The Memory Room
The Memory Room
Author: Mary Rakow
Desc: The novel opens with Barbara who after remembering incidents of torture at the hands of her father has quite literally broken down. Found inside a disabled elevator she is no longer able to function with her new consciousness of these memories—those which are so resistant to understanding. Confronted with this knowledge of evil she must begin the painful process of remembering and reconstructing a new whole self. Helping Barbara to navigate her grief and her memories are her therapist the Psalms and most of all the words of Paul Celan. Paul Celan: 1920-1970 Poet. An eastern European holocaust survivor who wrote haunting poems about the darker spiritual trials of life and relationships that exhibit a compact style that fuses broken words and chopped syntax to produce a stark musicality. This is a novel about a woman who goes to hell and back. It’s a story which affirms the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of love and faith.