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How to Be Remembered

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

You'll be grinning through your tears as you read this "big-hearted" (The Guardian) and magical tale, perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Midnight Library.

A man who can never be remembered.

A journey he'll never forget. 

On an ordinary night in an ordinary year, Tommy Llewellyn's doting parents wake in a home without toys and diapers, without photos of their baby scattered about, and without any idea that the small child asleep in his crib is theirs.

That's because Tommy is a boy destined to never be remembered.

On the same day every year, everyone around him forgets he exists, and he grows up enduring his own universal Reset. That is until something extraordinary happens: Tommy Llewellyn falls in love.

Determined to finally carve out a life for himself and land the girl of his dreams, Tommy sets out on a mission to finally trick the Reset and be remembered. But legacies aren't so easily won, and Tommy must figure out what's more important—the things we leave behind or the people we bring along with us.

With the speculative edge of How to Stop Time, the unending charm of Maria Semple, and the heart of your favorite book club read, How to Be Remembered is a life-affirming novel about discovering how to leave your mark on the places and people you love most.

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    • Kirkus

      May 15, 2023
      Over the course of decades, a child--then young adult, then man--figures out how to live and succeed when the universe erases his existence each year on his birthday. The world around Tommy Llewellyn resets on his birthday every year: All his possessions disappear, no one remembers him, and his presence in every memory, story, and photo is erased. The first time it happens, his doting parents wake up the morning of his first birthday confused as to why an infant is sleeping in a crib in their living room. And the Reset, as Tommy eventually calls it to himself, continues every Jan. 5 from then on. Author Thompson has written a story that follows Tommy through his life--17 years in foster care at Milkwood House, dubbed the Dairy, and then through his 20s and into his 30s. Rather than being a story of hopelessness, however, it's a tale of resilience and how Tommy figures out how to survive from year to year when his best friends forget him like clockwork. Even Miss Michelle--the generous, kind, loving woman who raises him--and Carey Price, the girl he falls in love with at the Dairy and whose life he saves, forget he even exists when Jan. 5 rolls around. This quirky story doesn't offer an explanation of why this happens, but it's enthralling to watch how Tommy evolves through the years as he comes to terms with his situation, the setbacks it creates, and ultimately how he can work within the system to create the family that he wants. A story of optimism in the face of one of the hardest things to overcome: an existence where no one knows you exist.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from April 15, 2023
      Every year on his birthday, Tommy Llewellyn wakes to a world that no longer remembers that he exists. The reader experiences Tommy's childhood, where his parents forget they have a baby when Tommy turns one; his adolescence, where he rebefriends his group-home companions on every birthday; and finally, his adulthood, where, yearly, he reconvinces his best friend and business partner to hire him. Tommy rebuilds his life, reinserting himself into his world and continuing to craft memories with those who are destined to forget him. Beyond the trials and loneliness of being forgotten, Tommy is also searching for the person he fell in love with at 14 and is desperate to discover a way for her to remember him. Year after year, Tommy goes to great lengths to thwart his "Reset," to the reader's amusement and heartache. With turns of poignant hilarity and quiet grief, How to Be Remembered is sure to be a new favorite for readers who enjoyed V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) or Paul Auster's 4 3 2 1 (2017). Debut novelist Thompson has crafted a stunning tale of a boy desperate to be remembered, never hesitating to forge a path through his unusual world.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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