Name: She Remembered
Item: She Remembered
Rating: 5
Author: Natalie Hamill

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“She remembered” is a beautifully written story about a woman, Elena, who is haunted by past traumas.

Synopsis

Some memories are best left forgotten, but how much can one woman go through to get them back?

When Elena, beautiful and broken, awakes to find herself next to the body of a man, her past becomes entangled with the present, awakening memories that she has been searching for, all her life.
Abandoned by her mother, Elena has dealt with terrible dreams for most of her young life, dreams she can never remember. Her love for a boy, Luke, has Elena envisioning a bright future, but after a fateful incident, he is lost to her.
Alone and desperate, Elena is led down a path of self-destruction, searching for something she knows can never make her happy. When she is forced to face her nightmares, Elena must choose between a damning past with the man she loves or face an unknown future.
She Remembered is a story of love and loss, betrayal and redemption, and the power of self-discovery.

“She remembered” is a beautifully written story about a woman, Elena, who is haunted by past traumas. The story begins with a young Elena having to deal with her mother’s abandonment, necessitating her to take on the role of a surrogate mother to her younger brothers and forging a strong relationship with her father. The story rapidly moves forward to a teenage Elena, who is plagued by feeling that she is different to other girls her age, particularly as she navigates the usual challenges of adolescence. Pivotal to her life story is her love for Luke, with frequent estrangements and then being reunited with him over and over. Both profess their love for each other, but a major obstacle perpetually stands in their way. The story follows Elena into adulthood, depicting her floundering relationships with various men, as well as a strained reconciliation with her mother and her struggle to find her place in the world.

Throughout the novel, Elena suffers from blackouts, panic attacks and nightmares, as deep in her psyche she knows that she experienced something traumatic connected to Luke, however she has no conscious memory of what happened.

Eventually, yet another distressing event triggers Elena’s memory of the original trauma and finally everything starts to make sense. As she rediscovers the difficult truth about her past, she finally attains a level of self-understanding and acceptance, as well as hope for a happy future.

The crux of this novel centres on how one major life incident can cause relentless, pervading psychological harm. If there is a message in this book, it is that past traumas must be faced and not hidden away. Only when the past is acknowledged, can a person move forward.

Elena’s character is complex and poignantly portrayed. As a reader, you feel empathy for Elena; you understand her fraught relationships and behaviours. Mostly, you just want her to find the peace and happiness she deserves.

Luke’s anguish at loving Elena and recognising that their relationship is too complicated to ever flourish is keenly depicted throughout the novel. You understand how torn he is between giving in to what his heart wants and doing what his mind knows is right.

The story of Elena’s parents who immigrated from Spain, assimilating into a new way of life in Australia was very relatable and familiar to anyone with experience of immigration. The difficulty in finding work, learning a new language, hoping for a better future, yet also wanting to retain something of the past are all cleverly highlighted. The nostalgic references to pop culture in the seventies and eighties brought back many pleasant memories, particularly to those of us of a certain generation. It was also enjoyable to read a novel set in Melbourne, with references to trams, major city stores and well know suburban locations.

The plot of this novel has been skilfully devised with the climax of the story not being fully revealed until near the end of the book. However, fragments of the traumatic event are interwoven throughout the book teasing the reader to draw their own conclusions.

“She remembered” is a poignant story, filled with believable characters, drama, emotion, sadness, love and loss. Ultimately though it is a story of hope and triumph over adversity.

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She Remembered

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