Sleep of Memory

Places. Life goes on in the small moments just as well as in the great events. Patrick Modiano explores the nature of our recollections in a novel titled, Sleep of Memory. After I finished the book, I thought of the closing line spoken by the nihilist played by Greta Garbo at the end of the tumultuous 1932 movie, Grand Hotel: “people come, people go, nothing ever happens.” That line followed lots of large and small happenings. Modiano takes us into recollections of the small moments from the past, in neighborhoods of Paris, where a person can seem to be departed from the world after moving from one neighborhood to another. This is an atmospheric novel, very focused on place, and a gentle way for readers to think about places and memory. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Sleep of Memory from amazon.com.