"The Art of Forgetting"

Camille Noe Pagán's work has appeared in dozens of national publications and Web sites, including Fitness, Forbes.com, Glamour, Self, and Women’s Health.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her newly released debut novel, The Art of Forgetting, and reported the following:

The Art of Forgetting is about two long-time best friends, Julia and Marissa, and how their friendship is forever changed after Julia suffers a traumatic brain injury that alters both her memory and her personality. On page 69 of Forgetting, Marissa has only recently come to terms that her formerly capable, charismatic best friend is no longer the same person, and is recalling an event from very recent history in which Julia has a meltdown related to her brain injury.

From Page 69:

Then, two days ago, she had a meltdown.

We were in the Ferrars’ kitchen making scones. Despite the fact that she barely ate baked goods herself, Julia could always turn a stick of butter and some flour into a heavenly concoction. This time, though, the dough had morphed into something more appropriate for a kindergarten art class than for consumption.

“It’s not supposed to be this paste-like, is it?” I asked, trying—rather unsuccessfully—to prevent the mixture from sticking to my flour-coated hands. “Any suggestions?”

Julia whipped around and looked at me as though I had just asked her if she wanted to put her head in the oven. Her eyes filled with a look of rage that I had never, in our sixteen years of knowing each other, seen—not even the day she threw a fit in the hospital.

“If you don’t like it, then figure out how to fix it, genius!” she screamed at me. “Isn’t that what you love to do? Make everything better?!”

I stared at her, initially more shocked than offended. She stared back so fiercely that I thought she might be trying to telekinetically throw me against the wall.
“Jules, you don’t mean that,” I finally said quietly. But deep down, I knew that a least a little part of her did. While Julia was still in the hospital, Dr. Bauer told Grace, Jim, and me that one of the more common side effects of frontal lobe damage was unflinching honesty.

Learn more about the book and author at Camille Noe Pagan's website and blog.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue