Everything I Don't Remember by Jonas Khemiri- Book Review

I will state in the very beginning of this review that I am unsure whether I loved or really Everything I Don't Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri. I know it seems like an odd way to start a review, but I want to be honest with the reader.

The marketing states that this book is told in a Serial type style. For those that do not know, Serial is a podcast where a story is told for 12 weeks or so, but from different perspectives which makes the listener change his or her mind about the story. I would say it is more of a Rashomon type of narrative- different perspectives, but still and unknown truth.

It is the story of an unnamed investigator looking into the death of Samuel. Samuel dies in a car crash, but there is a question as to whether or not it was a murder or a suicide. The investigator seeks the truth by interviewing several people in Samuel's life- Panther- Samuel's childhood friend, Vandad- Samuel's roommate and current friend, and several other people like neighbors and other contacts. 

Samuel falls for Laide, hard. After a disastrous first date, although is it because others have a different perspective, Samuel and Liade continue their romance. Things become difficult when the friendship between Vandad and Samuel breaks due to Laide or was it just fine and Vandad was just jealous of Samuel's new love? Maybe Panther is involved somehow too as Samuel may or may not have gotten over their childhood fling. It depends on who you ask.

I will say first why I didn't like the book because it is very simple- the format of the book. It is told with pure dialog and each chapter is a different person's perspective. It is also told in very tiny chunks of dialog without letting the reader know who is speaking. Often, I had to turn back to the beginning to remind myself who was talking. The dialog also will shift back and forth from the present to the past without any sort of warning. There is a just a simple break in these chunks with a star (at least my reviewer copy had it that way). This format made it very difficult for this reader to follow.

This leads me to why I might love it. The book is meant to be a puzzle that the reader has to put together. Unlike Serial, the reporter doesn't butt in to give a- here's what we know so far type of summary. This is what makes Serial so good Sarah Koenig will reflect the listener's confusion. There is none of that. You get the dialog and it is up to you, as reader, to put together what happened. One must figure out who to believe and who not to believe. Maybe both are right and wrong at the same time. As stated- Rashomon. The reader is supposed to be a bit confused because the reporter is confused as are all the speakers. They can only see things from their perspective and may never know the truth of what happened to Samuel. Only someone knows the truth, but I am not telling.

I gave this one 3.5 stars. I see the brilliance in the book, but it was not a pleasant reading experience simply due to the presentation. It makes sense as to why the author chose this presentation style, but it just didn't work for me. There will be some who love it though and I can see people loving it.

Here is your Amazon link- Everything I Don't Remember by Jonas Khemiri

I received this book for review purposes from NetGalley. I do not have to give a positive review, but do have to notify the reader how I received the book.