Memory and Dream

Newford #2

by Charles de Lint

Isabelle Copley's visionary art frees ancient spirits. As a young student of the cruel, brilliant artist Vincent Ruskin, she discovered she could paint images so vividly real they brought her wildest fantasies to life. But when the forces she unleashed brought tragedy to those she loved, she turned her back on her talent -- and on her dreams.

Now twenty years later, Isabelle must come to terms with the shattering memories she has long denied and unlock the slumbering power of her brush. And, in a dark reckoning with her old master, she must find the courage to live out her dreams and bring the magic back to life.

"The [Newford] books have all been written in such a way that you should be able to pick up any one and get a full and complete story. However, characters do reoccur, off center stage as it were, and their stories do follow a sequence."

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Magical Realism, Canada, Audiobook

688 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Charles de Lint is the much beloved author of more than seventy adult, young adult, and children's books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, he is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, conducted by Random House and voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100.
De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and he's been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987. De Lint served as Writer-in-residence for two public libraries in Ottawa and has taught creative writing workshops for adults and children in Canada and the United States. He's been a judge for several prominent awards, including the Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon and Bram Stoker.

Born in the Netherlands in 1951, de Lint immigrated to Canada with his family as an infant. The family moved often during de Lint's childhood because of his father's job with an international surveying company, but by the time Charles was twelve—having lived in Western Canada, Turkey and Lebanon—they had settled in Lucerne, Quebec, not far from where he now resides in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1980, de Lint married the love of his life, MaryAnn Harris, who works closely with him as his first editor, business manager and creative partner. They share their love and home with a cheery little dog named Johnny Cash.

Charles de Lint is best described as a romantic: a believer in compassion, hope and human potential. His skilled portrayal of character and settings has earned him a loyal readership and glowing praise from peers, reviewers and readers.

Charles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them. He is, simply put, the best.
—Holly Black (bestselling author)
Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.
—Alice Hoffman (bestselling author)

To read de Lint is to fall under the spell of a master storyteller, to be reminded of the greatness of life, of the beauty and majesty lurking in shadows and empty doorways.
—Quill & Quire

His Newford books, which make up most of de Lint's body of work between 1993 and 2009, confirmed his reputation for bringing a vivid setting and repertory cast of characters to life on the page. Though not a consecutive series, the twenty-five standalone books set in (or connected to) Newford give readers a feeling of visiting a favourite city and seeing old friends.
More recently, his young adult Wildlings trilogy—Under My Skin, Over My Head, and Out of This World—came out from Penguin Canada and Triskell Press in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Under My Skin won 2013 Aurora Award. A novel for middle-grade readers, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, published by Little Brown in 2013, won the Sunburst Award, earned starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Quill & Quire, and was chosen by the New York Times Editors as one of the top six children's books for 2013. His most recent adult novel, The Mystery of Grace (2009), is a fascinating ghost story about love, passion and faith. It was a finalist for both the Sunburst and Evergreen awards.

De Lint is presently writing a new adult novel. His storytelling skills also shine in his original songs. He and MaryAnn (also a musician) recently released companion CDs of their original songs, samples of which can be heard on de Lin

Reviews

[Jake Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Charles De Lint has just been here the entire time, and is just good at everything?

So this is one of the best stand alone novels I have ever read.

This is an urban fantasy novel set in a made up city somewhere vaguely around the Canadian/US border. It starts with a women getting a letter that had been stuck in the system for 5 years, and it is from her best friend who died right before sending that letter. It also doubles back to a plotline from 20 years ago to that same women(Isabelle) starting to learn to paint from an incredibly famous painter. Both plotlines hooked me right away, and had me pretty deeply emotionally invested. If I was ranking my top 10 starts to a stand alone novel this would be very very high up the list. I think I said on my first update that it was on 10/10 watch.

The first thing to mention, is just that holy shit Charles De Lint can write. For the first like 50 pages of this book I kept just posting random quotes on discord. His writing is not dense, and manages to be incredibly grounded when it needs to be, and surreal when it needs to be.

De Lint also writes an entire distinct cast of characters. He is really good writing characters whose thoughts feel relatable even from people totally different from yourself. Generally very impressive characterization across the board. It is one of those books that feels like it has a small cast of characters just because all of them felt familiar to me at the end, but then I started thinking about it and man there were actually a solid amount, they were just all good enough to be main characters.

And of course he also was able to write an incredibly tense, edge of my seat final act, that got surprisingly dark, and had me truly unsure about who would make it to the other side, and who wouldn't.

I would say if I had to give this book a relative weakness, it would be that there are maybe a couple scenes where the dialogue between the characters is them explaining the themes. I think in this book De Lint was better at writing people's internal monologues than dialogue, but that is mostly because the internal monologues was completely incredible.

Fith Fath(discord name) recommended this to me and he is also a big GGK fan(that man is about as far into the circle of trust as he can be now when it comes to book recommendations), and this definitely had aspects that reminded me of GGK. The beautiful writing, and the abundance of artist PoVs being the main 2, but also the wide view of humanity, and being completely unashamed of highlighting our beauty and our sorrow, and the plotting that in isolation hops around but all ends up combining together very smoothly.

Also I feel like it is clear by the description, but worth mentioning that obviously if you want action, this is not the book for you.

All aboard the hype train.

9.5/10

[Jalilah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memory and Dream is richly layered, deep and thought provoking, yet at the same time captivating and enthralling.
Like so many of De Lint's novels, it's rooted in reality and the magic is hidden at first. This enables the reader to get drawn into the story and experience the magic in the same way the protagonists are experiencing it. The end effect is that the supernatural elements seem believable.
This story starts out in the early 90s as the reclusive painter Isabelle Copley receives a letter with a key to a storage locker from Kathy, her best friend since her university days in the 70s. This is rather mysterious because Kathy died 5 years before. Within a few hours Alan, another old university friend, calls requesting that Isabelle illustrate a completion of Kathy's short stories which he plans to publish. The proceeds are to go to the Newford Children's Foundation, which was Kathy's dying wish. We learn that Alan and Isabelle have been estranged since Kathy's death, and that Isabelle has refused to paint any realistic images since a few years before that.

The story then goes back to 1972 when Isabelle, Alan and Kathy are all first year university students. Isabelle starts apprenticing with Vincent Rushkin, Newford's famous and mysterious painter. Rushkin is brilliant but abusive. However he enables Isabelle to work magic through her painting, literally.
Just like the title, there is the constant theme of dreams and memories and how they effect our lives. De lint has magically worked two mythic themes, Pygmalion and the Sorcerers apprentice, into his novel. The story is complex with many surprises and twists in the plot, right until the end where we are back in the 90s and the story becomes thriller-like.
To say anymore would be giving away spoilers, so I'll just finish to say that Memory and Dream is a very satisfying read that I highly recommend!

The Newford Series is more like a series of books taking place in the same universe, so they can be read in any order except for the last few books.
Some of the side characters in Memory and Dream are also in #1 Dreams Underfoot, a collection of short stories. However there are no characters from Memory and Dream in #2. The Dreaming Place which is a YA novel. Same for #3 A Whisper To A Scream and #4 I'll Be Watching You which are horror-thrillers and so different from De Lint's usual style that he originally published them under a different name, "Samuel M. Key".( and it still caused quite a controversy I've read).
Although Memory and Dream is technically the 5th book in the Newford series, it's actually the first adult novel and a great place to start this brilliant series without missing any background information!

[Kara Babcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t pay much attention to blurbs on book covers. The worst one are when the publisher has cherry-picked a list of adjectives from someone’s review, as if hearing that the New York Times thought a book is “inspiring, powerful, thought-provoking” is going to make me want to read it any more or less. Blurbs have little substance and are not helpful. Most of the time. But I’m going to start off by quoting the Library Journal blurb on the front cover of my edition of Memory & Dream:

De Lint moves gracefully through the borders between reality and imagination, weaving a powerful tale about the relationship between an artist and her work.

This is an exception that proves the rule. This is a blurb that matters. It counts, in all the right ways, and I’m hard pressed to think of a better way to describe Memory & Dream and the effect it has on a reader.

Charles de Lint is a pretty great writer. Firstly, of course, he’s Canadian—I am legally required to point that out. Secondly, he writes contemporary urban fantasy without any of the paranormal investigation tropes that are so popular these days. His books could be mistaken for literary fiction, if you got dropped on the head and just ignored the parts with magic in them. They are just at the edge of the spectrum of magical realism, where it starts to bleed over into pure fantasy.

In this particular case, de Lint tells a story across two time periods. Isabelle Copley—or Izzy, as she is known in her younger time—is an artist with a gift. Mentored by a reclusive and manic artist named Vincent Rushkin, Izzy learns how to create paintings that act as gateways, bringing across numena from another world who manifest in the forms she paints. But after her relationship with Rushkin sours, Izzy retreats, becomes Isabelle, and turns her back on this gift. Only five years after the suicide of her best friend does Isabelle start confronting the events of twenty years ago.

The title here is key: de Lint hints that Isabelle’s memory is not always reliable, that she has edited history to be easier to deal with. By telling the story across two time periods, we get to see two versions of Isabelle: the growing, blossoming artist who is struggling with her newfound ability; the older, more experienced woman who has been burned once (literally) and is reluctant to engage again on that level.

It’s viscerally disturbing, watching young Izzy fall prey to all sorts of perils. From the abusive nature of her mentorship under Rushkin to the creepy vibe in her relationship with John, Izzy seems to fall repeatedly into these situations where she is unable or unwilling to have agency. It’s interesting that in the times she does exercise her agency, pushes away Rushkin or John or rejects her ability to create numena, she almost always ends up regretting it.

I have to hand it to de Lint, because I don’t actually like Isabelle (or Izzy) all that much as a character. She doesn’t have much in the way of fierce determination or backbone—gumption, they’d probably call it in the old days—but instead tends to go along with the flow, even if it’s going to end badly. Nevertheless, de Lint’s skill as a writer means I can still sympathize with Isabelle. I understand why she is that way, why she reacts to these challenges in the way she does. I don’t like it, but I sympathize with it.

Because that’s what de Lint has managed to capture here: a simple but important truth, which is that life is hard. Creating is hard. Having responsibility for something external to oneself is hard.

I’m not much for the visual arts, despite having worked in a gallery for six of the last eight years. I did enjoy de Lint’s description of the technical parts of Isabelle’s creative process, however, as much as I liked hearing about Kathy and Alan’s literary endeavours. Creative people like this recur throughout de Lint’s books, and they always seem to be the ones able to pierce the veil and cross the void between worlds. According to de Lint, creativity is our direct line to our soul, and to our creator.

So in his portrayals of Isabelle and Kathy, Alan and Marisa, Jilly and Rolanda—and we mustn’t forget the numena either—de Lint examines the marks that creativity leaves on people. He depicts both the great joys and relief that creativity brings as well as the terrible doubts, the stress, the pain. Rushkin and his twisted numena, the very idea of consuming the spirits we create, alludes to the darkness in the core of every human being. Creativity allows us to tap into that darkness in a raw and powerful way, but it is not without its dangers. This is the problem Isabelle has, the fear that if she brings across more numena, she will fail them (like she failed Kathy…).

Layered atop these questions is the question of whether the numena are real. What is reality anyway? Is it being able to bleed and dream, having the “red crow,” as Cosette puts it? Or is Isabelle correct—are the numena real because she gave them a piece of herself in their making? And will they survive her own death? So many questions, none of which de Lint ever hands down a single, definitive answer. But this only makes the story that much more tantalizing. My interest was starting to flag towards the end (I think the book itself is a hundred pages too long), but I kept going, not out of a sense of duty to finish, but because I was still intrigued by this particular theme.

As with his previous books that I’ve read, Memory & Dream concerns a protagonist’s personal journey as it intersects with a larger external conflict. Isabelle must stop Rushkin. But to do that, she has to confront the barriers she has erected within herself. De Lint seems interested in how we construct our own realities, how we lie to ourselves or change our memories to suit us, and how we define ourselves: are we artists or painters, writers or authors—what labels do we use? Whereas in some of his novels the fantasy element is foregrounded, here the numena are companions, but they never steal the stage. This is a story about how we value and judge ourselves and our creations. It is very powerful. It’s not perfect; it’s a little long, and your mileage will vary when it comes to how much you like the protagonist. But it’s yet another example of why Charles de Lint is a fantastic voice in fantasy.

[Arie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
I adore Charles Lint, Newford, all the characters that fill it - everything about his world.
I just think sometimes the "magic" of his writing is a little hit and miss. Unfortunately this was the case with Memory and Dream. Parts of it mesmerised, and these parts I would happily give five full stars and claim perfection. Other parts felt overly preachy, tell not show, this is what you should feel because people are awful etc etc.

Still, the perfect moments are there, the plot is interesting and the descriptions of art are so deliciously evocative that I am now torn between despair at my lack of patience with oils, and desire to run straight to my studio and paint and paint and paint.

[Arie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles de Lint is always a pleasure to read - but it's a pleasure that takes full measure of the darkness that hides in the depths of his stories.

Here it's not hiding: that darkness is in plain view.

I don't know why I didn't remember this when coming back to Memory and Dream - but it's a harder read than even The Onion Girl. In fact, moments of this border almost on horror, though the magic does win out.

I'd also forgotten that this is one of the patchier pieces of his writing, possibly due to the length of the book. Isabel isn't a particularly likeable character at first, though she does have a pretty decent arc, and there are moments of Mary-Sue-ishness (why exactly is everyone in love with her?) that are luckily resolved by the third act.

But still: it's Charles de Lint, and it's Newford, and it's a little like coming home after a long, long day.

[Pranav Prabhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't expected this to be this amazing, but I am now reading more de Lint immediately.

[Greg Hamerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story had a deep impact on me. It opens with an innocent sketch in a town square; it soon becomes a deeply engaging study of the act of creation and the mind of an artist.

If I took out my editor’s pencil, I’d only be able to mark one paragraph in the entire book, where a minor character is granted a bit too much page space to rant about his over-intellectualised opinions of art. It is in character though. And that’s it. The single tiny flaw I was aware of, if flaw it is. I mention it only to show that I attempted to be critical, but could not really find fault. The story is mostly flawless, and breathtaking.

There is a twist that throws a new light on the whole story, right at the end, which as a reader is an absolute delight. As my mind recapitulates the tale I get a new version and insight into what I’ve already learned. This is so satisfying, it’s as if I get two stories for the price of one, this deepening of the experience is something I intend to incorporate into my own writing. I shall read more of Charles de Lint’s work. He is a master of his art. He deserves study. Maybe, even, demands it.

The value of this story is an appreciation of the relationship between master and apprentice. True, this story is an extreme relationship, but that brings things to light that in many relationships of this kind would be submerged, suppressed or sub-conscious.

The world de Lint creates is entirely believable, because it does not seem to be a creation (one of the benefits of a contemporary setting). There is so much that is familiar, that the subtle elements of magic slip into this framework without alarming the reader. Even though the created characters could be interpreted to be largely symbolic, I accepted them in the story world and the more I believed the story, the more they slipped into the ‘real’ world. (Is there a ‘real’ world, I began to wonder?)

The structure is not chronological. As more of the past is revealed, we can puzzle together the present. This is a clever mirror of what Isobelle Copley is attempting to do. .. piece together her life from her traumatised memory. That she is trying to understand the great power of her art makes it all the more poignant. This is a great storytelling technique.

In many ways, this is the classic tale of the sorcerer’s apprentice. We get a foreshadowing of what she could become, if she follows in her master’s footsteps: consumed the essence of her own art. It is a deeply philosophical work, yet most of that is hidden in the art, so it makes an exciting art-thriller set in a student world. I could instantly relate to it … a familiar world of study, university, friends, and driving ambition to find fundamental secrets. The magic allows this world to become invaded without seeming unbelievably weird. The unsettling power of the narrative comes from de Lint withholding the truth, making us wonder, when we mostly know the truth but a seed of doubt keeps us engaged. This subtlety, combined with conflicted characters, puts us on edge and we must read to the end to find resolution to the distress.

The books could have contained all of this, and still been mediocre. What lifts it to the level of mastery (and to the very TOP of my writer’s bookshelf) is the wisdom and truth de Lint shares, due to his lifetime of artistic practice. The story serves to demonstrate his understanding. Reading is more than entertaining, it is enlightening. In this respect, the story outclasses Tolkien and Hobb and any fantasy world I have encountered. Not due to the world-building—there are more elaborate and awesome worlds)—or scale, or even systems of magic (which is not particularly revolutionary). It is the artistry of the writing, the style, that so enthrals me.

He could have achieved this with just Isobelle’s story, yet in these 600 pages there is another story, told through a diary and memory, of Kathy, the writer. This allows de Lint to explore the relationship between artists and writers, how their craft differs and the poignant and heartbreaking legacy of abuse, the spirit to create and the will to live. I found de Lint’s perspective on these issues unique and troubling. He spoke to my soul. Kathy’s tale twines through Isobelle’s and broadens the emotional range; a subtle kind of world-building.

If this is a fantasy novel, it is of an entirely different genre to sword and sorcery. Yet it deals with magic, and an altered reality. The magic is of her own making. The story is of her own making. The brilliance of it is ... Charles de Lint.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first de Lint novel, and I have to say, it's one of the best contemporary/urban fantasy novels I've read. Set in the fictional city of Newford, the novel follows the lives of three artists--a painter, a writer, and a publisher--friends and lovers of magic. What I love so much about this novel is how it entwines the trauma of human experience with hope and magic. Though technically the fifth Newford novel, I had no trouble starting with Memory and Dream and will certainly continue with more.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the interesting concept and excellent (tense, satisfying and with a good twist) ending, parts of this book really seemed to drag. I can't specifically point at any elements that weren't necessary (for establishing characters, setting up the plot and providing clues for the twist at the end), but there were points when I was really starting to lose interest in the story. Perhaps it was the POV jumps - the story is split between events of the present day (early nineties) and the 1970s; the narrator changes between several different characters; and the protagonist herself is an unreliable narrator (again, probably necessary to the tale, but grating at times). On the plus side, the idea of the numena (beings brought through into our world through certain paintings from some place that they no longer remember) is fascinating: Are they simply the creations of the artists who painted them? Were they snatched away from some other existence (or rescued from some terrible place)? Are they real in the same sense that humans are? As always, there are some beautiful descriptions, and de Lint's vision of the city of Newford is becoming more concrete. All things considered, if it wasn't for the ending, I'd still probably give this only 2 stars ("meh"), but the author pulls it out at the end, squeaking by with 3 stars.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Beautifully written, with superbly drawn characters and a very original fantasy element. Loved it. Highly recommended.

[Jackie "the Librarian" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this is one of those books that jumps back and forth from the past to the present day. I guess that fits with the "memory" part of the title.

So far, Isabelle has received a letter that got lost in the mail for five years, mailed by her friend Kathy right before she died. That same day, she is contacted by mutual friend Alan about illustrating a book of Kathy's short stories.
But there's something weird going on with Isabelle, and with her art...

**********************Final review, with spoilerish details
While I enjoyed this book, it went on too long, and there were too many "coincidences" jarring me out of my suspension of disbelief for it to be entirely successful. I liked the main plot of paintings being so true they can provide a door for spirits from the place of stories to come into our world. But the characters weren't well developed, despite the length of the story.

Too many events were crammed into the beginning of the narration - Isabelle gets a letter from her deceased roommate, Kathy, that has been lost in the mail for 5 years (no explanation given), and she gets a phone call from Alan, a friend from those days when she roomed with Kathy, on the SAME DAY. He comes out for a visit, still on the same day, and by the next day she's retrieved materials Kathy left for her in a locker in the bus station, packed her art supplies and her cat, and has moved into temporary quarters in Newford, after agreeing to Alan's request to do illustrations for a book of Kathy's stories. Too much, too fast. And for no good reason.

Then we jump back in time, to Isabelle's meeting with her mentor, Rushkin, who taught her the secret of making paintings with enough heart to bring across spirits from another place. Hints are regularly given that Rushkin was a malign influence, that something horrific has happened because of these paintings, and that Isabelle had given up representational art because of it. But the plot is drawn out so gradually that the hints become irritating, rather than intriguing. The framework, with the jumping back and forth to the different time periods, felt artificial to me, an attempt to build suspense that wasn't all that successful.

Along with Isabelle's story, we learn about her roommate, Kathy, who wrote short stories that were as magical in their way as Isabelle's paintings. We know that Kathy has died, but the details are muddied, because Isabelle is an unreliable narrator. Alan is a mutual friend and an editor who is trying to publish a collection of Kathy's stories, which he hopes Isabelle will illustrate, but there is a legal challenge being brought by Kathy's mother, Margaret Mully. Others have mentioned another weak plot point - the murder of Margaret Mully which moves the plot along, but doesn't make sense.

On top of the regular characters, there are the spirits from Isabelle's paintings, which are called munin. They have their own issues - are they real? Can they create? Can a munin brought through by Isabelle have a real relationship with someone who knows their origin? And what is Rushkin up to with Isabelle's paintings of the munin?

I think the author was too ambitious, and tried to cram too much into the book, and was spread too thin. We have Isabelle's story, Kathy's story, Alan's story, AND the spirits from the paintings. The book is like a souffle that has collapsed under its own weight. It's tasty, but too dense.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while now and was so glad that it met my expectations, although in a way that I did not expect. One of my book-club women had recommended Charles de Lint’s work to me and I knew that this book was one of my reading project books for this year. I took it on holiday with me, starting it on the airplane.

To begin with, I was worried. I’m a dedicated fantasy reader and this was billed as fantasy and yet I wasn’t seeing how it could be fantasy. Imagine my relief as the required fantastical elements began to show up! I guess that’s my roundabout way of saying that it started slowly.

Like all good novels, this one explores a number of ideas and on a number of levels. What is the nature of art, whether visual or written? What responsibility does the artist have to his or her creations? What about other people, do they have a say in that relationship? How well do we really know the people in our lives? What conditions are we willing to put up with in order to learn the things we yearn to know? Are there any circumstances that justify emotional and/or physical abuse?

I found the ending just tied up a little too neatly for my tastes--I like a few messy ends left hanging and Memory & Dream came just a little too close to a HEA ending in my opinion. But that’s just me. Nevertheless, I’ll be reading more of de Lint’s work in the future.

Book 320 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy reading project.

[Morgan Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my favourite book of all time. I am such a fan of Charles De Lint - his characters are so vivid and real, his imagery incredibly evocative, his themes magical and compelling - and this book is absolutely wonderful.

I have lost track of the number of times I have read this book. I've destroyed one copy of it, just by rereading it one too many times, and my current copy (although still readable) is definitely well-loved. I have never read a De Lint book I didn't like - they are all amazingly well-written, complex, and, frankly, magical. He has quite a few very good one-off novels, though I particularly love his Newford stories, probably because that's how I was first introduced to his works.

Kathy, Izzy, Alan, John, Jilly, and all the characters in this book just leapt out at me, and that's why I continue to return to it time and again.

I recommend this book to anyone who'll listen. It's truly just that good.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
Elitist, narcissistic artists use world shattering power in the most boring way possible while being melodramatic and annoying. Repetitive narrative, one dimensional characters, boring prose, wasted themes. I'm so glad this is over

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep reading de Lint's books, and almost loving them. But I never quite do. I spent some time today thinking about why, and I think it's that, although I like the type of people he tends to feature as characters, and I tend to agree with many of his themes, I think that what he wants to "say" comes before his actual story.
Some books, one feels that the action springs from the characters and who they are - in de Lint's, I feel that he's almost walking them through it.

"Memory and Dream" is about a young art student who meets a famous, reclusive artist. He becomes her mentor - but is also controlling and abusive. But - he teaches her a technique of painting that allows her to open a gateway through her paintings, allowing creatures of magic to "step through" and take physical form in our world.

Years later, she has rejected this ability - and through both memories and illusions, we see the story of why - in a tale that involves her best friend's death, friends estranged, hidden child abuse, and a foundation to help troubled kids through art... but also magical beings.

When, five years after her friend's death, a letter that was delayed in the mail arrives, a chain of events is set in motion that will bring all of both the magic and trauma of the past back to be dealt with, and she will realize evil secrets may be deeper than she ever knew.

Actually, that seems to be one of de Lint's themes that I disagree with. If I recall correctly, "Forests of the Heart" had a similar thing going on - someone that people always made excuses for, but who turned out to be PURE EVIL. de Lint seems to be hinting that there isn't such a thing as a flawed person, with both bad and good in them - it's either good or evil, and what people do is just kid themselves that these people aren't really evil. And moreover, I feels there's an agenda behind the writing, to encourage readers to kick those flawed, depressed or controlling/manipulative/abusive people out of their lives. Not that I'm saying that people shouldn't ditch such people - but I think one can recognize an unhealthy relationship without going to the "PURE EVIL!" extreme.

When all the characters fall into "types" (artistic but emotionally sensitive/gullible student, abusive and powerful mentor, rape victim, child abuse victim, well-meaning and kind black social worker, honorable and justice-seeking Native American, good-at-heart gang members, troubled children who are victims of society, etc) it begins to feel a little preachy, and a little idealistic. In this book, I didn't just feel like I was reading a story about people who wanted to run a non-profit agency to help street kids, I felt like I was being exhorted to donate time and money to such charities.
I think the reason for this is that although such "troubled kids" appear in the book, none of them make more than two-dimensional, cameo appearances. It gives the feeling of do-gooders proffering charity, rather than offering insight into what it might be like to grow up on the streets. The brief flashback into the abused character's being forced into child porn really didn't ring true, either...

Hmm. I'm sounding a little harsh now. I did actually like this book. I've read a lot of de Lint's books, and I'll read more. I like the way he meshes magic with a 'modern bohemian' setting. But a message is more effective when more subtly given...

[April Stormdancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a soft spot for Charles de Lint. He has a way of writing urban fantasy that doesn't feel like urban fantasy. It feels like literature. It is expansive, the ideas are greater than the book itself, the thematic elements linger with the reader long after the last page is read.

Memory and Dream is no exception. I read a review of this a few days ago that stated that the main character Izzy/Isabelle is not a sympathetic character. I find that incredibly hard to believe. The moment I started reading the story I found her to be sympathetic and relate-able. She is naive and inspired and comes from a home not exactly broken, but somewhere in a more nebulous region of emotional neglect and pain. I immediately identified with her.

The book is broken up between characters, over different periods of time and through journal entries. It is about a quarter of the way through the novel that you realize Izzy/Isabelle is an unreliable narrator which is writing device I LOVE. When you realize this you begin to question everything and the truth, whatever that is (the novel worries at the edges of what the definition of truth is), is slowly revealed in the last quarter of the novel.

Alan, Cosette, Annie Nin, Kathy and Jilly are all excellent supporting characters. They are living, fully realized characters, unlike many authors secondary characters. you never feel cheated out of knowing them. A lot of the names are recognizable from other Newford stories that de Lint has written and there is a comfort in returning to a well-known friend in the pages of a new story.

At times heartbreaking, horrific, and other times uplifting, this is a story for people who recognize the magic that lies around them in their day to day lives. The magic, and the strife.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if your art became reality? What are your responsibilities to that new reality? Isabelle is a painter that falls under the spell of her new mentor, Rushkin - a troll of a man that makes astonishing paintings. She learns how to extend her gift to such a degree that the subjects come to life (not a spoiler).

While navigating this dream/reality world, Isabelle finds out that there is a yin and yang to this stuff. And this is where de Lint shines - he is not afraid of making the hard choices in bringing the bad stuff of our non-fantasy world into fantasy fiction. That is one of the reasons I continue to read him as opposed to the ilk of "Dragonriders of the Dragon World and the Dragons That They Ride On Through Dragon Stuff" novels (gee, I don't have any prejudices there...).

I see hints of fairy tales (Rumplestiltskin, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood), doubles like in Dostoyevsky, and of course The Picture of Dorian Gray all mixed in. But it all ends up working quite right in the city of Newford.

Also, this is one of the few novels that really gets what being a visual artist is like. Of all the stuff in de Lints' bio (writing, musician, editor, etc.) I never saw visual arts as being one of his skills. But he writes like he has been through the process. I've read a lot of stuff where the writers had no clue of what goes into creating pictures.

[Zanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It's been a long time since I read a book like this and initially I found the image-laden realistic description style clunky, feeling that far fewer words were needed to express the ideas on offer. I was soon sucked into the story though, and after a while I realised my reading experience was very similar to watching a film, which was fun.

I found this a quick and easy read, a little cheesy and artificial, but emotionally intense and very absorbing. I enjoyed the tropes - the bohemian quarters, the farmhouse on the island accessible only by rowing boat, the eccentric mentor… There was a little bit of diversity going on, in terms of race and sexuality, and social justice issues got some unsubtle but well-meaning attention. I was reminded of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics and his character Death. There was also some Thomas King influence, which will always float my boat. I thought the magical aspects were nicely handled, but I found all of the characters flat and unconvincing to varying degrees.

[James Morpurgo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memory and Dream is my second read in the Newford series by Charles de Lint and this was highly anticipated after enjoying his short story collection, Dreams Underfoot. This time we have a full novel format but it was every bit as good with again the magical elements being kept initially subtle and low key whilst the characters were being introduced. Much like with Stephen King's Castle Rock or Derry books, with Newford there are going to be connected plot threads and familiar characters but each book for the main part are self contained.

So glad that I stumbled across this series and with another 20 or so remaining to read there should be plenty to keep me occupied for quite some time but without the pressure of keeping up with a massive sequence of books. De Lint's writing style is beautifully descriptive and accessible and this lends well to the themes and creative characters used.

Not sure if there is a strict reading order as such but I'll probably keep closely to the listing here on Goodreads...

[Otchen Makai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for character building from the first one, "Dreams Underfoot", followed that one well with the characters and gave you some things to think about. Beginning is VERY SLOW and meticulously detailed to the point where you almost just want to stop reading it.. BUT!.. if you can get through the beginning and trudge through some slow parts, it starts to pick up steam like 200 pages in. haha.
Good book, still love De'Lint's wonderful imagination and imagery, though this was a long and tedious read. Actually celebrated when it was finally finished. The ending made it a good read, though. Those last 100 pages have you completely sucked into the story.

[David H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alternating between the present (1992) and the past (1970s), Isabelle has to come to terms with painful memories she's avoiding. The book touches on abuse and death and what it means to be real in de Lint's fictional city of Newford, and both entrancing and emotional, especially when the author focuses on Isabelle's art. The slow reveal of information could be annoying for some, but I thought it was done at just the right pace.

[Mitch H]

3.51

[Vigasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars rounded up because of the prose and originality of the plot. This was exactly that kind of magical realism book I needed at the moment. I will definitely try more books by the author.

[James Madsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: This is an updated review, incorporating elements from my first and second readings. I gave "Memory and Dream" 4.5 stars in my review here the first time that I read it (this past summer), but I just finished rereading it and believe that 4.832 stars :) (and thus a rounding up to 5 in the stars line) is in order.

I have far more experience with fantasy set in distinctly different worlds than with contemporary, especially urban, fantasy. In fact, to my knowledge, I'd read only two such novels (Jonathan Carroll's "The Marriage of Sticks" and Peter Beagle's "Summerlong") before encountering "Memory and Dream" (although since then I've read--and very much enjoyed--more of de Lint; see my reviews of "Dreams Underfoot," "Someplace to Be Flying," and "Moonheart"). I see that de Lint is a fan of Carroll, and that makes sense: "The Marriage of Sticks" and "Memory and Dream" have the same ambience, with dark shadows present in the background of seemingly normal life. And both are parts of series in which a main character in one book can appear peripherally in other books. In Carroll's "Crane's View" series, it's police chief Frannie McCabe; de Lint's Newford books have artist Jilly Coppercorn and singer Geordie Riddell most prominently but many others as well. "Memory and Dream" focuses on another artist, Isabelle Copley, a friend of Jilly's but the very best friend of a writer, Kathy Mully, who has been dead for five years when at the very beginning of the book Isabelle receives a much-delayed letter from her. It turns out that when Izzy (as she called herself then, after Kathy had christened her "ma belle Izzy") and Kathy were roommates and college students (and friends with not only Jilly but also, especially, an aspiring book publisher named Alan Grant), Izzy fell under the spell of a mysterious but extraodinarily talented artist named Vincent Rushkin. The novel tells the story, in the past and the present, of Kathy, Isabelle/Izzy, Alan, Rushkin, and the "numena," beings of flesh (but not blood) that Izzy learns to bring forth from certain of her paintings.

de Lint manages to juggle a variety of nonfantasy issues here--friendship, love, loss, what it means to really know (or not know) someone, how relationships change over time (and in some ways stay the same), abuse and the reactions to it, the relationship between the private life and character of a painter or a writer to his or her works (Marion Zimmer Bradley and H.P. Lovecraft, I'm thinking of you), the desire for control, and the extent to which one can change the world. This last does dual duty as a nonfantasy and also a fantasy theme. And from a fantasy perspective, there's the theme of what is real in general as well as the Pinocchio motif of what it means to be real for individuals. The author has a lot of balls in the air and for the most part manages to juggle them well and often with real tenderness and subtlety.

I was at first a little put off by how many times the author used the actual words "memory" and "dream"; I felt hit over the head. And although his leaving a few mysteries at the end is intentional, I wish that I knew a little more about the rules governing the numena. And we never get to see whether one of the major revelations to us about who started a crucial fire ever got communicated to the main character! But those are minor quibbles compared to the real magic of "Memory and Dream," which is still a solid 4.832 stars in my eyes. de Lint got me to care about the characters and the plot and want to know What Comes Next--always the best criterion for a good story. During my first reading, I reached the climax of the book while at lunch during a conference, and I missed the next two or three presentations because I couldn't bear to set the book down! And the dénouement, which began for me with the description of the last painting and then expanded into the last chapter, brought me to unabashed tears. It did again the second time (which was better than the first).

Once you finish the book, I think that you too will want to reread it with the perspective of knowing the full story. It's almost like a new book on the subsequent reading.

Oh, and three minor points: John Howe, the well-known Tolkien artist, illustrated the cover of the hardbound edition; Kate Reading does a fine job of narrating the audiobook; and I'm sorry that Isabelle/Izzy does not (so far) appear (except in a couple of passing references to her art in one of the stories in "Dreams Underfoot") in any of the other Newford books by de Lint! I miss her, although I got to see her again in my rereading of "Memory and Dream."

What an atmospheric, evocative, engaging, and touching book! I highly recommend it.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted a fantasy book to read, something I could lose myself in now that the weather's turned grey and rainy, and in that sense, this book didn't disappoint.

It was easy to lose myself in Newford (although, knowing nothing about de Lint's world, I kept wondering if it was a real place or not) and in its arts scene he lovingly describes. It was also easy to lose myself in the community of characters, a kind of fantasy in itself, I suppose. These were all enjoyable things to read, and immerse myself in, and imagine.

What was less enjoyable was the style of writing, the verbosity of the author, the slightly adolescent modes of description. In some ways, the verbosity suited me, as I wanted a long story, but this book could have been two hundred pages shorter if he had wanted it to be. There is a lot of reiterating without furthering the story, internal indecision and explanation, external exposition and description. It palls, sometimes. Isabelle is often a little too earnest, and many of her motives are unclear or undeveloped. To have undeveloped themes in a 680 page book seems a little much to me, and yet I'm still unclear on why she would choose to have a romantic relationship with a being for whose existence she was, essentially, responsible.

The entire magical premise of the book was undeveloped, really. The two schools of thought, that the painters created the numena, and that they just 'brought them over', that they were fully responsible for them or that they were on their own, bleated constantly at each other throughout the story and never really settled on a solution or made any progress. It got tiresome.

In the end, there wasn't as much magic in the story as I'd hoped for, but the scene setting, the characters, and the warm and fuzzy fictional world de Lint creates are all things I would like to revisit.

[Dorian · Rating 3 out of 5]

1992. Isabelle is a successful and respected artist when her slightly reclusive life is interrupted, first by the arrival of a letter from her dearest friend, dead these five years, and then by another friend, wanting her to illustrate an anthology of the dead friend's short stories.
1973. Izzy is a naive art student when she meets Vincent Rushkin, one of the greatest living painters of her age, and he takes her on as an apprentice...but Rushkin is controlling, and abusive, and while what he has to teach is more than just art, the price is high...

This is a complex book which moves back and forth between past and present, to some extent leaving the reader to figure out for herself how the past events shaped the present character. And to gradually realise that if not exactly a narrator, Isabelle is a distinctly unreliable POV character.

Parts of it I find hard to read; the depictions of Izzy's relationship with Rushkin are uncompromising and I find her behaviour very hard to take (even though I know it's probably an accurate depiction). Things get easier in that respect after about the middle of the book.

Still...I loved this book when I first read it, about 20 years ago. Now, it seems to have lost a lot of its magic. It's still, especially in the second half, a good read, but it's no longer the brilliant book it used to be.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is primarily about an painter dealing with (a) her ability to perform magic through her painting and (b) her troubles dealing with the negative parts of reality.

[author Charles de Lint] is undoubtedly a fine writer and I like that he doesn't follow the standard fantasy good vs evil tropes. Instead, he writes about ordinary vs evil. The weakness in this is that ordinary people are, well, ordinary. Additionally in this book a lot of story is told in flashbacks, but flashbacks told after we know where the character will wind up. Therefore the flashbacks are not only ordinary but predictable. Since there was a minor theme about memory I see why he chose this technique, but it dragged down the story. At several points I was scanning past pages to find where next the narrative would touch on something new.

Normally if I have this reaction I would say that the book should be edited down, but that isn't how I feel here. Somehow, rather, I'd like more depth in the same pages, but I don't clearly see how that could come about.


And is it just me or is the whole "should Alan commit adultery" subplot a bit odd? Actually, for a major character Alan is rather a nobody.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure how I feel about this book. I love the idea that is the essence of this novel: that Isabelle's paintings can bring ancient spirits into this world. And yet... There were some really good parts but there were also way too many -and, a lot of the times, unnecessary- detailed descriptions that I feel slowed down the pace of the story too much. It took me a while to get into it (maybe after page 100) and, even then, I never really cared much about most of the characters, which is a problem, because if you don't care about the characters, you won't care about what happens to them. One of the few exceptions was John Sweetgrass. I fell in love with that character. He saved the book for me and was probably the reason I kept reading until the end.

Now, don't get me wrong: the book wasn't bad. It just wasn't great for me, either. It didn't grab me, not until almost the very end, when the story finally starts to pick up. But it's a 400 pages book so I felt that most of it was a slow building up to a climax that took too long to arrive.

Overall, the book was alright for me. It had some moments that truly enchanted me -and that's the reason I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 2- but there weren't enough of them in a novel that is this long.

[Myridian · Rating 5 out of 5]

de Lint is always great at combining the mystical and amazing elements of fantasy with a present day reality that speaks to me as a reader. This book is about Isabelle Copeley and her ability to use her art to "bring across" spirits from some mysterious "before." But at a deeper level, this book is about how we perceive reality, the way our perception alters depending on our ability to reinterpret events, and the seductive dangers of allowing this to happen. For all Isabelle's amazing artistic powers, she is unable to confront the reality of the important people in her life, and this leads to sometimes fatal repercussions. de Lint writes with a somewhat spare, but luscious style that sucked me in and kept me reading, even though his concurrent telling of events from the past and present were rather annoyingly strung together. On the whole though, this book completely redeems de Lint after my disgust at

[Lilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I say that each Newford book I read, leaves me craving for more?
Such touching characters human and magical, all mixes up in one and brings up memories. Through the characteristics & traits of each the reader can connect to himself, and start thinking of how to become a better person. That's what happened to me anyway. I found this book most familiar to myself and my environment, each page turned personal, but also acknowledgeming.Many quotes were what I thought but never could put correctly in order or even in words.
It doesn't matter that this story is not mine, but I walked the streets and felt everything, that Charles described as I read along. All this sounds too emotionally attached, for 600 pages. But I did relate to it and I loved it. Warmly recommended. Though I prefer that the opinion on this book will be only mine, because everyone perceives things differently. And maybe this book is like this only for me.