The Memory Book by Lara Avery

The quick cut: A teen girl diagnosed with Niemann-Pick type C writes down her life before her memory makes that impossible.

A real review:

When you're young and about to finish high school, it feels like your life is just starting. The possibility of college, forging your path, and imagining your life as an adult feels so close. For Sammie, it's something that isn't mean to be after a rare genetic disorder starts eating away at her memories.

Sammie had a simple plan: finish at the top of her class and go to a prestigious college as soon as she can. It's all she wants and won't let her diagnosis of Niemann-Pick type C get in the way. Her doctors have informed her of the future she has in front of her, but she refuses to accept anything else. Will Sammie find a way to make the impossible a reality? Or will a different plan happen instead?

This book is emotionally devastating, especially considering the ending is one you see coming. Life isn't fair and one of the biggest examples of this is genetic conditions. Sammie didn't do anything wrong, but she'll never experience adulthood because of what she was born with.

Sammie is devoted to making what she wants happen, but the odds are stacked against her. Watching that battle to reject fate is nothing short of awful. I can't say I would do better.

I enjoyed the story and especially the awareness to Niemann-Pick. There are kids who go through this and never experience a future. That's devastating for everyone in their orbit! It's informative to a reality many experience and we need more disability representation of this kind.

A slow and devastating portrayal of a rare genetic condition.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5