Loss of Memory Is Only Temporary

by Johanna Kaplan, Francine Prose (Introduction)

A funny, fresh, and brilliantly insightful collection of stories from a beloved writer, with a new introduction by Francine Prose Johanna Kaplan’s beautifully written stories first burst on the literary scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today they have retained all of their depth, surprise, and humor—their simultaneously scathing, hilarious, and compassionate insight into character and behavior. From Miriam, home from school with the measles, to Louise, the daughter of a family that fled Vienna for the Dominican Republic, to Naomi, a young psychiatrist, her heroines are fierce, tender, funny, and cuttingly smart. At once specific to a particular period, place, and milieu—mainly, Jewish New York in the decades after World War II—Kaplan’s stories resonate with universal significance. In this new collection, which includes both early and later stories, unforgettably vivid characters are captured in all of their forceful presence and singularity, their foolishness and their wisdom, their venality and their nobility, while, hovering in the background, the inexorable passage of time and the unending pull of memory render silent judgment. In its pitch-perfect command of dialogue matched with interwoven subtleties of insight and feeling and a masterful control of language,  Loss of Memory Is Only Temporary  is itself a timeless collection of the finest work by one of the most extraordinary talents of our age. 

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Jewish, New York, Literary Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 15, 2022

Reviews

[Rebecca]

I wish I’d known before I attempted it that the first story, “Other People’s Lives,” was actually novella-length (literally nearly half the book); it felt absolutely endless. The character portraits are sharp. Louise is a new boarder with the Tobeys – the father a famous ballet dancer now ill in the hospital; the mother German (reminding me of the mother in Sigrid Nunez’s A Feather on the Breath of God); a seven-year-old son – in Manhattan, having previously been in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt. There’s a whirl of nosy neighbours and noisy opinions as they prepare for a block party. Louise just sits and takes everything in. The couple of drives out from the city to an antiques dealer felt pointless. I was expecting something much snappier and more plot-driven, so this was a poor introduction to Kaplan’s work.

[Lauren Hakimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories explore, among other things, family relationships and mental illness. Many of their protagonists are Jewish girls coming of age in the Bronx in the years after World War II, as Kaplan herself once was. They are not fully familiar with the details of what their parents and grandparents faced in the old country, but they know two things: it was bad, and it was important.

It’s such a heavy weight to carry that one character says, simply, “I hate history.”

Read my full article in the Forward here:
https://forward.com/culture/481884/bo...

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Other People’s Lives” ⇝ 4 stars Fantastic!
“Sickness” ⇝2 stars
“Sour or Suntanned, It Makes No Difference” ⇝3 stars
“Dragon Lady” ⇝ 2 stars
“Baby-sitting” ⇝ 2 stars
“Loss of Memory Is Only Temporary” ⇝ 4 stars
“Tales of My Great-grandfather” ⇝ 3 stars
“Family Obligations” ⇝3 stars

[Jill Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johanna Kaplan’s book of short stories, “Loss of Memory is Only Temporary” is not for the faint of heart. One story, the first, “Other People’s Lives”, is really a novella and takes up about half the book. Unfortunately, I found it dense and turgid. The remaining 6 or so short stories are much better but I was rather turned off by the novella so I didn’t really enjoy them as much as I should have.

Giving a book three out of five stars is really quite difficult for me as a book reviewer. It basically means it’s a book I can recommend to the “right” reader, but one I probably won’t remember having read a year from now. And, theoretically, the “right reader” would be me, born after WW2 and Jewish. Maybe it really was the first story I couldn’t deal with (it was sorta endless), but the preface by Francine Prose was excellent in telling the reader about the author.

So, I hope anyone reading this review would read others and try to get a better take” on the book than I’ve given here. (Oh, the cover drawing by Maira Kalman is wonderful).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest addition to Ecco’s eclectic and reliably rewarding “Art of the Story” series revives Kaplan’s Jewish Book Award–winning 1975 collection Other People’s Lives, now with two more essays. Dropping readers into those lives as they unfold in all their messy, egoistic imperfection, Kaplan offers sly glimpses of human foibles and vulnerabilities, often through the penetrating eyes of young misfits, latter-day Jane Eyres. The opening novella, “Other People’s Lives,” in which emotionally troubled Louise is abruptly moved from an upscale sanitarium into the raucous home of Maria, a German immigrant prone to malapropisms, is a tour de force of internal and external dialogue and monologue with all the eloquent verisimilitude of a Robert Altman film. Francine Prose’s preface aptly praises Kaplan’s “paradoxically scathing and compassionate insight” into characters revealed in the midst of an uncertain present, poised between Old World and New. A rare gem, recovered.

[Mia Holiday · Rating 3 out of 5]

very different writing style, not my favorite

[Bridgette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loss of Memory is only Temporary is a collection of short stories which I found very enjoyable and inspiring. The stories cross different genres. The book is a very fast read and each story is well-written, fast paced and memorable. Highly recommend!

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful collection of stories, which includes early and later novels, about unforgettably vivid characters. I especially loved the preface by Francine Prose and Maira Kalman's beautiful cover illustration.

A passage I loved from "Sour or Suntanned" about that sharp-eyed girl in camp is when the author wrote, "From behind all the black lines, Fran's eyes looked as if she was already set to start flirting, but even so, her arm would not let go of Miriam's shoulder. It was just another thing that Miriam did not like. Simply going from one activity to another, the whole bunk walked with their arms linked around each other's waist. At flag-lowering, you joined hands and swayed in a semi-circle. In swimming, you had to jump for someone else's dripping hand the second the whistle blew, and at any time, there were counselors standing with their arms around kids for no particular reason. They were all people you hardly knew and would probably never see again. There was no reason to spend a whole summer hugging them."

This is another passage from "Other People's Lives." "Rebecca's arm was still around Maria. They had reached the house but continued standing outside it. In her cold and discomfort, Louise concentrated on the odd quality of Rebecca's voice. She had quacked French verbs at students for so many years that now, without knowing it, she could not stop the quacking. Worse, she plowed down on words and consonants with lingering lopsided lips and with her tongue, emphasized the sounds that students, in a dictation, might have forgotten to underline."

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://www.momsdonthavetimetoreadboo...

[Calyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caustic, complicated, and rich with lived-in, understood detail and detritus from the lives of people in the book, Loss of Memory is an amazing portrayal of the little details and characters who come to life. The level of sarcasm and wit in here while describing people and the things they say is phenomenally funny and shocking, but something about it is always serious enough to stifle any true laughter.

All stories about regular people with a literary dent to each one, they can be very slow to rise to their feet and slow to run. These are slow-burn stories that usually tell a story about a family or a person, rather than tell a story about an event. So this collection is very hard to get through at times because sometimes the stories drag through description and through tone and creating the little world they reside in, rather than being dependent on action.

Thanks to Ecco and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Alden Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delight to read. A note from the preface that sums this collection up well for me:

“The experience of these characters…remind me, all too clearly, of what it was like to be young: to feel that I existed on sufferance, that clear-sightedness was not a gift but a burden, that the people around me were more or less untrustworthy and hopelessly benighted; I remember how it felt to wish, as does one of Kaplan’s characters, that I could follow a family glimpsed on a city bus — and exchange my life for theirs.”

[Mich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listen to this book on audible. The accent of the narrator was to say the least interesting. Anybody who is narrating a book with JEWISH or Yiddish accents should learn how to properly pronounce certain words. But enough about the audiobook. They are number of very very funny stories in this book especially the one about the summer camp where Kaplan identifies the Israeli theatrical producer and the roles of the various kids at camp and all the shenanigans that go on in girls bunks.

[Pamela Carey · Rating 1 out of 5]

It has been a long, long time since I’ve given up on a book. As a writer, I feel beholden to persevere to discover the author’s vision and skill. However, this collection of stories tested my resolve and I stopped reading. Primary characters are dismissed, while secondary characters overtake primary roles. The plot in over 50 pages may consist of a car trip to upstate New York, and psychological dramas are lost in ten-page monologues.

[Candace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it 3 stars because it is one of the few books that I haven’t been able to finish. It’s not bad, it’s just not my kind of book. I could not get interested at all. I won it in a Goodreads giveaway and the reviews were positive. I was looking forward to reading it. But, alas, I was disappointed. Please don’t go by me though. Give it a chance and form your own opinion.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Really starts with a novella, not a short story, and it reminded me of Uncut Gems. Not in the content, at all, but in the stressful anxious feelings it induced. I just kept thinking STFU. I did like "Sour or Suntanned, it Makes No Difference" though.

[Lorri Steinbacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the first story, lost steam after that. Loved the cover.

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars. The first short story (which, at 100+ pages, is actually a novella) almost made me give up on the book, but a few of the following short stories were pretty good.

[Julian]

dnf

[Lili]

I didn’t actually finish this cause I didn’t like it except for tales of my great-grandfathers

[Raphaelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

. DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS. The reader is awful.

[Paula Yerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writing style difficult. However, I loved how she seems to consistently write from who she is and her history. I did love the story "Tales of My Great-Grandfathers".

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories really meander. Not that that's a bad thing.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories about people with vey unique perspectives on many things...funny at times.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I began reading each of the stories but unfortunately, I was only compelled to finish 2 of them. I found the writing style strange and obscure; I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters or their experiences. "Tales of My Great-Grandfathers," one of the two previously-unpublished stories in the book, was easily the standout.