Out of Mind

By J. Bernlef, Adrienne Dixon (translator),

Book cover of Out of Mind

Book description

Everyday Maarten notices his increasing forgetfulness, but his attempts to conceal it are fruitless. This novel shows the strength of the bond keeping him and his wife together, the result of a lifetime of loving, so that they manage to find a way to carry on in the face of…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Out of Mind as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

There cannot be a more brilliant or more shattering evocation of what it feels like to gradually realise you are forgetting yourself and vanishing from your own life: the mind observes the mind’s deterioration. Bernleff’s pioneering novel, published in 1984, follows the journey of its narrator Maarten from the first days of confusion into a darkness of self-loss. A beautiful, poignant masterpiece about memory and forgetting. 

Want books like Out of Mind?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Out of Mind.

Browse books like Out of Mind

Book cover of Stammered Songbook: A Mother's Book of Hours
Book cover of The Nostalgia Factory: Memory, Time and Ageing
Book cover of The Iceberg: A Memoir

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in dementia, the mind, and Nazism?

Dementia 96 books
The Mind 35 books
Nazism 231 books