Loss of Memory Is Only Temporary: Stories (Art of the Story)

This book contains some of the best short stories I've ever read. They are well-crafted, interesting and personally relevant and effective.

Johanna Kaplan’s book of short stories, “Loss of Memory is Only Temporary” is not for the faint of heart. One story, the first, “Other People’s Lives”, is really a novella and takes up about half the book. Unfortunately, I found it dense and turgid. The remaining 6 or so short stories are much better but I was rather turned off by the novella so I didn’t really enjoy them as much as I should have.Giving a book three out of five stars is really quite difficult for me as a book reviewer. It basically means it’s a book I can recommend to the “right” reader, but one I probably won’t remember having read a year from now. And, theoretically, the “right reader” would be me, born after WW2 and Jewish. Maybe it really was the first story I couldn’t deal with (it was sorta endless), but the preface by Francine Prose was excellent in telling the reader about the author.So, I hope anyone reading this review would read others and try to get a better take” on the book than I’ve given here. When I have time I may go back and reread the real short stories. I really don’t like giving a book 3 stars!