'Tell Me an Ending' has an intriguing concept - set in a version of the 2020s where technology exists to erase memories. The technology has been around since the 1990s, and people can choose to have the memory of getting the memory erased itself eliminated, so they don't even know they've had the procedure. The story begins after a court case has ruled people who opted for this 'self-confidential' memory removal have to be contacted, informed about their past decision, and offered the chance to get their memory back. It follows five characters affected by this - four of whom discover they (or someone close to them) had a memory removed, and must decide if they want it back, and one of whom works at the company providing the service.

It's a good idea for a novel, as it provides an interesting dilemma for the characters involved, and of course the reader is intrigued to find out what memories these very different people had chosen to have removed and why. An added thread of intrigue comes from Noor, the character working for the memory clinic, who begins to uncover possible conspiracies and sinister goings-on behind the scenes.

The whole idea raises some ethical questions and the discussion possibilities would make this a good choice for a book club. I did find a couple of things stretched credibility a bit too much - firstly, how easy it was to restore the memories (the explanation of the process for removing them was acceptable enough for the purposes of a sci-fi novel), and secondly, the ruling that the 'self-confidential' clients had to be told about their decision - which seemed so obviously a terrible idea and of questionable moral value when the clients in question had explicitly signed up to wanting to not know. Of course, this latter is essential for the novel to work at all ,but it does give a shakier foundation than you might want for a story.

The writing is fine - not extraordinary but nothing particularly annoying about it either - and the characters are reasonably likeable without being loveable. I would have liked to have been made to care more about them, as it would have the book more power. But I did care to some extent, particularly about the characters Oscar and William. The greatest strength of the book lies in the clever concept and thought provoking nature of the themes, whereas the actually delivery is adequate without being outstanding. I did find it compelling and stayed up late to finish it, which is always a good sign.

I'd definitely recommend this to people who like speculative fiction and 'what if' scenarios about different technology, and to book groups as I think it gives plenty of material for discussions.

This book is really unique and I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it before. It is told from the point of view of four people who have had a traumatic memory whipped from their memory and we are trying to work out what happened to them. It is a sci fi book which explores the reality of being able to have traumatic experiences erased from your mind without your knowledge.

It is an intriguing book. But it took me a really long time to get into it and I'm not sure I was really sold on it

An intriguing and unique story about memories and the importance of the past. Following four individuals with different problems with their own memories, and a Doctor who works for the company who are responsible for wiping memories - this story creates an entire world in the not-so-distant future where anything is possible and it's both strangely new and unsettlingly familiar. Jumping into these varied lives at different points over time, we get to know them in odd ways - I didn't exactly connect with any of the characters or like them, but they were beautifully human and flawed.

It makes the reader think about what might actually happen if this technology exists - would it be revolutionary? Definitely. But would it make the world better, make us forget our trauma and our regrets? Or would we in turn forget who we are and risk something sinister taking over that we have no chance of remembering?

Across the world, thousands of people are shocked to receive an email telling them that they once chose to have a traumatic memory removed. Now they are being given the chance to get that memory back. Expertly plotted and so compelling with twist after brilliant twist . . . the perfect addictive holiday read.

This near-future science fiction novel (badged by the author as literary sci-fi) has a strong concept and an intriguing set-up. When a court judgement requires that people who chose to have a painful memory wiped are informed that their memory has been wiped, four people must decide whether to have their memories reinstated.

The premise is intriguing and I was interested in following each of the characters and trying to guess what their hidden memories were. However, the character who is functions as a narrator who provides exposition for the process of memory deletion just didn’t work for me. She always seemed there to fulfil a function, rather than a character on a journey.

Also, it annoyed me that the story kept referring to Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, when the concept of memory deletion and memory corruption had been established in science fiction novels many decades before the movie. I just don't agree that ESOTSM would be a universal reference point, most people I know haven't seen that film, but have seen Total Recall.

However, I did enjoy this novel, and raced through it to find out how it ended. It maintained suspense all the way through.

Similar novels I’ve read are Tell The Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams, A User’s Guide To Make Believe by Jane Alexander, and A Taste of Blue Light by Lydia Ruffles.

This is the most unusual book I've read in a while, it's going to take a little bit of time to work through what I thought of it. It's basically an intertwining of many people's stories in a world that has (often mentioned) simiilarities to Eternal Sunshine. People can delete a traumatic memory that's causing issues in their lives. It's intriguing to see how trying to erase the past causes so many more issues.

The stories each linked up in ways that were interesting without being contrived. The consequences felt oddly realistic in such off-kilter premise. I did enjoy the writing style and I was eager to find out what was going on with the organisaiton. That said, other than Noor I really struggled to connect with anyone. I wanted to know what was going on with them but everyone felt fairly one-dimensional.

There was also quite an intense amount of world-building and jargon. It went on for way to long in my opinion, to the point that I got very close to this being my first DNF in a long time. In the end, I was happy that I pushed through because there's a good story in there. But it could have done with being a good 100+ pages shorter, and more effective at taking us along on the journey rather than overexplaining it.

Tell Me An Ending is a novel about erasing memories, getting them back, and what memory means for grief and identity. Memory clinic Nepenthe has been deleting specific memories for clients for a while now, for clients both knowing and who forget even having the procedure done. Suddenly, these unknowing clients are getting emails saying they are entitled to reinstate a memory they had deleted if they want. The novel follows Mei, William, Oscar, and Finn, all affected by memory deletion, and Noor, who works at the clinic, as they explore their own pasts and the reality of Nepenthe.

The concept of this book is fairly similar to other stories—it in fact references the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind quite a bit—but it explores different circumstances, especially traumatic ones, and the reasons behind people keeping or deleting memories. The chapters move between different characters, with a lot of focus on Noor who works at the clinic and is trying to work out what her boss has been up to, whilst dealing with a heartbreak that is intricately tied up with her job. The Nepenthe side of things, as found out through Noor, is fairly interesting, but quite straightforward, with unsurprising twists. The other characters, who we see trying to deal with their current lives and also decide if they want their memory back, allow the novel to cover other ground, particularly around what people do with traumatic memories, or different kinds of memories that might impact our lives.

The book is quite long and can be slow at times, though also some of the characters you wish you could delve a bit more into, as a lot of the book is taken up with what they are doing. In particular, Oscar and William's stories both pose interesting questions about trauma and memory, whereas Mei's narrative is more around parental influence and what kind of troubles actually need deleting, or actually need other kinds of support and autonomy. The other story, with Finn and his wife, was a bit slow and didn't really go anywhere, not quite exploring enough at the end to counterbalance with the other characters.

A near-future dystopia that focuses particularly on the importance of memories, but also considers if deleting various kinds of memories is actually the best option, Tell Me An Ending is an enjoyable read, though it did drag a bit for me.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel. I do love speculative fiction. One of my favourite read this year was The Measure by Nikki Erleck (a netgalley read that releases next year), which takes a premise and through a cast of characters explores the repercussions of this 'speculative' element without sacrificing pace, plot and characters. I thought Tell Me An Ending would do the same. However I found the writing unengaging. The beginning takes such a long time to set the world up rather than just showing it to the reader. There were way too much jargon and it took ages for the story to get moving. I found this lacking in plot and pace. It was too slow and the themes felt shoe-horned in. I just wasn't gripped and to be honest it felt like a slog ploughing through this. The characters were not engaging and so much of the writing just dragged on. The whole people can still remember parts of their memory-thing was just confusing. I think had the writing been more simple and straightforward rather getting caught up in it's own scientific explanation of how the science of memory worked the story could've been more compelling. Also, the chapters were so long. They needed to be shorter, in order to be a page-turner. I was at 17% and still meeting one of the main characters 🤦🏻‍♀️ I just didn’t have the patience for reading these seemingly disconnected narratives and seeing how they would come together. Lastly, it’s difficult to categorise the genre: it’s not quite dystopian-thriller, nor dystopian-contemporary.
I can see the reviews on Goodreads are glowing, so maybe it's just me. I might come back to this in the future, perhaps in a re-read I might feel differently, but for now this is my review.

Maybe I’m being more critical than usual as I’m spending most of my time reading these days and therefore there is stiff competition. Either way I don’t think this book is going to find a place on by bookshelf or in the post for a friend. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really interesting concept, that was generally executed very well. It was engaging, and hooked me from the first few pages. The idea behind everything is that the UK has advanced in a way which means people can 'delete' memories. They can't delete massive chunks of their life, but they can delete short periods of time (such as a single incident and the few days afterword). This happens by talking about the memory whilst lasers essentially zap the part of your brain which is lit up. This was a similar concept to that in 'The Binding' by Bridget Collins - which honestly I thought was executed more effectively - but set in the modern age in medical clinics as opposed to in a fictional Victorian era.

My main criticism of this book is that it falls into the stereotype of 'new technology corrupts those in charge as they use it to make money'. There was some variation on this trope but not enough to make the plot twists particularly surprising. I also felt that the ending dragged on too long, especially as it was from Noor's POV rather than the, more interesting, characters who had their memories tampered with. More focus on the reasoning behind choosing to have a memory reinstated (as a legal case dictates before the book begins) or not would've been appreciated also. Finally, the time jumps could often be a bit confusing as sometimes the transitional statements weren't as clear as they could have been (but this also may be in part because I was reading a copy which is formatted differently to how the book will actually be laid out).

Overall an interesting book that was easy to fly through and examined a cool concept. However, a bit under baked perhaps.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free advanced e-copy in return for a honest review!