Book Reviews: the memory cage

Authoress: Ruth Eastham

Readers' Rating: 4.3/5

Critics' Rating: 4.6/5

It is a book worth reading.
Alexandru [Alex], the protagonist of the story, is an orphan boy from Bosnia and adopted by the Smith family. His grandad, Mr. William George Smith, suffers from Alzheimer's disease. His grandad had accidentally set his pillow on fire. And Alex is worried if his parents get to know about the incident, they will surely send his grandad to an old age home soon. His grandad memory is getting worse, and he often forgets recent incidents. His grandad makes Alex promise him, no matter what he won't let them take him away to some ruddy home. Alex promises.
Now it is up to Alex to dig the past and find his grandad memories. His family lacked communication. His grandad wouldn't tell about some of his old memories. Painful past memories that haunted him. Now Alex has to get all the stuff that has been hidden, and fit the pieces like a jigsaw puzzle.
Mr. William Smith had been at Dunkirk, during the World War II, and had photographed some painful memories. He had lost his brother, Tommie in the war. After the war, he returned and married his brother's wife Freda. People of the village thought Mr. William Smith to be a conchie [a word for conscientious objector] who had murdered his brother to marry his wife. Freda had died young when she was 19 only, from a fire, leaving behind a young son, Richard. Richard grew up to be cold to Mr. William Smith, because he believed the tales the village folk said about him, and called him a coward.
Now it is up to Alex, to prove that his grandad hadn't murdered his brother, and he wasn't a coward.
And save the family from disintegrating. And he has to face his own past, his own fears that he had concealed in a box...

As a general reader I found this book is full of mystery and suspense. It was worth delving into the imagination of the authoress and seeing the world from the eyes of a 10-12 year old adopted kid who had to take care of his grandad. There was suspense in each stage as the story unfolded. The authoress took care to be gentle with the story, like everything was happening at a natural pace. And yet, the protagonist in his gentle way turned to be a hero at the end.
However, sometimes the authoress took the liberty to divert while describing some incidents, when the situation required immediate action. But that is the problem of the reader, when there is suspense.

As a critic, I would say the authoress did an excellent job. She expressed grief, and memories. We are but are memories. Otherwise ghosts! She wrote about the painful situation when there is memory loss, especially in Alzheimer's disease. It made me realize the worth of a sound mind, and how lucky we all are, who don't have to consciously remember what we did back last 10 minutes ago.
The authoress wonderfully expressed the horrors of war, and the grief that hung about in them who had survived. War is horrible, not only for those who are dead with an expressionless face, but also for those who have witnessed it and have to live each day and experience the grief.
And lastly, the insecurities of the protagonist for being an adopted orphan lurks throughout the story.

This book deserves a reading.