliked her, and I found her musings about the objects essentially dull. I am sure though that if you had lost a parent at a tender age, you might find this book psychologically compelling, and I had the impression that Forster was using it as therapy to work through some repressed resentments of her own.

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of Margaret Forster's books that I've tried reading; and it won't be the last.

Susannah died when her daughter Catherine was just six months old, but Catherine grows up happily with her father's second wife becoming her Mummy and never wants to find out about Susannah. However when Susannah knew she was dying she assembled a "memory box" for her baby daughter. Finally opening the box as an adult, having ignored it for years, Catherine tries to piece together this jigsaw of a legacy.

I really liked the premise, I thought it might be a bit of a manufactured sort of a story but it came over naturally enough. The objects in the box aren't obvious and I thought that Catherine could probably have taken a different path through them and found out different things about Susannah. Which isn't the point really, the point is that it was a good story and the characters were consistent.

The narrative reminded me of Barbara Vine a little, possibly because there is a quiet sense of impending doom in the "what will she find out about her mother?" question, but there isn't a hugely terrible hidden secret in here like there would be with Vine. It's more a case of the surprising things that are hidden in ordinary lives.

Enjoyable read, good writing, an interesting plot and great characters. I don't ask for much more than that from a book really!

[Josephine Draper · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an interesting writing style Margaret Forster has. She takes an awfully long time to get to any point, but it's really engaging along the way.
I liked the way this book gradually revealed information about both the main character, her dead mother and some of the other characters in the book. The book, like Margaret Forster's writing, is a slow burn.

The characters were well described and empathetic. I loved the way Rory was a very selfish yet sensitive character. He was completely believable and I'm sure everyone knows someone like him.
Catherine though was slightly harder to get your head around, but that is I think the point of the book - the learning about people.

This is not a hard read but it is slow and not gratifying for someone who likes action. I did enjoy it and the concept of a box of memories from beyond the grave was well thought out, however I think it promised a little more in the way of reveals than it delivered. Clearly this is Margaret Forster's style and she has written it well, but I think the same premise could have been an action/mystery novel with another writer, and unfortunately the premise is so compelling that it disappoints in the execution.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Margaret Forster mi ha incuriosito molto grazie a questo blog, che ne parla molto anche se non c'è una recensione di The Memory Box. La trama di questo romanzo è molto interessante: la protagonista, Catherine, si ritrova costretta ad affrontare il ricordo della madre Susannah, morta quando lei aveva pochi mesi, grazie ad una scatola dei ricordi che quest'ultima aveva preparato negli ultimi mesi di vita, e che Catherine si era sempre rifiutata di vedere, preferendo considerare la matrigna Charlotte la sua vera e unica madre. Ora però che sia suo padre che Charlotte sono morti, e la loro casa deve essere velocemente svuotata per la vendita, Catherine ritrova la scatola in soffitta e non può far altro che portarla a casa con sé, finendo con l'esserne ossessionata, anche se gli oggetti che vi ritrova diventano l'occasione per un percorso di crescita e di scoperta.

http://robertabookshelf.blogspot.it/2...

[Kirsty Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never heard of Margaret Foster before I came across this book at a charity sale but I'll definitely look up some more of her fiction in the future. She reminds me a lot of Margaret Atwood (specifically Cat's Eye) both in style and content. I've seen reviews where readers disliked the lack of a huge ending but I think that's what makes the plot so interesting. Through the exploration of the memory box the narrator goes on a journey of discovery not only of her birth mother but also of herself and gradually she begins to understand her personality and her behaviours. In addition she grieves the death of the mother who she knew and the mother who she didn't and comes out of the other side of the process more accepting of her childhood and life experiences. If you appreciate the gentle self discovery of characters rather than always needing a bug reveal then I think this is definitely one to try.

[K.B. Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book, beautifully written. The mother who knew she would die before her child could know her and anticipating the saintly pedestal she would be placed upon after death, created an intriguing memory box for her daughter. The collection of numbered objects, with no letter of explanation, enables the young woman to discover a more realistic understanding of her mother and also herself without any pressure. As Catherine's partner on this journey, I could appreciate her reluctance to open the box, then her frustration at the lack of any letter or notes and finally wonder at the wisdom of the contents.

[Sue Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great story about what happens when a daughter opens a memory box from her dead mother. This is not the story line from my perspective it's more about finding herself in some surprising places.
Brilliantly written and a great read.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book, so well written.

[Rebecca Duff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reasonably well-written book, lacking in a good plot though. Honestly this book was a bit of a disappointment, the whole book seemed to build up to something but that something never came...

[Debby Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fabulous story. Hard read for me as the story centers around a challenging mother-daughter relationship. Thoughtful walk through their relationship. Loved it and hated for it to end.

[Hilary Tesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Catherine, I was expecting there to be an explanation of the significance of each item she found when she opened her dead mother’s memory box. That, of course, was not Margaret Forster’s way. Her examinations of human nature and relationships are always far more complex than that - and that’s the beauty of her novels.

Instead, she leads Catherine - and so the reader - on a journey, physical and metaphorical, during which Catherine discovers that her mother, Susannah, who died from a heart condition when her baby was only 6 months old, was not just the “perfect” person she’d not wanted to hear about growing up. Instead, the eleven items in the box slowly reveal, at least partially, a far more complex and determined person with characteristics to her personality more similar to her daughter than Catherine had ever appreciated. Thus, in learning about the mother she never knew, she also learns about herself.

Nothing in the story is clear cut, each main character, including Catherine herself, has its defects but that’s what makes the book engaging as the author explores the reasons they are like they are through Catherine’s eyes.

[Annie 2manybeautifulBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

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I quite enjoyed following Catherine on a bit of a wild goose chase as she looks for answers to questions she never previously had. Her mother had died when she was a six month old baby leaving her a memory box containing a curious medley of things that she only opened as a 31 year old woman; notably the same age her mother was on passing.

She embarks upon a mission trying to piece together the missing pages of her mothers life, analysing why her mother would choose each particular object, wondering what precisely she was hoping to convey, what message or meaning to impart to her.

She not only discovers her mother, to whom she feels a connection to for the first time, but she finds herself too.

The more I read the more I realise that all families have complicated dynamics, hidden secrets and buried shame. Of the many many reasons I read one is to find versions of myself and to temporarily feel less lonely.

A quiet gem perhaps.
4 stars.
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[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

With this book selection, I was looking for something unchallenging but absorbing enough to keep me interested - and it fulfilled that criteria. The premise of a young woman finding a 'memory box', left by her mother, who died when she was six months old, was intriguing enough to draw me in. But there weren't really any major revelations in the way you'd expect with this kind of story. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing - though I did wonder at the end what the point of the story was. I liked the protagonist to begin with - her almost overwrought introspection felt familiar to me and very relatable, though certain aspects of her character and situation did grate a bit as time went on. It's not a particularly eventful book, but it's not meant to be - I didn't have any trouble getting through it and it's well-written in terms of showing one character's journey to understand herself better. But I don't think it's one that will stay with me.

[Marilyn Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine never knew her mother Susannah, who had died when Cathrine was just six months old. But she had grown up hearing of how perfect Susannah was; beautiful, selfless and happy, all the things that Catherine was not. When Catherine opens her mother's memory box, she finds it is full of strange unexplained objects, all carefully wrapped and numbered. As she begins to solve the mysteries she discovers the mother she never knew, realising that there was much more to her than the family legend of a good and selfless person. In doing so she in turn discovers truths about herself. Written with Forster's usual deft touch, this is a wonderful book about memory and grief. Forster is always excellent when writing about the complex relationships within families and especially so those of her female characters.

[Chris Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the writing style, the premise and the thought-provoking nature of this book, but I found the protagonist difficult to like and her actions difficult to understand. The fact that she was faced with unnecessarily complicated ‘puzzles’ - or were they? - to solve due purely to her own obstinate refusal ever to have acknowledged any curiosity about her birth mother I found both unbelievable and frustrating. That said, there was enough in it to make me want to find out what happened and to make me reflect about what I would put in my own memory box. Unlike others, I didn’t mind that there was no thrilling denouement to the detective work. It would have been incredible if there had been. The journey of discovery was realistic, the background and catalyst to it less so.

[Jodie Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow. Slow is the best description I can think of. The idea of the book is sweet. A grown woman learning to denounce her feelings of disconnect and ?resentment towards a mother she never knew via a memory box with no conclusion. I feel the book could’ve been much shorter, which may have made it an easier read. The characters all come across as posh tories, fairly self absorbed, bland. The book didn’t stir any emotion in me. It’s not badly written per say, it just didn’t tick my boxes though others have very much enjoyed it. Would I ever read it again? No, would I recommend it to friends? No. However, it filled a book lull and it can’t be too bad because I did finish reading it.

[Louise Tipple · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull, boring and never really got started. Kept expecting more. Not awful enough to not read, but no characters particularly interested me. The memory box itself was scattered with inconsequential crap and no real conclusion was reached. I suppose the idea was that the character finds themselves, through exploring her Mothers character, but there is no conclusion. She seems unchanged and the whole book seems utterly pointless. Was so glad to finish this book, so I can read something interesting.
Disappointing as the Author has a good name and is often recommended, hence my reason for reading. Will not read another of her books.

[Abbie Brindle · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the style of book is interesting and different from other reads, the character of Catherine was fundamentally boring and spoilt. There lacked a certain empathy throughout the story, and her emotional response was unconvincing quite repeatedly. I think the way the book was written was brilliant, but the structure caused me to lose interest about half way through the book. Most of the characters lacked any interesting qualities, aside Isabella, who didn’t get the focused writing time that she deserved. All in all, the book was fine. I wouldn’t recommend, but I’m glad I read it. The ending was bitter sweet and while I was disappointed by the lack of a reveal, I did quite enjoy the end.

[Laurence Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read and there's either a very strong short story, or a solid shorter novel inside this one. The problem is that the pace is glacial and all the "reveals" are pretty much as you'd expect. Also, there are a couple of narrative oddities / absurdities (wouldn't it be nice to be in a position suddenly to jet off to an obscure Caribbean island?). That said, the writing is good, the characters are well built and the actual premise is a good one. As I usually say, though, 25% shorter would have added a bit of urgency to the tale

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A school friend, who I’d not seen for years, lent me this book when I was pregnant with my first baby. I remember thinking it was a very strange story to suggest to me, at that time! But it’s one of those books which has stayed in my mind, probably because it reflects on the mother child relationship and I remember so clearly the thoughts and feelings felt by the characters in the story. It also inspired me to make a mobile for my baby girl - stars cut out of silver and pink foil!

[Lucy Wike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea of this book but found it very slow and draining to read, much until the last few chapters. It took my so long to read as it just didn’t give me the motivation to keep reading, so it just sat next to other books and I dipped in and out.

I think it could have been better - the idea is great. I was almost filling my own memory box instead - a Time Capsule almost.

Glad it’s finished.

[Flora · Rating 4 out of 5]

picked this up at a campsite library in Cornwall, and found it a surprise hit for my fortnight of solo hiking. I appreciated the 'emotional realism' of the protagonist's internal monologue, wrestling with her own motives, imagination, doubts, resentments and fears as she faces up to a maternal relationship she had always pushed away. I also enjoyed how Margaret Forster captured the subtlety and messiness of memory in the story. I was hooked til the end.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catherine is grieving her father and beloved stepmother. Her birth mother, susannah, died when Catherine was a baby but left a box with a curious mix of objects. Catherine feels little for her mother, but as she chooses to search the meaning in the objects, she learns more about a woman connected to her but unknown while learning more about herself. This is a reflective book with no dramatic reveal, but the writing is compelling with no word wasted, and I was completely hooked.

[Latricomtoise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though this book is quite short, it took me a while to finish it. Despite a strong beginning, with a good plot idea (the memory box that gives the novel its title), I soon became highly irritated by the main character, Catherine, whom I thought was very mean towards the people around her. The other characters have the same kind of behaviour, which made the novel quite difficult to get into.

[Andréa Lechner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed this book - found it mysterious and alluring, and the contents of the memory box stayed with me after reading. Loved the way the protagonist travels and yet cannot get away from her past. A very good yarn.

[Sam Davison · Rating 3 out of 5]

An effortless read and draws the reader in from the first page. A subtle novel which lingers on in the mind.