The One Memory of Flora Banks was a fascinating but largely tiresome story. I found the idea of exploring the life of someone who struggled with a legitimate amnesia condition - particularly a type of amnesia (anterograde) which I was largely unfamiliar with - instead of using it as a cheap trope like we see in soap operas and poorly written mysteries to be such a clever idea. This is an condition surrounded with so much ignorance and stigma so giving it the attention and research it deserves was an impressive feat. I found Barr’s portrayal of the condition truly wonderful. It provided with so much more understanding than I had before. Unfortunately, Flora’s amnesia was by far the best aspect of this story.

Flora herself was not the most engaging protagonist. I think this has to do with the fact that she was only physically seventeen; on a mental-level she is still technically only ten-years-old. Due to this, her dialogue and inner monologues felt way too juvenile for a YA book. I completely understand how necessary this was and looking back, I do see how this helped convey the ways in which Flora’s amnesia affected her day to day life. At the same time, it did make it difficult to relate to Flora in any significant ways. However, I won’t deny that her decision to travel by herself was impressive and downright admirable. In some aspects, I do think she was quite the brave character; though whether this was simple her childish naivety or conscious bravery remains undetermined.

Also, the fact that this story has a romance subplot which plays a large role in moving the story forwards did make me feel quite uncomfortable at times. Drake is an arsehole - there is no debating it - but that wasn’t what bothered me so much. It was the fact that we were reading about a ten-year-old sending suggestive emails - and debating whether to send naked pictures of herself - to a boy who was mentally much older than her. It was just… *shudders*. I don’t know how this situation was meant to work or to come across to us readers but I don’t think I was the only one that felt incredibly awkward about the entire situation. It came across like Drake was taking advantage of Flora’s innocence and I could not get invested in that.

With that being said, it was the plotline that let this book down so much. Despite being a shorter read, I was often bored out of my mind. I do not think there is any way I can say this without it seeming insensitive to Flora’s condition but holy shivers, this book was so darn repetitive. I know that the author repeated certain sentences or sections over and over again to show what it is like being in Flora’s head - when she literally needs to go through these facts every couple of hours herself - but it does not make for an easy read. It made the plotline so stilted and jarring. We had to run through the same scenario twice over - at least - before we moved on, and man oh man if I had to read the sentence I kissed Drake on the beach one more time, I was honestly going to fling the book across the room. The phrases be brave, I am seventeen years old, and I have a brother were constantly repeated throughout the whole story and it was tiring. I know that it conveyed its point about Flora’s memory but it was just not enjoyable to read.

Upon discussion at my book club, I also realised how much I felt this plotline showed all the wrong aspects of Flora’s life. I wanted more about her relationship with her brother. I wanted to follow them together in Paris or for her to fly to Paris instead of Svalbard. I wanted the epilogue to be the prologue and we start the story from there. The entire plotline revolving around Drake was not the best use of this concept in my opinion. He was not worth our time and while the ending did provide for some clever twists and turns that were entertaining (and definitely had me on my toes), I would happily have had him deleted from the story if I was Barr’s editor. I just think that this particular plotline was not what this story needed.

I did really like the Norwegian setting, though. I think I said that already but it is worth repeating. I love the Arctic!

Overall?

The One Memory of Flora Banks did a fantastic job of portraying anterograde amnesia but did not write a book that I was able to enjoy as a whole. Flora was a juvenile and often naive protagonist who I struggled to connect with. The plotline, especially the Drake romance, was boring and made me feel uncomfortable at times. I did really love the setting but I think that Barr could have written a much stronger story if she followed a different plotline.