I'm delighted to be the first one to post here. Not just because the idea of a community discussion about the work of any of our writers is a brilliant idea, but also because Nephy is my idol and deserves to know what we think of her work!

Perhaps I'll come to some of the questions asked in the intro later - for now I wanted to touch on something else. As an author it's a big thing to be able to come up with a story idea that is worth telling; it's an even bigger thing to tell it well. Nephy does both.

What struck me immediately was the gutsy - and quite risky - approach to try to tell a huge portion of  the story as a conversation between two people. For those who've read it, it reminded my of Stoppard's play 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead', which is primarily two characters talking to each other.

It takes a lot of skill, I think, to base a story on a conversation. The conversation has to be gripping and telling enough to hold your attention. And I think Nephy does just that!

Riley

I read this story as a result of the introduction of the book club, an idea I thought was a wicked new idea for the new year.

It was an interesting choice in my opinion. The underlying theme of the story presented a lot of interesting ideas for a story, and it developed into a really powerful story of betrayal and deception.

I say that, as the effect the story had on me as I read was totally unexpected, and while I might have developed a preconception of the route the story would take, the final outcome of the story left me feeling shaken and alarmed at the lengths that we go to when we set our minds to keeping two people apart.

Two things struck me about this story. The first of these was the sense of reality in the outcome of the story, and I know that Nephy says in her review of the story that she'd had people write in frustration that Noah's father did not receive his just deserts, yet I think that the way she chose to deal with the situation has a ring of truth to it that is completely fitting with the story.

It is often the case in situations like this, where you find a battered wife, or an abused child. As frustrating as it is to those watching from the outside, the sense of love, duty and family run high, and while the rest of us want to see justice met out swiftly and decisively  it is their sense of family and need for love and to see the better person within the one that's harmed them that leads to forgiveness time after time. I have seen this first hand. I've read about it often, and yes it does leave you feeling unsatisfied, slightly ill, frustrated and numb. And that is exactly how I felt when I finished reading this story.

While I felt really quite shocked, and shaken at the lengths that Noah's father went to, to keep the two boys apart, in thinking about things after finishing the story, I can't help but admire the sense of reality that Nephy captured in the reaction of the boys, the resolution of the story, and the way in which the plot unfolded. It would have been too easy to bring a some measure of justice for the action of the father. It would have been justified to met out a vengeful strike against him in some manner, but here I admired the way Nephy chose to keep it plauseable that moved me the most. I was angry, frustrated and this emoted me more than any sense of satisfaction from some kind of justice served on the father would have.

For this reason alone, I found myself admiring this story more than most, but I feel there is more to credit.

The medical effects of Noah's memory loss run as the central theme of the story, and I found that I warmed to the strength of character of the central character Noah. I admired the way that the author was able to capture this strength and throughout the text we see through an amazing struggle of hardship, physical and mental strain, tough emotional situations, and the horror that the loss of memory must have on its victim, we are constantly reminded of the positives that Noah see's, experiences and enjoys. Where most would become sour, disillusioned and maybe depressed, Noah manages to remain upbeat, true to himself and I enjoyed that sense of positive energy in the midst of a dark central theme. It is this cheerful nature, these glimpses of light that endear the character to the reader, and give you a sense of satisfaction and achievement as you read.

When I first finished reading this story it left me really emotional, and I have to take my hat off to Nephy for that. A great story should leave you feeling moved. It should poke at your senses and touched you in some way. Forgotten Love did that for me, and I'm glad it was chosen as the book of choice for January. 

I'm really interested to see what others thought of the story, and its effect on other readers.

I haven't finished the whole story.  But so far I feel the story starts rolling around Chapter 4, which a lot of little bits begin to fuse together and make more sense and suspense builds.  It's a wonderful story, Nephy.    Because I haven't finished the whole story, so I can't just comment on some of the questions you put out, but I will try to finish it (I am a slow reader) so I can answer those questions!  So far I like Noah's character (though he wasn't exactly perfect).  I love the medical detail, but then I studied a just a tiny bit of medical stuff back in school.  Some of the terms (I don't remember which, but I believe it was introduced in Chapter 3 that got me baffled and wish it would be explained in more detail (perhaps slowly or in a non-intrusive, logical way).  Great job!

I’m glad Riley pointed out Nephylim’s technique of structuring the story through conversation.  As the conversation was largely between Noah and Luke, or a conversation about Luke between Noah and another character, it did have the effect of focusing the story solely on their relationship.  I had wondered about the lack of development of other relationships during Noah’s year of recovery in the hospital.  Particularly, it would have been interesting to learn his impressions of the man he was coming to know as his father.  Given the author’s description of the parameters under which the story was written, it makes sense that there simply wasn’t room for an in depth exploration of his relationship with his immediate family.

The story circles around two major issues, and Nephylim packs them in very neatly.  Firstly, Noah and Luke need to resolve the issues between the two of them.  Noah senses that Luke is holding secrets about their past and Luke is fearful that those secrets will destroy their future.  Their relationship reaches a point where it won’t progress until they can trust each other and they both struggle towards that trust.  Secondly, Noah is aware that their relationship is subject to close scrutiny, but lacking memory, he can’t identify the reason for it. Eventually, it becomes clear that Noah’s father disapproves of Luke, doesn’t want to believe his son is gay and doesn’t want a gay relationship being conducted in his house.  Again, Noah and Luke need to surmount the tragedies stemming from Noah’s father’s disapproval for their relationship to succeed.

I liked that the story had a happy ending for the boys and that they persevered through all the obstacles thrown in their way.  The tale highlights an all too common issue with relationships between teens.  They are learning to negotiate a romantic and sexual relationship for the first time and often living with parents who are not willing to accept that their child has reached that point in life.  Stressful enough that, but as Nephy’s story shows, as a gay teen Noah must also weigh the consequences of coming out to his parents versus keeping his sexuality a secret.  While parental disapproval of teen-age relationships is likely ubiquitous no matter a teen’s orientation, it is alarming how quickly that disapproval can turn violent and the lengths otherwise good parents will go in eradicating any indication of gay sexuality in their sons and daughters.  Nephy delved into some very powerful and emotional themes in crafting Noah and Luke’s story.

Here are some suggestions for next month:

Travelling Home by podga

Nowhere Man by Jwolf

Double Down by Cia

I'm a little late to the party hehe. Anyways, I had previously started reading this story but never got the chance to totally finish it until last night -- and I am glad I did!

One thing I really liked about "Memories of a Forgotten Love" was that the story arc was executed very well. The beginning was slow and confusing as it was meant to be, but when Noah received the suicide note about himself the tension began to rise throughout the rest of the story as things began to spiral out of control. Each subsequent event (Luke's apprehension, the suicide note, his father revealing his orchestration, the raping) was a notch more terrifying than the other, which definitely held my attention til the very end. I thought Nephylim did an exemplary job in establishing a well planned out and gripping story framework.

Now onto the characters. Initially, I thought Noah's father fell a little bit flat as an antagonist as his motives seemed stereotypical and unrealistic, but as the story unfolded and his father realized his mistakes and expressed how he still loves his son, I realized that he was actually a decently well-developed character, and I really appreciate that. Sometimes, writers forget that antagonists are people as well, and write them into the story as plot devices. On the contrary, Nephylim created a villain who was evil yet not all-powerful, cold and loving, angry and regretful, and overall a humanizing sort of unstable.

Several of you brought up the structure of the story and how it revolved around conversation heavily. For me, I thought it was an intriguing and different way to tell a story, but there were several parts where I had trouble following the characters who were speaking, and it became a bit hard to visualize what they were doing in between their spoken sentiments. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned in that regard

With regards to other stylistics, I've always enjoyed Nephylim's descriptive prose. She has a way of putting things in an ethereal, beautified, romanticized light without overdoing it. One that I really enjoyed:

 

"He (Luke) was heart achingly beautiful in the cold moonlight, his hair touched with silver, his skin pale as ivory, and I drank in his beauty until it filled me up and I fell asleep completely sated, at peace, with a smile on my face."

Oh yeah, if CSR ever does discussions on shorter stories under 20K I definitely have some suggestions : D!!! But for now anything is okay!

Shades of Grey - Naptowngirl