As I wrote in my previous review, my reading list for September was chosen by my Instagram and Threads followers. Meeting Millie by Clare Ashton was their first pick. After that came Chef’s Kiss by Stephanie Shea. The last one I got to in the month was The Memories of Marlie Rose by Morgan Lee Miller. While I loved all three, this one really got me. It did a fantastic job tearing my heart to shreds and then mending it back together again in all the best ways.
Marlie Rose is one of the most acclaimed Broadway actresses of our time. Having been the youngest person to achieve an EGOT, she has done it all. But while her professional life is nothing but successful, her personal life is a wreck. Seeking relief from all the pain she is feeling, she decides on a radical course of action. She has decided to undergo a medical procedure that will erase her memories. To do this, she must recount to the doctors every event in her life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. As her treatments progress, confusion about her own life begins to set in. To make matters worse, when her family discovers what she’s done, they become furious. Soon, she will have to decide if losing the bad is also worth losing all the good that came with it.
The Memories of Marlie Rose is a perfect blend of beauty, triumph, and utter tragedy. As you watch Marlie’s life play out, from growing up as an orphan to finding the great loves of her life in Elle and her best friend Peter to all kinds of professional success, you can’t help but empathize and root for her. There were so many lovely moments throughout, such as Marlie and Elle’s first night together, that filled my heart with such joy. At the same time, you’re constantly reminded that something eventually goes so wrong that Marlie would want all of these happy moments erased. Every time you see her choose to have one erased, you get a little sadder and come to better realize just how painful whatever happened to her to make her choose this truly was.
What really adds to the tragic dimension of it all is having the story told from Marlie’s perspective. As the story progresses and Marlie has more and more of her memories erased, you come to know more about Marlie than Marlie does. This leads to so many sad moments when she has thoughts about herself that you know are incorrect. For example, my heart broke for her a little more every time she thought a memory of kissing Elle was the first time they had kissed.
For all the little moments of sadness sprinkled in among the good within the first two acts of the story, the third act is where the true gut punch comes. It’s here that Marlie’s family discovers what she has done and Marlie begins to regret the procedure. Reading as these moments unfolded truly did a number on me. I must have cried for the majority of the last third of the novel.
I’m happy to report, though, that Morgan Lee Miller doesn’t break your heart without putting it all back together again. Without giving too much away, the third act is where some of the story’s major themes come through. It’s here that we see how our memories, both the good and the bad, are what make us. It’s here that we are reminded that love, that all-encompassing and earth-shattering emotion, is the most powerful force in the universe. It makes every tear you shed along the way totally worth it.
The Memories of Marlie Rose is another wonderful entry into the sapphic romance genre I like to call “make Jamie cry and then smile as she sits there and recovers from it”. If you also like your books to emotionally wreck you and then nurse you back to health, you can’t go wrong with this one.
