The Man Without a Shadow

So I've mentioned several times that I've wanted to branch out of my comfort zone with the books I read, and one easy way to do that is by switching up the demographics of the authors I'm reading. I've posted books by almost nothing but white men, actually I can only specifically recall one other book I've posted by a woman. So maybe that will change? Here's the latest from Joyce Carol Oates- a famous author I've never actually read before, but I do know that her twitter account is pretty terrible. The Man Without a Shadow, however, was pretty good! It's basically a love story concerning a neurologist and her patient, a man twenty years her senior who is experiencing anterograde amnesia, also known as short term memory loss. This concept has been mined pretty thoroughly in a mere two pop-culture examples- Leonard from Memento exists in a thriller where he can't be sure if he's avenged his wife's murderer, and Finding Nemo's Dory wrings out just about every possible joke from the concept for a comedy. The Man Without a Shadow takes a more realistic look at the condition, however, focusing on the daily lives of a confused man who never seems to understand why he's being tested in a laboratory, and the brilliant neurologist ignoring all codes of ethics to try to make a secret relationship work with a man who will forget she exists in less than a minute. Oh 50 First Dates! That's another one, and probably the closest example to this. Except having never seen it, I'm sure that movie was shit, but this was worth a read. The struggle with scientific ethics, the never-ending confusion, the family that just stops caring, it's all pretty heartbreaking  I'll add more Joyce Carol Oates to the booklog.