Everything I Don't Remember

A Novel

By: Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Narrated by: Jack Hawkins

A 2016 Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, as Chosen by Joyce Carol Oates

Winner of the August Prize, Sweden’s most prestigious literary honor, and author of The Sisters, an innovative and gripping murder mystery that reads like a combination reminiscent of Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You, and the hit podcast Serial.

A young man named Samuel dies in a horrible car crash. Was it an accident or was it suicide? To answer that question, an unnamed writer with an agenda of his own sets out to map Samuel’s last day alive. Through conversations with friends, relatives, and neighbors, a portrait of Samuel emerges: the loving grandchild, the reluctant bureaucrat, the loyal friend, the contrived poseur—the young man who did everything for his girlfriend Laide and shared everything with his best friend Vandad. Until he lost touch with them both.

By piecing together an exhilarating narrative puzzle, we follow Samuel from the first day he encounters the towering Vandad to when they become roommates. We meet Panther, Samuel’s self-involved childhood friend whose move to Berlin indirectly cues the beginning of Samuel’s search for the meaning of love—which in turn leads Samuel to Laide. Soon, Samuel’s relationship with Laide leads to a chasm in his friendship with Vandad, and it isn’t long before the lines between loyalty and betrayal, protection, and peril get blurred irrevocably.

Told with Khemiri’s characteristic stylistic ingenuity, this is an emotional roller coaster ride of a book that challenges us to see ourselves—and our relationships to the closest people in our lives—in new and sometimes shocking ways. Everything I Don’t Remember is “a very original tour de force that still vibrated in my mind long after I had read the last page” (Herman Koch, New York Times bestselling author).

Keeps you on your toes

I struggled in the beginning of the book, but was grateful I continued listening.

Amazingly different

While it did take a little while to get used to the style of the writing, it was very intriguing and difficult to pull away from. If you get confused in the first few minutes, stick with it and it will sort it self out. Wonderful story, the narrator made this novel even better. Not only will I be anticipating other books by this author, but I will be looking into audiobooks read by this narrator. I am very particular about my audiobooks, and this did not disappoint!

A good concept

The concept of this book has the potential to be very interesting but unfortunately it was written in a very muddled and confusing way. I feel that some might argue that it's a stylistic choice, but I feel like it's more so poor writing.

Gave up

I only made it a bit longer than a half hour before giving up. I couldn't tell if someone was speaking or if it was narration. If someone was speaking, it was hard to tell who was speaking because I believe it kept switching rapidly and without much sense. Maybe by the end of the book it's one of those deals where the first person narrator has brain damage and is remembering things in a disjointed fashion, I don't know. If so, I'm not willing to plod through to find out. This is, I believe, the first audible book I gave up on.

Disappointing

I could not connect to any character because I have no idea who the characters are or how many characters there are here. The speaker changes without context. There is little, if any, cronology. What a waste of time and money.