Reminders (Emmich)

The Reminders 
Val Emmich, 2017
Little, Brown and Company
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316316996


Summary
Grief-stricken over his partner Sydney's death, Gavin sets fire to every reminder in the couple's home before fleeing Los Angeles for New Jersey, where he hopes to find peace with the family of an old friend. Instead, he finds Joan.

Joan, the family's ten-year-old daughter, was born Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM: the rare ability to recall every day of her life in cinematic detail. Joan has never met Gavin until now, but she did know his partner, and waiting inside her uncanny mind are startlingly vivid memories to prove it.

Gavin strikes a deal with Joan: in return for sharing her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help her win a songwriting contest she's convinced will make her unforgettable. The unlikely duo set off on their quest until Joan reveals unexpected details about Sydney's final months, forcing Gavin to question not only the purity of his past with Sydney but the course of his own immediate future.

Told in the alternating voices of these two irresistible characters, The Reminders is a hilarious and tender exploration of loss, memory, friendship, and renewal. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1978-79
• Raised—Manalapan, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., Rutgers University
• Currently—lives in Jersey City, New Jersey


Dubbed a "Renaissance Man" by the New York Post, Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, actor, and now, with his 2017 The Reminders, a novelist. Raised in Manalapan, New Jersey, Emmich attended Rutgers University. Today, he lives with his wife and children in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Music
Emmich has been writing music since he was 15, and he signed his first record deal after graduating from Rutgers. Since then, he has released more than a dozen albums and toured the country several times over. Newark's Star-Ledger referred to him as "one of the finest songwriters in the Garden State, [and] also one of the most prolific."

Acting
Emmich has also been acting since he was 18 with recurring roles on Vinyl, The Big C, and Ugly Betty. He has also played Liz Lemon's "coffee-boy" on 30 Rock.

Writing
As he told NJ.com, Emmich had talked about writing a novel for so long it became a "running joke" among his friends:

I started writing long-form fiction in 2007, that's when I started my first novel, and it's been ten years of struggle. I wrote two other novels that weren't any good and didn't get me an agent or anywhere, and in 2013, I began this one — my third try. Then I got an agent in 2015 and it's finally being published in 2017, so it feels like a solid decade of "I WANNA WRITE A BOOK."

That book, of course, is his debut, The Reminders, the story of a gifted 10-year-old girl and her collaboration with a 30-year-old actor struggling with grief. The novel has been well reviewed and optioned for film. (Adapted from various online sources, including the author's website. Retrieved 6/13/2017.)

Book Reviews
Like Nick Hornby, Emmich has a knack for avoiding the treacly and saccharine while finding magic in unlikely relationships.
National Book Review


Charming, raw and filled with empathy and sorrow, The Reminders is also a refreshing look into the lives of people on the road to healing and new purpose, and for these reasons alone I give The Reminders five stars.
Aquarian


[T]his is a sad, sweet story of the pain and joy of the past, the curse of remembering everything, and the importance of new friendships.
Book Riot


Beautiful and beguiling, a story that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.
Popsugar


Emmich's quirky first novel tracks the developing friendship between 10-year-old Joan and 30-something Gavin as they unite to try to win a songwriting contest.… Told in the alternating voices of Joan and Gavin, and illustrated with doodled line drawings from Joan's journal, the breezy novel raises intriguing questions about the nature of memory.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) This adorable first novel alternates between two strangers who come together in a quirky way.… Emmich captures the voices of Joan and Gavin, two such different characters, brilliantly.… [A] quirky, touching, and addictive read. —Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC
Library Journal


Charming and relatable.
Booklist


Overwhelmingly tender, sometimes verging on saccharine, the novel gets by on its profoundly likable pair of leading characters: what the book lacks in bite, it makes up for in charm. Heartfelt and charming; a book that goes down easy.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Reminders ...then take off on your own:

1. Joan Sully's memory of events in her life is infallible, and she wonders why other peoples' memories are so innacurate. As she says,

I don't understand how people can pretend something happened differently than it actually did, but Dad says they don't even realize they're pretending.

Why are human memories inaccurate? Is it because we want our life to be "like fairy tales… simpler and funnier and hahppier and more exciting than how life really is"? How accurate are your own memories (how would you know, of course, but do others ever challenge your version of events)?

2. What are the downsides of having a perfect memory — for Joan and those around her?

3. Talk about Gavin Winter's reaction to the death of Sydney — his need to rid himself of all the reminders of their life together. What is your reaction to Gavin's reaction?

4. How does Gavin respond to Joan when they first meet? How does he think she can help him? What does Gavin begin to learn about Sydney through Joan?

5. What happens to a person's understanding of someone when new information emerges about that individual? How unnerving would that be? How unnerving is it to Gavin when he learns that Sydney seemed to be hiding secrets from him?

6. (Follow-up to Question 5) The question the book explores is this: what is identity? Is it possible to truly know someone? If your perceptions of someone turnout to be far different from reality, what is "reality" — and who is that person?

7. One reviewer has written that this story tugs at the heartstrings without turning maudlin. Do you agree? If so, how does the author accomplish it — what prevents the novel from becoming saccharine?

8. Joan and Gavin tell their stories in alternating chapters. Why might the author have chosen shifting point-of-views? Does this stucture enhance or detract from your enjoyment? How would you describe the two characters? Do you find them appealing, engaging, believable?
 
9. What does Gavin come to understand about both himself and Sydney by the end of the novel? How is Joan changed by the end?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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