Delaware, April 19th. It’s her birthday, April’s birthday. April Hope Donovan, that special girl with a special memory. She suffers from hyperthymesia, a condition of not being able to forget. And this is how she links especially negative events with her life. She was born on the day of the Oklahoma
City bombing, four years later, the Columbine High School massacre, four days before her 18th…mehrDelaware, April 19th. It’s her birthday, April’s birthday. April Hope Donovan, that special girl with a special memory. She suffers from hyperthymesia, a condition of not being able to forget. And this is how she links especially negative events with her life. She was born on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing, four years later, the Columbine High School massacre, four days before her 18th birthday, the Boston marathon is bombed. Her whole life seems to turn around those hideous events. She can remember all the details of her life, but what she does not know yet is that the next catastrophe is already knocking on the door. All over the country, desperate teenagers have secretly gathered around the so called Mastermind to seek revenge. And one of them is close to April.
The story actually does not only revolve around April, but she is the most interesting of all characters and especially at the beginning of the novel, when she explains her brain disposition, it is great fun to follow her thoughts. Adding the other characters spread across the USA first lead to a bit of confusion, it takes some time until you realize how they are connected and what they have in mind actually. All individual stories do have some interesting and even gripping aspects, but since they rotate at a high space you do not really get into them. This makes the whole novel stay on the surface, even though the content and message would have deserved to be looked at more closely. This is the reason why I am a bit disappointed. I liked the tone of the novel, especially April’s narrative, but the author could have made more of the idea.
