INVENTING MEMORY

Author: Anne Harris ISBN: 0765311348 3/2005 FICTION Publisher: TOR/FORGE

Shula is a slave in fabled Sumer---until Inanna, Queen of Heaven, appears before her. Chosen by the Goddess for reasons she cannot begin to fathom, Shula is freed from bondage and set upon an uncertain path toward a new and mysterious destiny. But the attention of the gods is a dangerous thing, and Shula may have cause to regret the day she first laid eyes on the Holy Inanna. Wendy Chrenko, former high school misfit, is now an overworked graduate student, researching her dissertation "Remnants of Matriarchy in the Ancient Sumerian Inanna Cycle." Still smarting from the painful wounds of a failed love affair, Wendy is bound and determined to prove that men and women once lived together in perfect equality, even if it means volunteering for a bizarre and dangerous scientific experiment. Separated by millennia, Shula and Wendy appear to be two very different women, leading completely separate lives. Or maybe not.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Don't let the title fool you. INVENTING MEMORY isn't about computers, geeks (per se), or making up stories.

Or is it?

An original, compelling and intriguing work of fiction, the book begins with the story of Shula, a young slave girl in Ancient Sumer, who has been picked by the goddess, Inanna, High Queen of Heaven, to be her "Chosen One", for reasons Shula can't fathom. Inanna releases her from bondage, and Shula is given a home in the nearby temple in order to serve the goddess as a natidum—a celibate scribe priestess. But complications soon arise in Shula's new life, and she must turn to her faith in the visions she sees and the goddess's promises to assure herself of a future.

The story then shifts to that of Wendy Chrenko, a young misfit who is bullied and harassed in school, who eventually hooks up and falls for Ray Mackie, a young man with a dysfunctional and abusive homelife. In college, Wendy becomes a feminist and expert on ancient matriarchal societies, while Ray goes the opposite direction and becomes an identity thief. When Wendy's dissertation is rejected by the college, she and Ray hook up in an experiment using computers, whose results intertwine their lives in modern times with that of the ancient Shula's.

If you love mythology and the stories of Greek legends, INVENTING MEMORY is worth the read for that alone. Shula seems to be stuck in this world of dueling gods and goddesses, otherworldly plots and intrigues, and her travels down into the underworld is some pretty heady and riveting stuff. In contrast, Wendy and Ray's modern day story wasn't that intriguing to me, but the parallels between Wendy's life and Shula's proves to be a fascinating study.

Perhaps this quote from the back cover says it best: "A one-of-a-kind novel, like nothing you've ever read...a stunning blend of fantasy and reality...."

INVENTING MEMORY is truly all of that.

And then some.

Nancy Davis