How much do you want to remember? Now, what if you could never forget?

For Tom Donner, the distant past is still the present. From his earliest failures to his greatest triumphs, each major event of his life is as fresh in his mind as the day it happened. This is a problem, and it will have to be dealt with. Chemically.

Time's Incinerator is a thoughtful and humorous exploration of one man's unhealthy obsession with the microtrauma, melodrama, and nostalgia of his youth. It's not for everyone, but it might be for you.

***

Praise for Time's Incinerator, from ali_annuk of Instagram:

"Tom Donner had always felt like his natural state was to be stuck in time."

"Time's Incinerator" by Mark Hunter. Published in 2020.

Main character, Tom Donner, is 40 years old, married, has two kids, a well paying job and is financially stable. Yet he's as unhappy as he's ever been. Past memories define his present - Tom just can't forget nor can he accept change. Where does that leave him?

It is said to be "a thoughtful and humorous exploration of one man's unhealthy obsession with the microtrauma, melodrama and nostalgia of his youth". Tom's character is an odd one with his constant dwelling on the past, so much so that he finally decides to take drastic measures to forget memories he feels are in his way of being happy. What starts as one man's midlife crisis of a story, slowly takes a somewhat sci-fi-ish turn with Tom's research into memories and forgetting. What followed was unexpected, in a good way.

Tom's inner monologues will definitely strike a cord on some level with a lot of readers. That's something I already noticed when reading Mark Hunter's "Shift Change" - he writes his characters with certain candor that no one will be able to look away from because, like it or not, they're relatable. Maybe because the book mostly focuses on Tom's thoughts and many of them are such we only dare think but not say out aloud. Tom could be me, you, anybody really. There's a moral to the story or perhaps I imagined one for myself. As Tom is busy forgetting unwanted memories, little things around him start changing. The front door, cash only.

Hunter's writing is analytical, philosophical and also witty, which I personally enjoy. He's said that his books are not for everyone but I'd definitely recommend them for a change of pace, even if it's not your usual genre. It's the second I've read from him and if I should draw a comparison it's Kurt Vonnegut meets Irvine Welsh.

*

Also recommended for fans of Jonathan Franzen, Richard Ford, Donna Tartt, David Foster Wallace, and Haruki Murakami.

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• Literature & Fiction

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