Book Review of #2 Remember Me 2: The Return by Christopher Pike
Author: Christopher Pike
ISBN: 0-671-87265-6
Publisher: Archway Paperback
Part of a Series: Remember Me series
Type of book: Hispanic, drugs, Wanderers, life after death, cripple, purpose, discovery
Year it was published: September 1994
Summary:
Shari Cooper is dead, the victim of a murderous attack. She is on the other side, in a place of spirits, an eternal realm of light and love. But she is given a rare offer. To return to Earth without having to be reborn. Into the body of a depressed teenage girl. A transfer of souls, they call it. Shari is given a chance to be a Wanderer, and to do a great service for humanity. It is an offer she gladly accepts.
Then she is back, in a human body. Yet she does not remember being Shari Cooper. At first she recalls nothing of the afterlife. Perhaps it is just as well. Not everybody on Earth welcomes Wanderers. Of the few who know of their existence, some want them dead. And others, the truly evil ones, wish them much worse than that.
Characters:
The characters are not themselves and seem to have changed into something unrecognizable. It is interesting to watch Jean's progression from someone who has no future to someone who is trying to make one, but the author seems to ignore surroundings and whatnot. Sometimes when I was reading it, I was reminded of the Mad TV sketch-Nice White Lady, or the whole "white savior" complex. Unfortunately the third book further pushed me away from the characters.
Theme:
Nothing is finished, sometimes you can return to earth to complete your business.
Plot:
This is either first person narrative from Shari's point of view and of the time she realized who she was while inside Jean's body, as well as third person narrative from Shari/Jean's point of view. I didn't like the constant flip flop of points of view and of the worlds. First time I read this book, I was frustrated and wondered what was the point of Jean angle.
Author Information:
Christopher Pike wrote 30+ novels mainly for young adults, the most famous or well known one is The Last Vampire Saga, Final Friends and Remember Me, and his real name is Kevin McFadden. One of his books, Fall Into Darkness was created into a movie. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a website, but there is a fan club that is devoted to him. (http://www.christopherpikefanclub.com/ )
Opinion:
The summary is misleading because this book doesn't deal with perils of being Wanderers at all, the next book, the last one, does but this one, no. Its a hodge-podge of stuff and confusing. I liked how it started and thought it would be unique, but alas don't count on good beginning for the rest of the book to be good. The characters that we knew in first book, Remember Me, barely show up and are barely seen. We only focus on Shari/Jean and Peter/Lenny. There is an appearance of Mrs. Parish and Jimmy but that would be all. It's a very confusing novel and a lot of it doesn't seem to make sense.
2 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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