The Memory Collectors isn’t your typical time travel story. What the novel by Dete Meserve does best is to avoid getting caught up in the sci-fi specifics of how time travel works and instead focus on the deeply emotional journeys of four strangers who are desperate to revisit the past.
That’s not to say there isn’t any explanation for how it works. In fact, the characters who go back in time only do so in their minds. This concept makes the story feel just a little more realistic, and avoiding getting caught up so much in the “how” allows the story to focus more fully on its characters.
The four characters, Elizabeth, Logan, Andy, and Brooke, are all complete strangers who sign up for a time travel experience through a company called Aeon Expeditions. The company offers applicants the chance to spend one hour in their past, though it can’t guarantee which hour will be chosen.
Yet, these four manage to revisit the same time period, and they all have a chance to spend more time there than they expected. For each of them, the goal of revisiting the past isn’t about trying to change something, at least at first. Instead, it’s about enjoying a happier time or having questions answered.
Elizabeth hopes she can spend time with her son, who, in the present time, has tragically passed away. Logan wants to experience a time when his body worked properly, before he was paralyzed in an accident.
Brooke wants to revisit a time before she made a terrible decision that ruined her family. And Andy? He wants to spend time with the woman he fell in love with before she disappeared from his life. They’re all also looking for answers and hoping to get some kind of closure.
Each chapter offers a first-person perspective from one of these characters, alternating between them as we learn their histories, their reasons for revisiting the past, and eventually, how they’re all connected.
This creates a beautifully interwoven story that asks some deep, philosophical questions about fate and how one simple decision can change everything in one’s life.
Every character is likeable in their own way, and each one, no matter what their situation is, is one the reader strongly empathizes with. And as the characters begin to realize they’re connected, the novel becomes a bit of a mystery — not so much in a “whodunnit” way, but more in the way it has the characters, and the reader, putting together puzzle pieces to answer questions of “why.”
It’s a page-turner that moves quickly through the story and keeps the reader intrigued, though at times it lacks detail and character development that could have made it that much more immersive. Still, it’s a heartfelt, fascinating story that has several unexpected twists. This book is as fun to read as it is emotional, and it certainly leaves an impact on the reader.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley is the Editor-in-Chief of Eulalie Magazine. Favorite Movies: Sunset Boulevard, Garden State, Modern Times. Favorite TV Shows: Gilmore Girls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey's Anatomy. Favorite Books: Interview with the Vampire, Dracula, City of Glass.
