Author: Burwani Sonmez

Publisher: Other Press

ISBN: 978-1590510988


Redesigning Oneself

What happens when someone loses his memory? Can he return to what we call “a normal life?” Do his friends welcome him back into their fold? Do they even remember him? Can he behave normally in the company of others without being viewed as an exotic  social exhibit? These are the questions to which the author seeks answers in this book

When the curtain goes  up, we find the protagonist, Boratin Bey in a bed, which he recognizes as being different from his hospital bed. He had, in an attempt at suicide, jumped into the waters of the Bosphorus and was one of a very  few to have survived. According to the doctors, he was lucky to have been alive with a broken rib bone and amnesia. The doctors had confirmed his identity through the papers in his wallet, and informed his friends, who took him home.

The first thing he notices when he wakes up was that his bed was not the same as that in the hospital, that the blanket, the balcony and the window were different and that his medicines were not within easy reach.. What follows is a moment by moment account of his actions on the first morning at home, post his suicidal attempt, as he familiarises himself with his apartment, which he sees with new eyes. We get to know all his thoughts about the artefacts in his apartment, as he explores them and the emotions they evoke. The ringing of the telephone interrupts his reverie. He does not answer it.

“I’m approaching the time I used to live in but have tumbled out of. ...As I have lost my memory, I have lost the life I led all these years too.  I’m back at zero..”

That is what this book is all about: That which happens with life when everything, or at least, a sizeable portion of your life has been wiped off by circumstances.

In this book, we follow Boratin as he takes baby steps towards reclaiming his identity. His friends help him in this endeavour . They go grocery shopping for him, they help with credit cards and even go out with him to tavern-restaurants. The protagonist places his own thoughts  around a situation and documents his own self talk around the same.

This is where the author’s skill comes in as he documents the transition from a wiped out past memory to being cognitively anchored in the present NOW.. He depicts a picture through Boratin’s  self talk, of how the NOW button, when pressed, expresses itself,, either in company, or in solitude. That it is possible for the NOW moment, to be experienced differently by different people. Many people do not see the freshness of the present moment because they see time in relation to straightjacketed daily routines .

The author’s exploration of amnesia through a novel is a rare and difficult venture.. He has accomplished it with genuine authenticity and his efforts are commendable.

Warmly recommended.