Memory & Dream

Memory & Dream (1995) Charles de Lint

Memory & Dream is not my favorite Charles de Lint book. Partially, because I keep forgetting that it’s a novel and not a short story collection, so I pick up the book, start reading, and then think, “boy, this is a really long story.” Then I remember that it’s a novel, and I have to shift my expectations. It seems like a small thing, but it always throws me off, just at the point where I’m getting into the story.

Memory & Dream is set in Newford, so regular Newford characters like Jilly make appearances time and again, but the focus of the story is on Isabelle. There are two time-lines: The story begins in the present, 1993, and then jumps back 20 years to when Isabelle and Kathy and Alan were in college.

Isabelle is a painter and Kathy, her roommate, is a writer. They are all in college together, along with with Jilly Coppercorn and Sophie Etiole. Jilly makes several appearances at different times in the story. Sophie is just mentioned in passing several times.

Like the short story collections, and unlike Jack of Kinrowan, Memory & Dream has the darker themes of abuse and poverty, however, these themes are more subdued into the overall story of Alan’s effort to publish a collection of Kathy’s short stories, and to get Isabelle to illustrate them, and in the process we learn what drove Isabelle to radically change how she painted, as well as what happened to Kathy.

As with all his books, the storytelling is good, and the characters are interesting, but there’s something about this book that’s different from his other books, that just doesn’t pull me in quite as deeply as his other stories. However, not my favorite Charles de Lint is still pretty excellent, and well worth reading. This just lacks a certain something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

And strangely, I was reminded at one point of the book The Golden Key. The magic in the two stories is quite different, but the idea of a painter being able to create actual magic with their art… Of course now that I think about it, Lalo the Limner in Thieves’ World had something similar, so perhaps the idea is more common than I thought.

If you have not before read Charles de Lint, this would be a fine place to start, however, as this is not one of my favorite of his books, so I would personally recommend Jack of Kinrowan or one of his short story collections to start with instead of Memory & Dream.
Rating: 7/10

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