The Man Without a Shadow

by Joyce Carol Oates

In 1965, neuroscientist Margot Sharpe meets Elihu Hoopes: the “man without a shadow,” who will be known, in time, as the most-studied and most famous amnesiac in history. A vicious infection has clouded anything beyond the last seventy seconds just beyond the fog of memory.

Over the course of thirty years, the two embark on mirrored journeys of self-discovery: Margot, enthralled by her charming, mysterious, and deeply lonely patient, as well as her officious supervisor, attempts to unlock Eli’s shuttered memories of a childhood trauma without losing her own sense of self in the process. Made vivid by Oates’ usual eye for detail, and searing insight into the human psyche, The Man Without a Shadow is eerie, ambitious, and structurally complex, unique among her novels for its intimate portrayal of a forbidden relationship that can never be publicly revealed.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club, Novels, Literature

385 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2016

About the author

Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.

Reviews

[Britta Böhler · Rating 2 out of 5]

A difficult book to rate. The book is strongest when it tries to give us a glimpse into the world of Eli Hoopes, a man with no capacity to retain memories after his illness at age 37. The parts about memory and identity are moving and haunting. But the book is significantly less strong when it comes to the story of Margot Sharpe (the neuroscientist examening Eli for 30 years) and Sharpe's relationship with her 'subject'. Although we are used to deeply flawed characters in JCO's books, the picture Oates draws of Sharpe is full of (unnecessary, and at times annoying) tropes, i.e. the affair with her mentor, and the 'love story' - if you can call it that - between Eli and Margot. The main problem being that Margot Sharpe's romantic attachments to her mentor and later to Eli, seem nothing more than tools, forced onto the character to push the story forward. In particular, the (very unprofessional and unethical) relationship Margot develops with Eli doesn't seem to fit with her charcacter being depicted as a serious, devoted scientist and researcher.
2.5*

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
Joyce Carol Oats is an author who I continually pick up because she is so prolific with such a range of stories.

I have always been fascinated by the real life case so it was interesting to read this piece of historical fiction surrounding this man. I see other criticisms of this book because of the improper relationship and the unlikeability of the main female character. I would argue that we are not supposed to like or approve of her actions. I personally enjoy stories that address messy situations.

I don't think this one nailed the ending which is reflected in my rating. Yet I overall enjoyed my experience reading this one and will continue to read more by this author.

[Büşra · Rating 1 out of 5]

How you can destroy a scientist in a novel both scientifically and psychologically?
one of the worst books i have ever read about narrating a scientist's life. First of all, i am sorry to make this comment, but this book is not scientific at all. I was expecting at least some thriller, because of the cover and also the introduction, it was not also there at all.

And thanks to you Joyce Carol Oates, people are thinking we as young female scientists, most of us are in love with our supervisors. We as women depend on men, we cannot get anything by ourselves, but they just give it to us because we either are like daughters, or the lovers.

As a female scientist, i am really disappointed by the content of this book!

----spoiler---
First the main character was unethical in all book. I hated her, because she was selfish, dependent, not caring about her family at all. And most importantly she was unethical! I guess what she had with her patient, is also bad for the patient too. This is not how science works. Even for working with experimental animals, you need to respect the dignity. But in this case, Margot Sharpe was not respecting the dignity of her patients at all.

Secondly, the book is ultimately boring one point. The other characters are empty, all the story focused on Margot, but the problem is Margot is not an interesting character at all. That is the reason, when you read her emotional fluctuations, one point you get tired of her selfishness and her behaviour that does not have any rationality at all.

-----spoiler-----

I am ultimately disappointed by this book. I was expecting to see a dedicated, rationalist scientist but i ended up with a childish and selfish women in the end. These kind of books in real life also makes our lives difficult, because people don't trust scientists when they read stories like this.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't going to write a review because I thought if I didn't have anything nice to say I shouldn't say anything at all, but this book is seriously continuing to bother me. As a mental health professional I find the concept of this being a "love story" appalling. E. H. is a vulnerable adult and she is manipulating and grooming the him. She lies to him and his family. He is not even legally able to make decisions for himself as he has a guardian. From my stand point that is rape and I feel that stories such as this only help to perpetuate many of the myths that society tells us that make non-consensual sex ok. Not to mention I found the characters to flat, very unlikeable, and the plot repetitive.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elihu Hoopes is the man without a shadow. Due to an infection and high fever, he sustained brain damage and has lost the ability to retain memory for longer than 70 seconds. Even though he doesn’t remember her from one meeting to the next, the neuroscientist Margot who is studying and testing him, starts an illicit love affair with him.

Ms. Oates is a master at composing complex novels that dig deep into the hearts and minds of its characters. I found this novel to be particularly thought provoking. This scientist studies Eli for thirty years. He doesn’t even know why he’s there or what’s being accomplished. He mistakes her for a doctor though her experiments aren’t meant to cure him but are only to study his brain responses. She plays tricks on his mind, sometimes telling him things she shouldn’t because she knows he’ll forget she ever told him. Even she questions what she and her team are doing to Eli and whether they’re showing cruelty to him or whether the benefits of the study are worth the results. Even while I questioned the Margot’s ethics, my heart broke for these two lonely souls brought together through Eli’s brain damage.

To watch the relationship between Margot and her subject Eli and how it changes over the years is fascinating. There’s a disturbing past memory of Eli’s that haunts these pages, too. Most of the testing done on Eli is monotonous and repetitive and I think some readers may get tired of reading the same thing over and over. But I think that was necessary to show just what they were subjecting Eli to. All in all, I thought it was a very interesting book about the mind and science and I cared very much for both of the main characters.

The book was given to me by the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't say this was my favorite JCO novel but it was surely the most interesting.

Elihu Hoopes is an amnesiac whose short term memory only goes back 70 seconds. Margot Sharpe is beginning graduate school and has been accepted into the neuropsychology program headed by Milton Ferris, a harsh taskmaster but also a brilliant neuroscientist, headed for a Nobel Prize. Both Ferris and Margot go on to make their names because of Project E H.

First paragraph: "Notes on Amnesia: Project 'E H' (1965-1996)
She meets him, she falls in love. He forgets her.
She meets him, she falls in love. He forgets her.
She meets him, she falls in love. He forgets her.
At last she says goodbye to him, thirty-one years after they've first met. On his deathbed, he has forgotten her."

That is a synopsis of the novel but everything that happens between those lines is what makes the story. Every time Margot comes to work with Elihu, he is meeting her for the fist time as far as he can remember. Over the thirty-one years, Margot falls in love with E H, he becomes her entire life, and she (secretly) takes the lab protocol quite a ways beyond professional limits.

Dr Ferris's team, but especially Margot, make huge advances in the understanding of amnesia, the brain, and the psychology of memory, but Margot lives under the constant stress of being found out concerning some of her methods.

Elihu also has disturbing memories from his childhood, full of guilt and fear over the death by drowning of his favorite cousin when he was only 5 years old.

The novel is full of tension, mystery, and the psychology of love as well as the psychology of psychologists. Only Joyce Carol Oates could have written it. I was left aghast at the end. What a read! Two of my reading groups have selected the book for this summer. One has met and we could not stop discussing!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prototypical JCO in some ways, and yet it's one of her best. Incantatory, intelligent exploration of the evolution of delusional romantic obsession contrasted with the constant of an amnesia that only allows for seventy seconds of short-term memory. Lots of fascinating stuff about neuroscience, the dubious ethics of scientific research, the corruption and cruelty of academics, the family secrets of the wealthy and conservative, and more ...

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah. This book is terrible, the characters are horrible and the premise is kind of the worst. A neuro-researcher falling in love with a patient with a 70 second memory, she also happens to torture him in her researching, but, you know, she also has sex with him!?

No.

No, no, no.

I mean, I loathed the premise in general, the "question" of ethics isn't really even a question: Margot is unethical. Full stop. But the writing wasn't that great either. I expected more from Joyce Carol Oates, this is my first of her books but I'm hesitant to pick up another because this story was just so painful to slog through.

Skip this.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have listened to this audible book while following along with the Kindle version. And I see that I have rated it considerably higher than most Goodreads readers and that for a 2016 book, it has had relatively few readers. I cannot account for either of those factual realities.

When I began listening to the book I noted that I have read quite a few books by Joyce Carol Oates so I suppose that I am required to acknowledge that I am a fan. In fact I think I have even read a biography or autobiography. When I gleaned from that is that she lived and worked for some period of time in Detroit Michigan and across the river in Windsor Ontario Canada.

I think that one of the reasons I particularly enjoyed this book is because It left me regularly with considerable feelings of sentimentality about relationships between people. In this case the two people are strikingly different and odd as is very often the case with JCO characters. Maybe one of the main reasons I enjoy her is that she specializes in weird stories and weird characters. And yet somehow I find myself able to identify occasionally with the humans she populates her stories with.

I found this a fascinating and even would go so far as to say enthralling story which takes you inside the minds of two people who are in spite of extremely bizarre circumstances are trying to relate to each other as best as they can given their obvious personal limitations.

In spite of the fact that there is considerable repetition in the book, I did not feel at all battered by the repeated words and phrases. I think one of the amazing things about the book is that it raises many many questions but never claims to come up with certain answers. I want to say That this is not at all a complicated story although the issues that are dealt with by and through these characters are extraordinarily complex. We are brought to think about issues of ethics in science and research as well as basic human morality and decency. In some ways the story is about the ethics of scientific experimentation on humans while at the same time it is the story of a most human relationship between two people.

JCO did not disappoint me here! I do not automatically like all of her books but I was delighted to find how much I did enjoy reading this book which may be the most recent one by her that I have read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, Fascinating, loved the writing, the first half was magnificent. The second half dragged considerably until the last few chapters. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jenni Ogden · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book description —“In 1965, neuroscientist Margot Sharpe meets Elihu Hoopes: the “man without a shadow,” who will be known, in time, as the most-studied and most famous amnesiac in history. A vicious infection has clouded anything beyond the last seventy seconds just beyond the fog of memory.”— gives us a clue that this novel is based on the case of HM, the real patient who became the most famous amnesiac in history. JCO acknowledges Corkin’s book on HM as her primary research source, and JCO’s fictional amnesiac, EH, is indeed spookily like HM in many of his responses to the world he lives in following the loss of his ability to make new conscious memories. Likewise, the laboratory environment and the memory tests EH is given (again and again, and every time new to EH) are well researched and accurate. However, EH is in no way like HM in his background, or his personality, and the neuropsychologists likewise are, thankfully, very fictional (I know this as I worked with the real HM when I was a young neuropsychologist!).
The moral and ethical issues that JCO delves into are thought-provoking, especially those related to research participant exploitation. The exploitation of junior researchers by senior researchers, especially in the 1960s and earlier, is by no means a new topic (although again, thankfully, part of EH’s story and not HM’s). JCO’s ability to get inside EH and view the world from his time capsule of 70 seconds, is masterful and believable. However, the twist in this story, the manipulative relationship Margot Sharpe, the neuropsychologist and ultimate leader of the EH research project, develops with EH is not believable (or too horrific to believe). But this is fiction after all, and as fiction is a fascinating tale of two lives, one blighted by physical damage to his brain, and the other blighted by her own obsession and loneliness.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has two very interesting (and novel) character arcs woven together: one character (our female protagonist) on a downward spiral, and the other on a (necessarily) static path. (necessary because this character has amnesia and is forever trapped in a world that, to him, does not progress more than 70 seconds.)
I am a big fan of JCO; this time her typical "Oatse-ian" female character was far more to the pathologic side of the "pathetic" spectrum, but as is typical for Oates, there is (at times) some sympathy and some explanation into how she became so pathetic.
The question in this novel is whether or not our female protagonist did, or did not, exploit the male character. I vacillated between the two but ultimately stayed on the "yes she did" side - though not without some sympathy for what our protagonist perceived were noble justifications. As always, I leave thinking this about JCO's female character: "what a sadly pathetic woman!"
On the other side of the story, you are left to contemplate whether or not the exploitation (whether done with noble reasons or not) can be considered such in a man who cannot possibly perceive it -- this is what made this story gratifying for me.
A good book makes you ponder, wonder, and consider "what if" you were presented with such a dilemma. This story provided all of that in an easy-to-read entertaining story.

[Reetta Saine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helmet-lukuhaaste 2017

20. Kirjassa on vammainen tai vakavasti sairas henkilö

Aloitteleva tiedenainen Margo Sharp saa elämänsä tilaisuuden tavatessaan ensimmäistä kertaa harvinaisesta muistinmenetyksestä kärsivän potilaan. Mitä tahansa Elihu Hoopsille tapahtuukaan, hän unohtaa sen muutamassa minuutissa - pysyvää on vain aika ennen sairastumista ja vamman syntymistä. Oates kertoo kahta tarinaa rinnakkain, jotka yhdistyvät lähinnä tutkimushuoneen todellisuudessa ja Margon mielessä. Yhä uudet testit ja kokeet antavat mullistavaa tietoa aivojen ja muistin toiminnasta, edistävät rakettimaisesti Margon uraa, johon nainen tuntuu vaihtavan oman elämänsä. Samalla yhteinen aika, jaetut kokemukset ja tapahtumat synnyttävät tunteita, jotka toiselle ovat olemassa toisen unohtaessa ne yhä uudelleen ja uudelleen.

Oates kirjoittaa niin monella tasolla, että hirvittää. Pintatason lisäksi mukana on sairaskertomus, tarina yksinäisyydestä, rakkaudesta, Yhdysvaltain historian kansalaisoikeustaistelusta, Elihun lapsuuden tragediasta ja kertomus lapsen murhasta. Ehkä hurjin on kuitenkin pohdinta moraalista. Onko Elihu vain koe-eläimen kaltainen ihmisfriikki, jonka avulla lunastetaan Nobelin palkinto, onko hän tunteva, seksuaalinen mies, onko hänellä ihmisoikeutta ja oikeutta määrätä mistään itseään koskevasta asiasta. Missä menevät henkilökohtaisen elämän moraalin rajat? Mikä on valheen raja, miten seksuaalisen hyväksikäytön piirtoja vedetään, jos - kahdessakin suhteessa - toinenkin on myöntyvä? Mikä muodostaa ihmisen identiteetin ja voiko kuva omasta itsestä olla täysin väärä?

Ihan oma lukunsa on kirjan kieli. Muistinmenetystä jäljitellen palataan kirjassakin aina tervehdykseen, (valheelliseen) uudelleenkohtaamiseen ja jonkin uuden alkuun. Toisto ja runollinen kieli luovat yhdessä rytmin, jota on vaikea katkaista. Erityiskiitos tässä äänikirjan lukijalle.

Oates on kirjailija, jonka jokainen kirja uppoaa syvälle niin henkilöihin kuin lukijaansa. Oatesin päähenkilöt ovat usein jollain tavalla särkyneitä ihmisiä, joiden tarinassa taistelevat toivo ja monella tasolla ilmenevä väkivalta. The Man Without the Shadow ei tee tässä poikkeusta.

[Maxine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margot Sharpe is a young graduate student studying memory under the guidance of noted neuroscientist Milton Ferris. She is working with Elihu Hoopes who developed encephalitis at the age of 37 and, as a result, he cannot retain new memories for more than 70 seconds although his memories before the illness remain clear to him. As the years pass, her relationship with Hoopes (known only as E.H. in scientific and medical journals) has brought her renown in Psychiatric circles as well as jealousy from many of her peers. But her ability to maintain an objective relationship becomes harder as her personal life becomes more lonely, difficult and circumscribed by her personality and her work.

The Man Without a Shadow by author Joyce Carol Oates is a fascinating novel about two people both of whom are limited by the world around them: one by memory and the other by loneliness. There is also a mystery about an incident in Elihu’s childhood which he keeps going back to and a somewhat unorthodox, not to say questionable, romance. But it is the poignancy and cruelty of his amnesia and how it is exploited by the scientific community that makes this novel so compelling as well as heartrending.

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elihu Hoopes war allein an den Lake George in den Adirondacks gefahren. Eine Herpesinfektion am Auge führt zu einer verschleppten Enzephalitis. Eli erleidet eine Gedächtnisstörung (partielle retrogade und totale anterograde Amnesie) und kann mit 37 Jahren seinen Beruf nicht mehr ausüben. Eli konnte zwar viele Fähigkeiten aus der Zeit vor seiner Erkrankung erhalten, seine auf rund eine Minute eingeschränkte Merkfähigkeit macht jedoch normale Beziehungen unmöglich, weil er selbst vertraute Personen am folgenden Tag nicht mehr erkennt. Für ihn bedeutet seine Schädigung, dass er Situationen selbst nicht beurteilen kann und auf die Fürsorge seiner Bezugspersonen angewiesen ist. Freunde und Familie ziehen sich bis auf eine ältere verwitwete Tante von dem Mann zurück, der einmal aktiv Sport trieb und bekannter Aktivist für die Rechte der Schwarzen war. Eli stammt aus einer wohlhabenden Quäkerfamilie, die zur Zeit des Bürgerkriegs eine wichtige Rolle in der „Underground Railroad“ spielte. Im Gedächtnis-Labor der Uni Darven Park untersucht die Neurowissenschaftlerin Margot Sharpe den charmanten Patienten für ihre Dissertation. Patienten wie Eli bleiben in ihrer Vorstellung lebenslang so alt wie zur Zeit der Erkrankung; eine Zukunft können sie sich nicht vorstellen. Dieser Zustand wird sich nicht bessern.

Joyce Carol Oates schildert anrührend und sorgfältig recherchiert die Strategien, mit denen Eli seine Vergesslichkeit kaschiert, weil er in beinahe kindlichem Eifer sein Bemühen zur Kooperation demonstrieren will. Unter Führung von Professor Milton Ferris wird Eli fortan als willige Versuchsperson im Namen der Wissenschaft und für die Karriere zahlreicher Doktoranden ausgebeutet. Wehren kann er sich selbst dagegen nicht; Margot wäre die allerletzte, die gegen den herrschenden Potentaten Ferris aufbegehren und das unethische Verhalten der gesamten Abteilung kritisieren würde. Eine unabhängige Kontrolle der Versuche hat Margot mit der Begründung ausgehebelt, dass die Identität ihres Probanden unbedingt geschützt werden müsse. Dass Ferris ihre eigene Promotion unziemlich in die Länge zieht, um selbst international mit den Forschungsergebnissen seiner Mitarbeiter zu brillieren, will Margot lange nicht wahrhaben. Ein paralleler Handlungsstrang erzählt vom Verschwinden von Elis Cousine Gretchen in seiner Kindheit. Dem Jungen war damals eingeschärft worden, seine Erinnerung zu verleugnen. Elis heutige Vergesslichkeit kommt den Wünschen seiner Familie nach Verdrängung der Ereignisse in geradezu idealer Weise entgegen. Als Leser fragt man sich, ob eine weniger problematische Forscherpersönlichkeit als Margot Elis Erinnerungsverbot eher durchschaut hätte.
Während der Patient sich selbst noch immer für einen Mann in den besten Jahren hält, verstrickt sich die alternde Margot in einer ethisch fragwürdigen Beziehung zum ersten Probanden ihrer Laufbahn. Der Zeitpunkt ist längst überschritten, zu dem eine neutrale Betreuungsperson für die Interessen des ewigen Versuchskaninchens hätte eintreten müssen.

„Der Mann ohne Schatten“ ist vordergründig eine erzählende anteilnehmende Patientengeschichte ähnlich „Der Mann, der seine Frau mit einem Hut verwechselte“ von Oliver Sacks. Oates, deren Ehemann Neurowissenschaftler ist, verknüpft ihre beeindruckende Patientenbiografie mit dem Psychogramm einer jungen Doktorandin, die ihrem Doktorvater hörig ist und in den 60ern des vorigen Jahrhunderts vermutlich keinen anderen Weg zur Promotion sah. Das ungeklärte Schicksal der Cousine Gretchen hat beinahe Thrillerqualität und könnte aus einem der Psychothriller von Oates stammen, die sie als Rosamond Smith schrieb. Neben sorgfältig verborgenen Familiengeheimnissen und tragikomischen Momenten hat mich die Innenwelt des Patienten berührt und beeindruckt, den man bis in sein hohes Alter glauben lässt, Kooperation mit den ihm fremden Weißkitteln würde ihm nützen. Ein erstickendes Netz aus Manipulation und Besitzanspruch verknüpft diverse Handlungsebenen. Garniert wird der etwas ausschweifende Text mit bissiger Kritik an einem Wissenschaftsbetrieb, der sich weniger der Forschung verpflichtet fühlt als der Absicherung der eigenen Planstellen. Ein grandioser, bewegender Roman.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book is about an amnesiac who has no memory after an infection, and of the woman psychologist who falls in love with him. It's a strange relationship, as Elihu Hoopes cannot remember anything that happened more than 70 seconds ago, so Dr Margot Sharpe is constantly introducing herself to him. One would think that Joyce Carol Oates's The Man Without a Shadow would suffer as a result, but it doesn't.

For one thing, Oates's husband is a neuroscientist; so the author is able to keep ringing changes on the essential theme that prevent the reader's attention from flagging. And that despite the fact that the novel covers several decades.

I have always thought of Joyce Carol Oates as one of America's best authors. She might be prolific, but I haven't found a single stinker yet.

[Ivy-Mabel Fling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by this author and found it impressive, if somewhat long. Its portrayal of a scientist who develops a bizarre obsession with her 'patient' and forgets all the rules of her profession struck me as unusual (but certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility) and kept me reading although the book moves rather slowly. The 'victim' seemed less interesting but necessary to the plot and the downfall of the doctor. I would recommend this book to people with patience who are looking for an entertaining read.

[Davida Chazan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it is obvious to me that Oates is an amazing writer, maybe this shouldn't have been the first of her books for me to read. Find out why in my #bookreview of this novel here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2020/05/1...

[A.M. Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slow burner. A male amnesiac and his younger female clinician "fall in love." It's as strange a "love story" as I've ever read. I didn't appreciate the protagonist or the plodding pace of the narrative out of the gate but, as the pages turned, the story took hold of me. Oates does that. At first, many of her fictional plots seem mundane, but then they deepen and resonate.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't figure out if this book is badly written or it's well-written and I still don't like it lmao

[Eva Smit · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5-ish ⭐

[AC]

DNF — Very interesting premise, but excessively repetitive.

[Debby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read many books by Joyce Carol Oates; however, none was distubing as this one. Perhaps tht was the point....to be disturbed that something like this type of "research" could go on or that someone doing the research could be so disturbed/disturbing. Not one of her books I'd recommend.

[Eles Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this book feeling unfulfilled. There could have been so many more avenues traveled with such a good premise for a story.
It seemed like every new chapter began with a recap of the plot of the story. Things we already knew. And then it continued with facts that were already told to us just now said in new wording. I felt like information was just repeated over and over again. A complete waste of chapters of reading.
It also seemed that the author wasn't sure if they wanted to write a novel or a scientific thesis. There were tangents of medical information that went on for too long and perhaps in too much detail.
There were portions in italics that didn't have much bearing to the story and seemed to be thrown in just because. The author also randomly spoke from the view of Margot and then EH with no good rhythm in doing so. And at one point spoke from the point of view of Margot's assistant. Switching around like that took away from the story a little in my opinion.
I feel it would have been nice to understand Margot's background more. To better understand why she felt the way she did about both "lovers" in her life. She seemed so lonely and in need of acceptance yet she would not respond to her family's requests to come home. Why was that the case? Knowing more of her background would have helped me to be more interested in her decisions and to perhaps be a bit more tolerant of them as well.

[Paulette Ponte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it very difficult to rate this book. On the one hand I am a giant fan of JCO but I found this book to be somewhat tedious and boring. The subject matter was interesting but very depressing. The protagonist, Margot Sharpe, was an extremely depressing character even for JCO. The subject was amnesia, amnesia which left EH with a short term memory of 70 seconds. Margot Sharpe is one of the neuroscientist who studies him for 30 years. Interesting but very depressing.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I thought I would really enjoy this book based on the description, but in the end I found it repetitive and pretty depressing. The parts that I found more interesting, like some of EH's dark memories from the past, were not explored as much as I would like. I also had a hard time with the writing style - frequent random changes in voice, long chapters. Interesting idea, though, and there were some parts that I did enjoy.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I have tried to read several books by Joyce Carol Oats and I just cannot seem to get past the first few chapters before I decide to give up on the story. This book looked like it may be interesting, but to me JCO just seems to ramble badly in places. I guess she is trying to be excessively expressive in her prose in other to show off her ability to do so? I don't know. I do know that there will be no more JCO books in my future.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish this book, but did read the ending. It was a very sad and depressing story to me with no saving grace. One character, with no recent memory retention, and another, a Doctor, obsessing with his care. A patient who can not remember her from one meeting to the next. I am not in a place where I can read and appreciate this story line.

[Debra Fetterly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling! Brilliantly written and challenging on many levels. With no memory, do we even exist? Do we cast a shadow? This book stirred many thoughts and questions, and I wish I'd been reading it with a book club! it would elicit many differing responses, I'm certain.

[Marie Roscigno Kron · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was awful. A complete waste of time and money.