Review: Erased by Margaret Chatwin

Erased by Margaret Chatwin
Published: June 2013 
Number of pages:  286 (Paperback)
Series: No 

   There’s that moment – you know the moment – when you emerge from sub-consciousness and enter full awareness. Now imagine reaching that moment with a pounding head, throbbing body, hospital ID band around your wrist, and no memory. No idea why you hurt the way you do, or how you got where you are. No clue what your own name is, or who the people next to you are.
    I’m seventeen-year-old Ryan Farnsworth, and that’s what happened to me. Now I have to walk a mile in my own, unfamiliar shoes; view myself through the eyes of a perfect stranger; live the life a former me chose. I also need to figure out why that former me tried to kill me. (goodreads)

   I received a free copy of Erased by Margaret Chatwin in exchange for a honest review.

   Let me start this review by pointing out that this book has a male protagonist, something I don’t come across often. I must admit that it was a very refreshing and fun change. This fact already lead me into liking Erased.
   When I first read the synopsis of Erased on goodreads, I immediately knew that it’s exactly the type of story, which I would enjoy. It deals with memory loss and the whole process of finding yourself and your memories. I enjoy stories like this greatly, and so it comes as no surprise, when I say that I enjoyed Erased a lot.
   The story we are presented with in Erased is written in a way, which comes across in a very believable and realistic way. The pace in which Ryan, the protagonist of this story, gets his memories back is amazingly good and fun. Also the way Ryan explores his former life and self is both sad and fun at the same time. And seeing him come to the conclusion, that maybe the way he was before the accident, which was declared to be a suicide attempt, wasn’t good was brilliant.

“Could I…I really need a drink. Could I maybe borrow a glass of water from you?” (Ryan)

“Borrow? Well, we might want the glass back, but you can keep the water, we have a whole sink full.” (Paige)

   Also his relationship with his brother Lucas is very believable and the way it plays out over the course of the book is well paced and also adds to the level of believability of this story. And yes, I know it’s just a story so the whole ‘believable’ or not factor isn’t that important, but I enjoy it when it’s present.

   Ryan is a very likable character. The way he describes everything that happens around him and inside of him is great. The further I was into the story, the more I liked Ryan. 

   “If you think I’m over-exaggerating or being whiny when I say that, you go throw yourself off of a cliff, break damn near every bone in your body and then get back to me about the matter.” (Ryan) 

   Lucas, Ryans brother, is also a very nicely crafted character. I felt sorry for him throughout most of the story, due to the way people and even his very own family treats him.

“No grounding. But it better not happen again, and if it does, the two of you had better run like hell, because I’m sick and tired of coming to school. That thing you call principal frightens me.” (Ryan’s dad)

   Speaking of people, I really did hate Ryan’s former friend Zane, who just behaved like a total ass toward everybody, including Ryan. And also Tasha just annoyed me which made me root for Paige even more, because she just seemed like the right kind of girl for Ryan.
The ending and epilogue were simply perfect and made it even harder for me to say goodbye to the characters in Erased.

   All in all, I had a lot of run reading the story, even though it deals with quite a hard topic, which on the other hand is exactly what I like. I can only recommend it to everybody, even though it might not be your average summer read, but it’s still a great read.

   I give Erased by Margaret Chatwin five out of five stars.