Find Me

Joy Jones is a young woman working as a grocery store shelf-stocker in Boston when a deadly epidemic sweeps across the United States. The disease causes severe memory loss before death, leading to quarantines and widespread panic. Joy becomes part of a group of patients at a hospital in Kansas, where doctors study survivors who appear to be immune to the disease. The hospital operates under strict protocols while researchers work to understand both the epidemic and the survivors' resistance to it. As the situation at the hospital evolves, Joy embarks on a journey across America in search of answers about her past and her connection to the epidemic. Her quest takes her through abandoned cities and transformed landscapes as she pieces together fragments of memory and truth. The novel explores themes of memory, identity, and human connection in a world altered by collective trauma. Through Joy's experiences, the story raises questions about what remains when memories fade and how people maintain their sense of self in the face of loss.

Readers describe Find Me as a slow-burning literary novel that prioritizes atmosphere and internal character study over plot resolution. Readers appreciated: - The haunting, dreamy writing style - Complex exploration of memory and loss - Strong first section in the hospital setting - Precise descriptions of grief and isolation Common criticisms: - Meandering second half that loses momentum - Lack of answers to central mysteries - Too much focus on backstory over forward progress - Characters remain emotionally distant Ratings: Goodreads: 3.2/5 (5,800+ ratings) Amazon: 3.3/5 (120+ ratings) LibraryThing: 3.3/5 (300+ ratings) Several readers noted the book "starts strong but fizzles out" and "raises fascinating questions it never answers." Multiple reviews mention being frustrated by the ending while still finding value in the prose and themes. As one Goodreads reviewer wrote: "Beautiful writing in service of an ultimately unsatisfying story."

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🌟 Laura van den Berg developed this novel from her short story "Where We Must Be," which was published in The Southern Review 🌟 Memory hospitals, like the one in Find Me, reflect real-world "memory villages" in the Netherlands, where dementia patients live in controlled environments designed to feel like their past 🌟 The novel's epidemic of memory loss parallels actual cases of psychogenic illness, including a 2012 incident in Le Roy, New York, where teenage girls developed mysterious tics and memory issues 🌟 The author wrote much of Find Me while living in the Baltimore area, which influenced the book's Maryland setting and apocalyptic atmosphere 🌟 Van den Berg created the protagonist Joy's job as a grocery store night clerk based on her own experience working night shifts at a convenience store during college