Through the picture window I see Horace and Aida head into the cottage. Even after more than sixty years together, they are inseparable. But with her Alzheimer's and his narcissism how much longer can he take care of her, especially without a car? Their bungalow in town is nestled into a new subdivision in the north end, far from nowhere. They are living on borrowed time. I guess I'm here to lend them some more.
The speaker is Ivan Pyefinch and Horace and Aida are his failing parents. Horace has failed his driver's exam and Aida's memory is failing her. Ivan, their only child, has arrived to help them get through the next few weeks at their summer cottage. Ivan is a freelance interpreter, currently assisting Mia, a French-speaking Parisian woman who wants to make a film about her Jewish family's exile from Tunisia when she was only a child. They communicate via email. This communication makes up the second storyline in Borrowed Memories and prompts Ivan to recall his life, his memories being stirred by Mia's emails and his current trials with Horace and Aida.
Through their email exchanges, Mia and Ivan become more comfortable with opening up to one another. When Mia says that she is coming to Canada and would like to visit him, Ivan is both happy and stressed, due to his present situation with his parents. Mia emails Ivan concerned that she would be intruding. Ivan immediately responds:
“It’s not an intrusion. It’s only that I need to focus on my parents on that day. My father wants to bring a homemade flag to the parade and I’m anticipating a disaster.”
Horace, the patriotic (and selfish) retired Air Force pilot, wants to set up his homemade flagpole at the cenotaph in Brockville during the Remembrance Day celebration. It adds to the novel's tension as Mia arrives during a critical time for Ivan, but she is kind enough to assist him with Aida so he can concentrate on keeping Horace in line.
Time is not kind to Mia and Ivan, as they rarely have a moment together before she has to leave and even then, their parting doesn’t go well. It is some time before Ivan hears from her again, and when he does, she succinctly sums up what she has observed of the Pyefinches in the few days she has spent in their company:
I think of this strange family I recently met, an old man obsessed with his own past, desperate to find meaning in it, to not forget, carrying his vanity and fear in equal measure, the weight of it pulling his shoulders forward. All this love of his own specialness, his flag, everything I hate, and yet something finally touching about it. The old woman, her memory almost gone, yet still sharp, seeing places the rest of us cannot. Her mind wrestles with the desire to forget, the need to remember. So eager to please and not bother, a silent woman all her life who is finding her voice and has no one to listen. And their son, because how else could I describe him? A man, yes, but a son first. So dedicated to his parents like a small boy who wants to please them, but not for gain or attention, only to keep them alive because once they are gone he will be lost, he who seems to love them more than loves himself.
However, Mia’s focus has now shifted from her film project to the beginnings of Arab Spring and she gets involved with the protests in Tunisia. Concurrently, the Pyefinch world is also falling to pieces, making for a suspenseful climax to the book.
I enjoyed the way Mr. Foss wove in the Mia storyline with his own life with his ailing parents. An only child, you can feel the weight of responsibility on Ivan’s shoulders as he worries about his mother’s dementia and his father who is unrestrainable and oblivious to his wife’s needs as well as his own, turning away any household help and Meals on Wheels.
Borrowed Memories was shortlisted for the 2020 Guernica Prize, which speaks volumes about that year's competition. In the jury's words, Mr. Foss’s novel is “evocative and nuanced.” I'm surprised that Guernica didn't opt to publish it, as it is an excellent novel, reminding me of last year’s winner, The Confessions of Joseph Blanchard by Ian Colford.
Recently, I have been picking some great novels to read. Add Borrowed Memories to that list.
About the Author
Mark Foss is the author of the novels Molly 0 and Spoilers, as well as the short-story collection Kissing the Damned. His fiction and creative nonfiction have also appeared in print and online literary journals, including The Fiddlehead, The New Quarterly, subTerrain, Numéro Cinq, carte blanche, and Montréal Serai. A radio drama, Higher Ground, was broadcast on CBC. He lives in Montreal.
About the Reviewer
James M. Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of The Seaboard Review. He lives in Miramichi New Brunswick with his wife Diane, their Tabby cat Eddie and Buster the Border Collie. James works as an MRI Technologist at the Miramichi Hospital.
Publisher : 8th House Publishing (June 3 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 228 pages
ISBN-10 : 1926716787
ISBN-13 : 978-1926716787