Memory's Fire

De: E A Gray

Narrado por: Eliot Gray Fisher

When an apocalyptic fire consumes Alex Mann’s hometown in New Mexico, his father and his best friend are both killed, leaving him with a harrowing secret about his role in their deaths. Scarred in mind and body, he embarks on a protean struggle to recreate himself. His journey is rife with embers of despair and guilt that reveal facets of a Mann he never knew. Memory, he discovers, can be both a mage and a sage whose sleight of hand unmoors time in the brine of imagination.

The refuge of an idyllic alpine town promises to heal Alex’s wounds and restore him through friendship until he himself ignites a scourge. Expelled and desperate, he is granted unforeseen absolution by an aging alcoholic with a savage past, who sets Alex on a course to reconciliation with himself that ultimately illumines his true calling.

Pivotal to Mann’s odyssey are the challenges and wisdom created by his relationships with desire, shame, forgiveness, and ultimately, the love of friends - above all, his extraordinary cat, Tiger, who salvages and reclaims him at the nadir. Mann’s friends relate interlocking stories of their personal encounters with the effects of global warming, addiction, child abuse, and gun violence as they seek to become at home in the world. The living and dead serve as a reckoning force, striving to lead Mann from the mire of blame to the grace of responsibility.

©2020 E. A. Gray (P)2020 E. A. Gray

This book saved me during the pandemic lockdown

Listening to 'Memory's Fire' while on lockdown during the pandemic helped save my sanity. The novel is many things: a love letter to the American Southwest; an English teacher's coming-of-age story; an homage to the literary classics; a witness to the struggles of the displaced...and so much more. Eliot Gray Fisher's narration is outstanding and the sound of his voice helped ground the story and carry it forward. I will miss the author's words which reliably transported me to terrain filled with snow-capped mountains and forests full of wildflowers, juniper and pinon pine. If you love the Southwest, this book is a real treat and a wonderful escape.

Resting within a well told story is so satisfying.

As a Jungian psychoanalyst and a mother, children now grown; it was a pleasure to sit back and listen to a beautiful work delivered in such rich narration- one of the best reading voices I've heard in a long time-of a many layered coming of age story. I surrendered to the writer's skilled delivery of waking dream, memory, reflection on learning and teaching. Circumnabulation of time and place, the openess and danger of the wild western landscape, an array of characters, the human experiences of attachment and loss, aging and maturating: all the experiences of human vulnerabilities and vicissitudes are delivered to the reader by a voice both tender and deliberate. I rested within the experience of this work.

Intricate, poignant, humorous

Recommended! The way high school students are represented is so rich and accurate, especially in comparison to the standard caricatures. It is tender, too. It shows the earnestness of that time of life, instead of focusing just on the awkwardness. The writing, on a word and sentence level is superb. This is a well-polished novel by a pro. There is a nice balance between thoughtful observation and humor—the acknowledgment that we are fools, but sometimes fools can be brilliant.

An unexpected and original story

This was a story that built up intrigue and complexity the deeper I read. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and I found they continued to surprise me. I could not anticipate the twists and turns. It's really elegant writing paired with relatable and imperfect characters. Its always a good sign for me if I miss the characters when a book or show is over, and find myself wondering what Alex would be up to now.

Exceptionally Narrated!

Exceptionally narrated, Fisher brings Alex Mann and the rest of Gray’s characters to life. The subtle changes in delivery and intonation keeps the cast of characters recognizable. His warm and soothing voice pairs well with the descriptive prose. Listening to the novel was pure enjoyment.

Memory’s Fire offers a look into the workings of Alex Mann’s young mind - a mind tormented by the loss of loved ones in a horrific fire. We follow the aftermath of Alex’s journey as he deals with guilt, hate, jealousy and encounters with love. Sometimes the reader feels sympathy for Alex and other times pure distaste. Although not always a likeable fellow, the complexity of Alex’s woundedness allows the reader to somehow pull for his recovery. Gray’s love of literature, teaching, and the landscape of the southwest are intertwined throughout the novel. It is these gems and the deep psychological investigations that make Memory’s Fire a true delight!

Memory's Fire: An Exciting Read

This is the poignant coming of age story of Alex Mann as well as several of his friends, read brilliantly by Elliot Fisher. When we meet Alex as a high school student in English class, he has mastered the art of showing up having done the minimum amount of work possible as he directs the class discussions. The class is hilarious, and the entire book is full of English literature references and reveries.

In a fire that consumes his town, Alex's close friend Hersch answers his call for help, but perishes in doing so. Meanwhile Alex tries to save his father and old dog unsuccessfully by running into his burning family home. He is stopped by falling timbers, and must deal with the reality of scarred hands and face as he recovers.

When Alex makes the move to set out on this own, he arrives at the door in Trove of an acquaintance Joaquin, hoping to help him build his new house and share their mutual love for making music and writing. Reluctantly Joaquin allows Alex to stay despite his having no building skills. Alex proves to be invaluable cooking, taking care of the marijuana plants in the greenhouse and making deliveries to customers. They enjoy playing music and writing, and Alex loves his new life in Trove. Everything changes dramatically when Lori, Joaquin's future partner, arrives months earlier than expected and deeply offends Alex without knowing who he is.

This is the set up. So much happens that the reader is on the edge of his/her seat to see what happens next. Other colorful characters in the book include Alex's mother Mamia, Joaquin's father Frank, Rose, Alex's childhood best friend, and Tiger and Montenegro, two exquisite cats. In the next 12 years, Alex, Joaquin, and Lori change by learning difficult life lessons that include betrayal, birth, death, and love. Alex finds that he has a gift for teaching, but he has to learn a lot about himself the hard way before he becomes a gifted teacher.

I listened to this book twice, and loved it even more the second time. There is much existential angst, poetry, literature, humor, and philosophical conversation in Ms. Grays' lyrical wiring. She is a master of the cliff hanger in that her characters are continually being led to the brink of extreme difficulty. Elliot Fisher does a wonderful job of bringing the panoply of characters to life with his measured delivery and his ability to connect with Alex's interior voices.

I highly recommend this book.

Beautifully written and gorgeously narrated

I love everything about this novel. I first encountered it two years ago with the working title, "Our Life Goes By in Changing." I often work late into the evening and feel weary and out-of-sorts after several hours of concentration. I closed my work files happily and rewarded myself by reading a chapter or two. It is obvious that Ms. Gray loves the people and the land of New Mexico and Colorado. Alex, Joaquin, Hersch, Mamia, Papito and Tiger (“feline non grata”) are all as familiar and real to me as the descriptions of the landscape—the dazzling sky and forested hills of my Northern New Mexico home.

My second encounter with this remarkable novel was as "Memory’s Fire" in a podcast narrated gorgeously by Eliot Gray Fisher. At that time I was freshly heartbroken and grieving, and was struck by the truth of the first sentence: “The mind is a spacious country through which we are granted free passage by way of memory and desire.” My second reading was a different experience because I was different, and I heard more of the deep, subtle undertones, much as we are taught to listen for the rich notes below the main tune in a piece of music. Mr. Fisher is the ideal narrator. He appears to be around the same age as Alex, the main character, and speaks clearly, with a style and emotion appropriate to the spirit of the text. "Memory’s Fire" is about the landscape of memory and imagination and Ms. Gray’s observations are thoughtful and wise. Her language is lyrical and expressive, poignant and funny. There is humor and sadness and longing in this story; there is great empathy for its characters; and there are absolutely perfect words.

I’ve just received "Memory's Fire" as a paperback, and anticipate rereading my favorite chapters with pleasure. I listened to "Memory's Fire" on Audible, also. Because of the lyricism of the language and the emotional response I have to the story and its characters, this may well be the best way to "read" this wonderful novel. I hope to find other podcasts and books narrated by Mr. Fisher.