This was a fun read. Certain character arcs where predictable and others less so. I initially found having so many stories confusing but I understand why each one was important after finishing the book. I really enjoyed Mei and Oliver’s stories. It was hard to get a read on whether Louise was good or bad which I think was purposeful.

Wow, what a book! Hard to rate, as I don’t want to give anything away! Not at all what I expected, but found myself glued to the pages! Maybe because it hits home or more likely because of the provocative writing and perfection in character development! Not my normal genre, but so glad I gave it a go! Highly, highly recommend!

TELL ME AN ENDING is a haunting, thought-provoking novel about memory, technology, loss, and love. I found Jo Harkin’s novel to be incredibly enjoyable- I was hooked within the first few pages- and loved following the set of characters as their paths intertwined, as they reckoned with complex decisions, questions from their pasts, unknowns about their futures

Harkin’s writing was sharp and lovely, her characters genuine and compelling; she deftly weaves together the various characters in surprising, interesting ways. I will think about this story and its characters for a long time- a great read and one of my favorites in 2021..

This book would be great for fans of Black Mirror or sci-fi in general. I’d also recommend it for anyone looking for a story told from multiple perspectives that is engrossing and emotional. I hope Harkin writes many more novels- I will be first in line to read them!

I kindly received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

If you could delete a traumatic memory, would you do it? What if you found out you'd already had a memory delete. Would you want it back?

Tell Me An Ending is a story about an alternate present that centers on a group of characters who have undergone memory deletions. A company called Nepenthe preforms procedures to erase memories of both "self-informed" knowing patients, and those who have decided to erase the memory of the procedure as well. After a spat of legal trouble, Nepenthe agrees to offer their past patients a chance to get their deleted memories back. Throughout the story, Tell Me an Ending introduces its readers to a slew of different characters: some considering memory deletion; some who are informed that they already had memories deleted; and some who work for the memory clinic itself. All of them must figure out if their own decisions, past and present, are the right ones. The book tackles trauma, morality, and the idea of the self.

What an intriguing concept for a novel! The book dives into each character's personal struggle as they decide whether regaining a memory that's been deleted is the best choice, and how that decision affects not only the patient but those around them. I enjoyed that sometimes we as readers were better informed on the full picture than the characters in the novel, yet somehow, there was still enough mystery and withheld information that the story didn't feel predictable. There was just enough science fiction to allow for some world-building and creative license, but it was centered so well in reality that it's easy to believe something like this could happen in our lifetime. This is a really strong read for contemporary and sci-fi readers alike.

How do you cope when you have experienced a terrible incident that consumes your life?

In this book’s title I see a plea for closure from someone stuck, not in control, and perhaps disconnected. And this book does contain the stories of people who are stuck, not in control, disconnected, and dealing (or not dealing) with life-consuming problems in their lives and how a professionally administered drug can block bad memories. I remember being astounded reading news about propranolol being a panacea for those with PTSD, so I am definitely interested in this novel.

The narrative unwinds in linear fashion, giving a quick, and sorry to say, unflatteringly transparent peek into the life of several different characters: A callous scientist, an insecure college girl, a police officer with PTSD, a jealous husband, and a young man with no memory at all—who has been reduced to terror and paranoia. This book is about these people whose lives seem on hold, uncomfortable in their own skin, unable to fit comfortably with others, trapped in situations with no way out. Seeing all of the unique situations reminded me of a quote from Tolstoy: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Then we get a second peek into each of their lives. These interrupted, completely different, stories make it frustrating to get to know them fully, and it shows how frustrating it is to not have the whole story.

I have to admit at the beginning I was annoyed, not emotionally engaged, and thought about quitting the book about a bunch of whiners. It was only the still-tenuous trust in the author that kept me going. I recognized the author’s characters are required as is, and placed my trust in her hands.

By the third peek into their lives, it creates suspense as our empathy for the characters grows. These fragmented peeks serve as interruptions—a suspension—until the narrative circles back around again. This is effective storytelling, the frustrating not to get the whole story mirrors how characters feel when they can’t remember the whole story. As interest grows a sense if tragedy grows.

The delivery is interesting. Sometimes conversations are set off in quotation marks, sometimes italics, and sometimes they are written in stream of conscious paragraphs. Mostly it serves to speed the story, create empathy for the characters and add pressure, but other times it creates a jarring break from the narrative when you happen to notice inconsistencies in style of dialogue, and it is possible to just put the book down, not feeling highly involved or connected. At the halfway point, the stories tension ratchets up.

It’s hard to like the characters, but it becomes easy to empathize with them and their pain. To sincerely hope their personal development leads to a happy ending.

As they work through observations that nothing is ever black and white, but shades of grey. To hear their friends and family complaining about them being sad.

There is an interesting legitimate plot I haven’t mentioned; they all have had a bad memory wiped. But this novel is more than just “this happened, that happened, and then…” There are sequences—and consequences. If you are interested in anything pertaining to people and memory, this book is for you.

This book opens the conversation about what is a fulfilling life. It highlights the frailty of the human condition, the importance of connecting with other people, getting to really know them, and asking philosophical questions.

The novel brings up the following issues: Does removing bad memories improve your life? Are you still a whole person when some of your experiences have been erased? What is a fulfilling life? Is it possible to categorize memories as unambiguously good or bad? Is it possible to have friends if you don’t show your undesirable vulnerabilities? Authenticity. What are the moral implications of not knowing your “bad” past actions? What are the ethical considerations of the doctors who perform memory wipes? What are the unintended consequences? If you have wiped your memory, can you ever feel comfortable and feel that you know yourself? Is it even possible to come up with a black and white answers to these questions, and maybe that’s ok to not have a definitive answer or have everything wrapped up nicely?

So dear reader, tell me an ending. Or perhaps, ask me a question instead and we can grow from there.

Unbiased review of a free ARC from NetGalley.

This isn't the first piece of media to explore the idea of how having memories taken away would affect a person (the book itself even references Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with one character complaining about how unrealistic the film is), but that doesn't stop it from being an effective one. It centers around a company that boasts its ability to remove specific memories from people's minds, and it tells its story through a lattice of different characters, varying in connection to each other, with different relationships to the company and the technology. When a novel establishes this kind of network of characters, it's sort of signaling from the get-go that their connections with each other are going to deepen (or, if the connection isn't clear yet, it'll occur at some point). It's a pleasing structure, but sometimes superficially so. I think that's something this novel grapples with a bit, but doesn't succumb to completely. The characters are all fairly interesting and well-developed, but it's an inevitable consequence of this structure that the reader wants to know more about somebody, who was left not as well developed in favor of a different story or character.

The science fiction elements are done quite well, with the pseudoscientific rules of how everything works seeming logical and consistent. I don't think it's necessarily the responsibility of a science fiction novel to explain these things, but when it does, it's nice for it to make some sort of sense. I like the narrative style, as well, and the way thoughts are presented. It's interesting for memories to be presented in a way almost identical to the present, except often without quotation marks for dialogue. It gives the impression of the memory being experienced then and there, rather than the narrator unearthing it for the purpose of the story.

An intriguing, emotional, and thematically dense novel.

Black Mirror meets Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind gives you interesting, complex, thought provoking plot concept!

What if there is a chance to get rid of your entire traumatic memories that give you setbacks, unendurable pain, preventing you to move on: will you accept those memories’ erasing process? Or you keep them by embracing your pain and roughing up to endure more challenges life throws at you!

First of all: some people have higher pain tolerance. The same incidents they get involved may create different effects on each of them because there are so many different perspectives, reactions. As some of the people look at the same event from rational side as the other can look at more emotional side. Nobody is the same! Minds, hearts, souls may perceive things from different angles!

Philosophical side if this book made me intrigued a lot but crowded characters’ back stories were a little confusing to catch!

Eventually I returned back several times and reread some chapters to solve this problem.
Mei, Finn, Oscar,William are the characters who had the deleting procedure and Noor is the psychologist who has been working for Nepenthe the company where the memory erasing procedures have been taking place since 90’s.

I have hard time to connect most of the characters but the triggering subjects they’re dealing with which force them to erase their some main parts of their life stories were well developed. Oscar was the most relatable character and truly my favorite.

Overall: it was a little compelling read with so many POVs and back character stories but the author wrapped up the ending so adroitly which made me give this book extra half star and I rounded up 3.5 stars to 4 sci-fi, pain, life choices, mistakes, resentments stars!

It was truly unique reading journey! But you have to clear my mind to focus on entire stories to enjoy it fully.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Tell Me an Ending is a book written from the viewpoints of people who have had a “memory deletion” or the removal of something that happened to them that was traumatic and life-changing, or maybe not. The fictional company called Nepenthe has the ability to take people’s pain away by removing events from memory. The book is an effort at discovery of the topic of what gives us our personalities? Do we need to remember the bad things that happen? Sometimes what is bad to one person may be tolerable to another. What happens when people administering the “antidote” to a bad memory may not have the best intentions?

At first, I was slightly confused by the many characters, but a little into the book, all became clear and it made sense. It is about how we all may have different endings to our stories based on how our characters are formed. Is that a good or bad thing? The point is made by the different stories. The characters reactions and the behavior of people who have the power to change lives are all too human. It is a thought provoking read.