Book Review: The Binding by Bridget Collins

About:

The Binding by Bridget Collins is a novel taking place sometime in the past, where people can bind their memories in a book, freeing them of remembering. Ms. Collins is an author, actor, and an amateur book binder.

• 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062838091

My rat­ing for The Binding — 3
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Thoughts:

When I started reading the novel I find myself sinking into its words, written like a fable The Binding by Bridget Collins reads like an adult fairytale. The concept of binding memories fascinated me from the onset and I was curious to see where the author takes the reader from there.

The book is divided into three parts. The first takes its time in setting up the story and its mysteries (people know stuff but we can’t tell you yet). The second act has the major “shocking” reveal. The third adds some more perspective and misery to the story.

I was looking forward to reading more about the “binding”, how it worked, affected people and what is Emmett’s role in the whole magical realm the author created. Unfortunately the most interesting part of the story was overlooked, and just a setup for throwing personal and emotional challenges at Emmett.

Emmett’s personal issues and love interest really didn’t speak to me and the long time spent on it was, for me, a distraction from the excellent promise and potential of this book. The author introduces many wonderful concepts (black market for memories, novels which are “fake memories”) which are touched upon, but I wanted to read more about them.

The setup of the first act, which led to reader to believe that the story might be about the ethics of binding memories, was also somewhat forgotten. The ethical issues of Emmett and those he loves and knows are touched on, but the overall ethical dilemma which Emmett brings up in the beginning, the big picture if you will, is ignored.

When reading the synopsis, and then the first act I really had high hopes for the book and wanted to like it much more than I did. I would certainly read more from Ms. Collins though, the writing is wonderful and immersive.

Synopsis:

Emmett Farmer starts an apprenticeship as  bookbinder for Seredith, an elderly woman who the locals believe to be a witch. Emmett can no longer work on the farm since he is recovering from a long, mysterious illness.

Soon Emmett discovers that people who arrive at Seredith leave their traumatic experiences on paper, hence erasing their memories in a gorgeous book with the person’s name on the spine.

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Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
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