The Book of M – a story about people losing their shadows, and their memories. I thought it was a neat concept when Varun (remarks in blue) mentioned the book to me. We had been planning on doing our first Buddy Reading and this book ended our search and kick started it finally! This month, we will be talking about The Book of M by Peng Shepherd. Before we dive into our discussion, here are some facts about the book and the synopsis.
WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE UP TO REMEMBER?
Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.
One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.
Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.
Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.
As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.
Like The Passage and Station Eleven, this haunting, thought-provoking, and beautiful novel explores fundamental questions of memory, connection, and what it means to be human in a world turned upside down.
Since this is a fairly complex book, with numerous characters, and like other dystopian novels, a fair amount of time is spent by the reader in understanding the world, we decided to discuss the book in three chunks:
- [Parts I & II] : Commentary on the world and what we have discovered about the circumstances in this era.
- [Parts III and IV] : Potentially, commentary on the characters and anything unexpected (without spoilers, of course).
- [the book as a whole] : Overarching themes and thoughts.
If you have read The Book of M, I hope that you will enjoy this discussion. There aren’t any explicit spoilers ahead, so don’t worry even if you haven’t read the book. Be sure to share your thoughts below in the comments, or with us on social media (links at the end of the post).
Let’s dive in!
Our Expectations:
When you first looked at this book, Varun, what did you think of it? For me, I was fascinated by the shadow and memory relationship. As we have come this far in the book and discovered more about this connection, has this book fared well with regards to your expectations?
Oh I think the story has delivered beyond my imagination. I agree that the relationship between a person’s shadow and their memory is a unique concept to explore, but I was baffled by the fact that people lost their memory in its entirety. My initial impression was that this would be a conventional storyline where people lose sense of who they are and where they are situated, but the story takes several steps further: people forget how to perform basic tasks as well! They forget how to eat or drink or even sleep. That’s incredibly dark if you think deeply. How many people have we witnessed losing memory to that extent in real life? Hardly any. And that makes this possibility a little far fetched yet surprisingly real.
Dark, indeed! I was actually reminded of zombies when I thought more about the shadowless, at these later stages of forgetfulness!
It is strikingly similar because at some point, people will begin to forget what consciousness is as well. Let’s see how the story unravels more details about the shadowless.
The Characters in The Book of M:
Though the synopsis focuses on Ory and Max, in the first two parts, we are actually introduced to a couple of other characters. There’s Naz, an archer who had been preparing for the Olympics when the Forgetting happened. There is the amnesiac, The One who Gathers, who had gone to help out Hemu, the first human to ever lose his shadow. I think each of these characters, and the others whom we have met in smaller capacities, give a unique picture about the event as well as show Peng’s attempt to provide a holistic picture of the phenomenon. What do you think about their stories so far? Which one are you most excited to see developing in the coming parts?
The simultaneity of events gives a sharp contrast between curiosity, panic and defence. Ory and Max’s stories are pretty well rounded, but Naz’s story seems to have something missing. I can’t figure out what that is exactly, even if her origin story is compelling enough already. Maybe it hasn’t been as exhilarating as Ory and Max’s encounter with loss of a shadow.
The One Who Gathers seems to be becoming a true gatherer of ideas from people who lose their memories. I would make a quick guess and say that he has been named The Gatherer for this reason: to collect experiences from people who have no use of the broken memories they possess. That is one character I look forward to reading more about.
Who do you think – out of the few characters we have been introduced to – could be a pivotal character in the story in forthcoming parts of the book?
I haven’t quite made up my mind about that yet! I am curious to see how Max’s story plays out. Her tapes are the only record we have of a person with shadow transitioning into a person without the shadow. I suspect Naz and Ory are bound to cross paths at some point of time. Like you, I’m looking forward to The Gatherer’s side of the story as well. So far, we his timeline has been in the past, telling us more about Hemu, the first human to lose his shadow, and what he learned from him. However, we have no idea where the Gathered is and once the Forgetting reach Boston, where did he go?
The Forgetting
In the beginning, when Max initially loses her shadow, Ory starts to notice some changes in the environment. The deer, the paper notes whose ink started to fade away. These gave a hint towards magic. Were you expecting that connection? I personally found those initial instances quite eerie and unsettling.
The idea of ink fading away did get me thinking about inanimate objects losing their shadow as well, but the later part of the story doesn’t mention that happening to anything else. The strange creature is also the only instance and sighting which does give a clue but there’s still no substantiation. These occurrences are related for sure, and anything not known to the humans who still have their shadows is a threat.
Later, Hemu discloses in his conversations with the amnesiac that by losing memories, one is able to gain magic. I am quite curious to learn the connection between the shadows, memories and magic, but in some ways, I am also suspicious that we will never learn about it because people are losing their memories and themselves!
I hadn’t thought about it that way! I felt Hemu was blabbering more than he was trying to convey a veiled message. But I do feel magic might have a crucial involvement here. It could be a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong, or it could be an unconventional epidemic, but either of those ideas are so common that they’re hard to believe would be a part of the storyline. I think shadows and magic have a deep relationship which a few people might know about. That group of people with shadows and the ones without them that Ory came across said something about everyone moving to New Orleans; I’m pretty sure there’s something out there that associates itself to magic in a crooked manner. Didn’t that city strike you as a bit odd? It sure did to me.
Conclusion
Like the beginning of any book set in a world different from ours, the first couple chapters are dedicated to world-building. Through the eyes of Max, Ory, Naz and the amnesiac, we have been able tp oiece together the essentials of the time when shadows are disappearing. With lose of memories, no wonder the world is falling apart and civilization as we know it has collapsed.
The Book of M presents circumstances that have a unique premise but a strong resemblance to the times of war. The manner in which people with shadows have gone into hiding is reminiscent of families who had to save themselves as well whatever belongings they had in dire situations. The stakes in the story are much higher though, and the fact that they are associated with something as trivial as a shadow gives the plot a perspective like no other.
Shadows are taken for granted just like the air we breathe and with the first two parts of the story, Peng Shepherd seems to emphasize the significance of these trivialities in life.
Extraordinary elements will find a place in the later parts of the story; the strongest indication being the loss of a shadow (of course!). At the same time, we feel that the characters of Max and The One Who Gathers might pave the way for humans to understand what’s going on. Let’s hope Ory and Naz find their way out of the ruckus they have been exposed to at the moment!
Thank you for reading The Book of M – Part 1! We would really appreciate your thoughts on The Book of M, if you have read it or plan to, and if our #bookthoughts were helpful in any manner. 🙂 Connect with us on social media as well!
We’ll be back with parts III and IV soon! Stay tuned for more action from the mysteries that await!
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Cover Photo by m wrona on Unsplash
I really enjoyed reading your post on this book, it’s a book that has been on my radar for a while now – just never enough time to get to all the books I want to read 😀
Thanks, Jules! There is a part 2 to this discussion as well. I am looking for people to buddy read with next year so if you have a book in mind for March or anytime May onwards, let me know and we can do something similar like this post 🙂
Thank you, I will have a think!