Memory Wall

Anthony Doerr is one of my favorite writers. I'm iffy on short story collections, but I picked this one up because Doerr wrote it. Truthfully, I'd bought it a few months before and opened it on my Kindle and because of that thing that happens on Kindle, I didn't immediately know the title of what I was reading. I was about ten pages in before I thought, "I love Anthony Doerr's writing .. and wait. Is this a collection of short stories? And I'm sticking? Yes. I'm sticking." So beautiful. I felt emotionally richer for having read it.

This book is a great short story collection focused on a theme, as I try to do in my book. For Doerr, it’s memory and impermanence–what will be left of us, of all that we’ve experienced, all that we’ve struggled to achieve, all that we’ve loved after the passage of time?

Through six exceptionally creative, unforgettable stories (pun intended), Doerr explores the melancholy ephemerality of human existence. I love how the settings, from Cape Town, South Africa, to a soon-to-be submerged Chinese village, are integral, tangible parts of his stories. This is a truly wonderful book!

I’m a geologist, and there is paleontology of the vertebrate variety (a dinosaur-ish fossil is involved) in the amazing title story of this collection. How could I not love it?

Memory Wall, a long short story, is as rich as any novel I have ever read. I turned the final page, wishing I could spend more time with its characters, especially a beautifully rendered father and son and the teenage boy who sought the fantastic fossil.

I could feel the stones being walked upon and smell the air after the rain—that’s how lush Doerr’s writing is. Part science in story… show more.