The Forest of Memories

by Nato Kipiani

The debut novel of a young Georgian writer written in English. The emotional struggle of Dylan or Genji, who loses his childhood friend Ayumu and is wracked by guilt.

399 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an unusual tale. It begins with two young boys in Japan, Genji and Ayumu playing hide and seek, the older boy falls asleep and on waking he finds his companion has disappeared. A body is never found. Genji to escape the trauma, struggling with severe PTSD and the hostility of his peers, moves to Canada and changes his name to Dylan. He is haunted at night by what happened. In Canada his path crosses that of another troubled youngster, Felix from an orphange who had been subject to a lot of bullying and physical abuse; there is a lot of sobbing and wailing at various times in the book and a lot of traumatic dreams. The butterfly on the cover is symbolic and butterflies appear a few times in the book, one is devoured by a spider. I chose to read this because Nato Kipiani is a Georgian writing in English, I'd be interested to read future books by her.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at the Japanese summer festival, thinking it would be something like a Ghibli movie, but turned out to be the most soul-crushing but amazing book I have ever read. The constant flashbacks from the characters' traumatising childhoods were making it so hard to keep reading, but I kept going because I was rooting for them with my whole heart. After especially heavy chapters, I had to take a break from reading and go out for a walk.
The book depicts the loneliness, longing and desperation to be held and seen perfectly, both of the characters suffering in their own ways that are expressed to the point of having physical tears falling from my eyes.
If you want to read a book that's full of excruciating emotions, constant ups and downs, and blooming of the soul when the protagonists finally take a step to happiness, this is for you.

[Jannat Alasfoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book in Georgia while looking for any Georgian literature written in English. I didn't google the book or the author until I finished it. I'm surprised that there aren't many readers of the book yet. It's a very fascinating tale, perfectly written. I loved every detail in it and how everything came together in the end. I wish the author every success and I look forward to reading more from her.

[Rangel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very interesting. Confusing for the most part but also diving into a different genre of what I usually read.