Author: Caroline Adderson. Published by Key Porter Books, Toronto, ON., 1999, 1st Edition. Flat Signed by the Author on title page. Printed in Canada. Very Good Condition SOFTCOVER Book, with light stain on lower page edge. Size: 8.25 x 5.25 inch, 359 pages.
A HISTORY OF FORGETTING is a most compelling book, and Caroline Adderson is a virtuoso conjurer of the human condition.
How do we remember our history? Why are the same cruelties repeated through time? These are the urgent questions that underpin this powerful first novel from one of Canada's most emotionally daring young writers. Rich in its emotional ground, beautifully pitched, and written in a refined and assured prose style.
In A History of Forgetting, the Holocaust is an eternal presence with echoes in the most unlikely people and places. The setting is present-day Vancouver. Middle-aged Malcolm has returned from France with his Alzheimer’s-afflicted boyfriend. Malcolm finds work in a downtown hair salon, where he befriends Alison, a naive girl who’s never given history a second thought. When one of their co-workers is killed by gay-bashing thugs, a darkness settles on Malcolm and Alison, obscuring the relevance of everyday life. As a result, they decide to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, in order to better understand the past.
