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= The Memory Palace =

= About the Book = //The Memory Palace //, by Mira Bartok, is a memoir about her schizophrenic mother and her sister, Rachel. Growing up Mira and her sister had a hard childhood being around a mentally ill mother. As they reached adulthood certain events led them to cut most ties with their mother, leaving their mother to struggle then become homeless. A few years pass and their mother was diagnosed with cancer and was dying. As Myra and Rachel go see her in the hospital and sort out her things, it brings back all the harsh memories they had growing. It brought back the memories of all the mean and abusive people in their life and then trying to take care of their mother. = About the Author = ====Mira Bartok is a Chicago born writer. She has published informational books about different cultures for children with a series known as //Stencils//. Some of the books were //Stencils Southeastern Asia// (1996) and //Stencils Ancient Mexico// (1996). All of these books provided children with information, maps, art projects, and stencils. //The Memory Palace// was her first book written for adults. //The Memory Palace// received great reviews that said how great the book was and touched many peoples’ hearts. It also won the National Book Critics Circle Award. ====

= = = = = = = = = = = = = Characters And Conflict = ====Some of the characters in the book are Mira, her sister Rachel, their mother, and their grandparents. Some conflicts in the book were that Mira and Rachel’s mother was schizophrenic. Growing up without a father around and an abusive grandfather was hard enough for these two girls. But then they had to deal with a mentally ill mother. After breaking ties with their mother, years later they reconnect as their mother is dying. During this hard time Mira tries to comprehend and make sense of her youth, which isn’t as clear as it should be due to a brain injury from a car accident. ====



= Theme = ====The theme of this book was that no matter what mothers and daughters go through they can reconnect, and it will help the hurt heal and make sense of what their relationships went through. ====

= Review = ====//The Memory Palace, // by Mira Bartok, is a heart breaking memoir about two daughters and their schizophrenic mother. Mira and Rachel dealt with many years of physical and mental abuse from their grandfather and had to take care of their mother at the same time. The relationships of the girls and many other people are very harsh. They realized that they had enough and decided to cut all strings from their mother. However, Mira occasionally wrote to her via a P.O box address. She learns that her mother has become homeless and is struggling in the streets. One day Mira and Rachel learned that she was dying and needed to go help her. The reconnection of their mother daughter relationship is sad but heartwarming in the way that it brings back bad memories for Mira. Even though it brings back memories that were meant to be forgotten, she can connect now with her mother through her own life experiences. ====

= Style Analysis =

====In //The Memory Palace// by Mira Bartok, she uses many different types of Style. //The Memory Palace// is a memoir, so everything in this book did happen, however Bartok uses different styles to convey how she felt. At the beginning of each chapter there is a picture Bartok made while reconnecting her memory. These pictures were, “to construct a memory palace for herself, a series of paintings (reproduced in the book) evoking the mental landscape of her childhood, and to write this story” (Thernstrom). The book also tells of her mother’s, “descent into madness” (Thernstrom). It does this by showing her mentally getting worse and worse towards the girls. Bartok also using the tones she was feeling at the time of this all happening, “Bartok’s tone shifts frustratingly from intimate and confessional to distant and elusive” (Thernstrom). Mira Bartok would describe her mother as if she was talking to someone evil, “a new group of demons settled into Norma’s skull” (Twardy). By putting the old letters and journal entries her mother wrote in the book it brings back the memories of growing up. By putting this in the book, “she exposes the fragility of both mind and memory” (Twardy). By imagining her future in the book Bartok was, “constructing that safe place, if only in her imagination, for her entire life” (Salter Reynolds). ====

= = = = = = = Works Cited = Bartok, Mira. //The Memory Palace.// New York: Free Press, 2011. Print.

Satler-Reynolds, Susan. "Book Review: 'The Memory Palace' by Bartok." //Los Angeles Times//. Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 May 2012. [].

Thernstrom, Melanie. "Power of Recall." //The New York Times//. The New York Times, 07 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 May 2012. [].

Twardy, Chuck. "Book Review: The Memory Palace". //LasVegasWeekly.com//. Las Vegas Weekly, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 17 May 2012. .