The Memory Palace

De: Mira Bartok

Narrado por: Hillary Huber

National Book Critics Circle Award, Autobiography, 2012

When piano prodigy Norma Herr was healthy, she was the most vibrant personality in the room. But as her schizophrenic episodes became more frequent and more dangerous, she withdrew into a world that neither of her daughters could make any sense of. After being violently attacked for demanding that Norma seek help, Mira Bartok and her sister changed their names and cut off all contact in order to keep themselves safe.

For the next 17 years, Mira's only contact with her mother was through infrequent letters exchanged through post office boxes, often not even in the same city where she was living. At the age of 40, Mira suffered a debilitating head injury that left her memories foggy and her ability to make sense of the world around her forever changed. Hoping to reconnect with her past, Mira reached out to the homeless shelter where her mother was living. When she received word that her mother was dying in a hospital, Mira and her sister traveled to their mother's deathbed to reconcile one last time.

Norma gave them a key to a storage unit in which she has kept hundreds of diaries, photographs, and mementos from the past that Mira never imagined she would see again. These artifacts triggered a flood of memories and gave Mira access to the past that she believed had been lost forever.

The Memory Palace explores the connections between mother and daughter that cannot be broken no matter how much exists - or is lost - between them. It is an astonishing literary memoir about the complex meaning of love, truth, and the capacity for forgiveness within a family.

©2011 Mira Bartok (P)2011 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A disturbing, mesmerizing personal narrative about growing up with a brilliant but schizophrenic mother.... Richly textured, compassionate and heartbreaking." ( Kirkus)

Eat Pray Love plus schizophrenia

I wanted to like this book more, but it was difficult. It's almost as if writing as an art form is the wrong medium for a "memory palace". A visual expression would be more suited - perhaps a construction or installation of some kind. Bartok's emphasis, bordering on obsession, with objects and their description, became tiresome after a while, and I kept wanting to get back to what I thought was the real story - the untreated schizophrenic mother and her two daughters and how they dealt with this situation.

It's a sad commentary, though, on the dilemma centering on mental illness and how our institutions treat those afflicted. There is such a taboo on involuntary hospitalization, and perhaps that is as it should be. No official authority should take away a person's liberty, even if that person is ill. The only constraints are if that person becomes a danger to oneself and/or others. But many who could benefit from treatment never admit they are ill, nor do they receive any treatment, and continue to make life a living hell for their families.

Maybe one to read rather than listen...

What would have made The Memory Palace better?

This title would have been better with a different narrator. The reader was so overly dramatic that i could not even finish the title.

Would you be willing to try another book from Mira Bartok? Why or why not?

Yes! I am curious how this book progresses, but after 4 hours of the narrator I gave up on it. The story was great, I'd like to finish the book...heading to the library.

What didn’t you like about Hillary Huber’s performance?

The performance seemed like a bad acting extra on law & order or a drama student who, at first, over acts. She was also very slow!

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger! I just wanted the narrator to read the story! A little inflection and character is ok, but this was too over the top.

Any additional comments?

I suggest a sample listen before purchasing. I will be doing this from now on!!

Missing something for me.

I grew up similarly, and while we're not all the same, I felt this story was missing something. I'll leave it at that.

Written by the parasitic antagonist

Can't imagine abandoning anyone, let alone a family member, like the girls did for 17 years. Myra seems like an intense narcissist, who puts her own creative interests above all else .I'm glad Myra's exploitation of the situation made her so much money.

A little less than expected

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

After hearing rave reviews on NPR, I was excited to have a chance to read this book. It didn't feel as personal and as unique of a look into the mind of a schizophrenic and or individual highly influenced by being brought up by one as I anticipated. Although, Mira did go into detail about many experiences she had with her mother, I still felt like I needed to hear more in order to have a well rounded view of their relationship and the disease. I am not sure what else to say, other than it felt like she was holding back, and I gathered/felt how disconnected she was from her mother more than anything else.

Awful book

This book starts off with the author saying that she was in an accident which made her lose her memory. I'm thinking, how was she able to remember things to put into this book? Right away the credibility was lost. The book was boring and never took direction to a story. The reader was good though. She was the only thing that kept me listening for as long as I did. I ended up only getting to chpt. 5 and then just downloaded another one.

Could not finish

What was most disappointing about Mira Bartok’s story?

The story was random ramblings of a woman's memories of her childhood, scattered with ramblings from her mentally ill mother's journal, with bits and pieces of current time fit in. I could not get into the story even after listening for 2 hours.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The book jacket makes it sound like an interesting story.