Absent Memories: Moving Forward When You Can't Look Back

by Rebecah Propst

Rebecah Propst is a college graduate who worked as a legislative liaison for a statewide trade association, spent some time as a broadcast journalist in the National Guard, earned a black belt, ran a marathon, wrote operations manuals, and managed a small business. The only problem is . . . she remembers none of this. All memories of her life before age forty-seven have been erased-as if someone deleted the files on her mind's hard drive. With no prior experiences to draw upon, Beki initially saw life through the eyes of a as a fascinating adventure. But as an adult without a past-without any knowledge of the cultural norms and codes of behavior most of us take for granted-the world was a frightening place where she didn't belong. She had to learn how to survive in a reality as volatile as mercury. Absent Moving Forward When You Can't Look Back is Beki's firsthand account of a life passage beyond imagination. Her journey to self-sufficiency and self-assurance is an inspiration for all of us.

Genres: Nonfiction

132 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2007

Reviews

[Fort Lupton Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Linda recommends this book.

[Kristina Wojtaszek · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I found most stunning in this account of total amnesia was how she seemed to have a viewpoint akin to someone with autism. It is striking, and makes quite a bit of sense because if you've lost your sense of self, your entire past, you have also lost all those social cues one picks up along the way, even subconsciously, by growing up in society. As the author says many times, she lost the whatever childhood she'd had, and even much of her adulthood-- it was like she'd been born in the body of a middle aged woman, a life half lived by a stranger she'd replaced. Her biggest struggles are in human relations. Although often depressing, even maddening at times (for how she was treated, how her serious impairments were often ignored by doctors and society, and the naivety and bafflement she went through again and again), it is also very enlightening, and tells us a lot about the relationship between memories, identity and social skills.