Muchos maridos olvidan cosas. Olvidan que esa mañana sus mujeres tienen una reunión importante, se olvidan de recoger la ropa de la tintorería o se olvidan de comprar a su esposa un regalo de cumpleaños... Pero Vaughan se ha olvidado incluso de que tiene una mujer. Ha olvidado su nombre, su rostro, toda la historia que comparten, todas las cosas que ella le haya podido contar, todo lo que alguna vez él le haya dicho a ella, Todo eso ha desaparecido, se borró en el catastrófico instante en el que Vaughan perdió la memoria. Y ahora que ha redescubierto a su esposa se entera también de que están a punto de divorciarse.

It was okay. The plot was quite predictable but I found the characters likeable. ( )

Lots of husbands forget things. They forget their wives had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry-cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. However, the catastrophic memory loss Vaughan becomes aware of when he is on a train means that not only has he forgotten that he even has a wife – her name, her face, everything they ever did together, even the fact that they have two children – he has forgotten his own name and everything single thing from his past. Admitted to hospital, it is only when his best friend, Gary, recognises his photograph in a newspaper that Vaughan discovers not only that his wife Maddy exists, but that they are in the middle of an acrimonious divorce. However, as soon as he sees her he falls in love with her all over again and, as his memory gradually starts to return, he becomes determined to learn from his earlier mistakes, to become a better man, husband and father and to win her back. But Maddy remembers all too clearly how he used to behave, so can she really trust the “born-again” Vaughan?
Although I found that this story had some thought-provoking observations on the complexities of marital relationships, how couples share parenting responsibilities, reflections on friendships, on how frightening it must be to completely lose your memory, the nature of identity etc., I found far too many of the jokes were reliant on clichés and stereotypes. Much of the time I felt as though I was reading chick-lit for men and so, just as chick-lit for women holds little appeal, I very soon found myself getting irritated by the characters and the storyline. For me there were just too many rather weak jokes which very soon became tedious and, eventually, a major distraction. In my opinion the book would have stood a chance of being better with far fewer of them … and if it had been about a hundred pages shorter!
Reviewers claim that it’s a rare treat … hilarious … heart-tugging … a memorable comedy … another slice of comic genius, but I have to admit that I find it difficult to agree with these descriptions! However, I did find the account of Gary setting up a Wikipedia page so that family and friends could post recollections which would help history-teacher Vaughan to build up a picture of his past-history, only to have pupils post all manner of mischievous contributions, very funny. So too was Vaughan’s attempt to give a eulogy at his father’s funeral when he had no recollection of what his father had been like! ( )

I really enjoyed the story and though it was very witty in places ( )

Teilweise sehr amüsant. Macht aber auch nachdenklich, wie sich manche Partnerschaften entwickeln und warum das so ist. ( )