If I Forget You: A Novel

Thomas Christopher Greene's story of star-crossed lovers who meet in college, are torn apart by outside forces, only to run into each other twenty years later is competently written. The story - told in both present day and flash backs by each of the two protagonists - has well developed characters, is very nicely paced, and the seemingly requisite "secret reveal" was believable.

So why am I only giving this well-done novel a mere 3 stars? Because it's been five days since I turned the last page and I cannot even remember the names of the two protagonists. A well-written novel doesn't always equate to an amazing novel. An amazing novel is always well-written but has something extra and you can't stop thinking about the book and it's characters long after you've finished it. An amazing novel is also, in my experience, a very rare find. And so in the meantime, while always searching for the next amazing novel, it certainly isn't a waste of time to read well-written books like this one. If I Forget You would make a great summer vacation/beach/airplane read for someone looking to pleasantly pass the time. But if you are only on the look-out for the next amazing novel and don't want to waste time with merely competent books, skip it. And let me know when you find your next amazing read!

This book is SLOW. The pace is almost glacial at times.

Unfortunately, some of the plot is pretty unbelievable. While there is one twist near the end, it's something you saw as possible, but not probable.

The story seemed to be built to get Margot and Henry back together, some twenty-one years after they parted. Unfortunately, there is very little action in the book.

SPOILER ALERT - don't read further if you don't want to hear some details:

It was hard for me to believe that Margot - on the very day she got a letter from the love of her life telling her he would not see her again - would that very evening sleep with someone else. And then, it seems she would get pregnant that night but know the child is her previous lover's. And yet she marries Chad (the second guy) in must have been a rapid fire wedding since no one else seems to have suspected the child is Henry's.

What a touching and tender love story. It reads like what we wish life could be I think. A lingering and long lasting love that lasts over time and in spite of obstacles thrown in the way, love prevails.
I think we all, both men and women, wish to be loved in this way.
I was transported with this book, into their love story.
I forgot for a while that life is usually not like this and that we often dream of stories like this being our reality.

This story was a little "off beat," but enjoyable. Just for your info, it's not about Alzheimers.

I've rarely take time to write a review. Took precious vacation time to knock through this. As I clutched the few remaining pages at the end, I was certain my book was missing pages. Zero plot. Predictable. Eighth grade level action.

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thomas Christopher Greene returns following The Headmaster's Wife (2014) with a moving epic love story—IF I FORGET YOU.

Written with lyrical poetic prose-as breathtaking as his fictional character, Henry Gold; Greene, follows a timeless forbidden love, torn apart by family, social class, wealth, lies, and secrets. Love and Loss. Second chances? Follow Henry and Margot's journey.

At forty-years of age, Henry Gold is not a famous poet though he has won a few awards in his younger years, and has carried over into his teaching career. He is a teacher and has an ear for other’s work; the ability to discern a musicality that certain students posses and is able to nudge them in the right direction.

The only wish he had as a kid, in his neighborhood growing up, in the West End of Providence, RI the son of immigrants-- was to be normal and Catholic like other families. He recalls his mother saying to him, “Henry Gold, don’t ever let anyone tell you: You can’t do something.”

Her words haunt him, for it is the great failing of his life. Many years ago, someone told him how to do things, and he didn’t fight like he should have. He has regrets.

Henry is in New York and sees Margot outside the Time Warner Building. He loves his New York campus. Baseball gave him this gift as a student. In his sophomore year he declares his major as English. His heart was not in baseball; however, the sport gave him the opportunity. He loves assignments, wrestling with words loves playing with structure. Each poem is a tiny puzzle to be solved.

He sees her on the street with the pigeons. She sees him. She flees in a cab, she is gone. He runs after her. The love of his life.

Margot is unhappily married to Chad. He is forty-five years old, well in his prime and still mid-level at Goldman. Her kids are grown. Alex is in third year at Wesleyan University and Emma at boarding school in Connecticut. Emma will be off to a summer camp in Maine. Alex to the city for an internship at a major publisher. Her life is at a turning point.

She comes from a wealthy family and a robust trust fund. Her parents are seasonal New Yorkers with winters in Tucson, Arizona and summers on the Vineyard. Lately Margot considers painting again. Art was the only subject she ever really liked; however, she has harbored her love of painting like a secret. Painting gives her pleasure.

Flashing back and forth from twenty-one years earlier—1991 in college, to the present 2012, we hear from Henry and Margot’s point of view. College at Bannister. Everyone knew Margot Fuller. From different social classes and walks of life. He had never met anyone rich before. Thomas Fuller, the board of trustees, her father. A tragedy. The letter. She had never met anyone like Henry.

Henry had never stopped searching for her. The idea of her, the essential memory of her, has been his one constant truth, like a poem he has committed to memory and holds always in the back of his mind. Has she been under his nose all these years?

He cannot think of anything but her. He knows only one way to love a woman and that is completely. Margot was his love. They straddle two worlds.

Henry decides the following day, he will go to Vermont. He doesn’t have class until after the weekend and the idea of his cabin is what he needs to lift his spirits. Vermont was his Polish father’s place. His mother had been born in Warsaw, grew up in Queens, and lived in Providence. He loved spending summers in the area and purchased a cabin when he turned thirty-four, after his father’s death.

He had married, now divorced after his wife Ruth’s affair. He has a nine-year old daughter, Jess. The life with Margot was cut short. From different social classes, there was an incident twenty-one years earlier. He was forced by her family to end things. He has not seen her since, until the previous day.

Margot can’t stop thinking of Henry. She has to see him. "What she does not like adulthood: every interaction seems to bring with it a history, a context, and nothing is simple."

She will find him and sees his photo on the NYU faculty page. His biography. His debut collection of poetry, Margaret, won the Yale Younger poets prize. Margot (Margaret) – for her, the dedication, “for you, wherever you are.”

Margot has never met anyone like him before. Can they go back? Choices were made. There is hurt, regret, and secrets. Can he forgive her? A weight she has been carrying. Courage to face the past in order to move forward. Is she strong enough to stand up to her family and choose the life she wants?

"If poetry is the search for significance, then the stubbornness of love must be its fullest expression."

Greene writes with passion—with stunning imagery, haunting yet beautiful lyrics; art, and romance. An emotional moving love story, and well developed characters readers will root for.

I loved Henry- he can write me a poem any day of the week! I'll take the cabin in Vermont, as well.

This book was described as being deeply affecting and emotional, which I was hoping it would be. And it did turn out to be an emotional book for me, although not in the way I was hoping. Instead of finding this book to be touching and possibly heart wrenching as I expected, I found it to be annoying and it even brought forth a bit of anger in me that the author would think we forgot what happened in the first three quarters of the book when he wrote the last quarter.

This is a story of star-crossed lovers with the age-old hindrance of having been born on the opposite side of the tracks. Henry is the poor poet and Margot is the rich girl. A most unfortunate incidence tears them apart. Henry makes a life-changing decision that seals their separation. The story is told in alternating time frames - the present day in 2012 and back to 1991. Pretty much a same-old-story type of plot but written in a very readable manner.

The first point of annoyance that I have throughout the present day rendering is the constant reference to how "old" they are. This author must be quite young himself if he feels that his characters' age of early 40's is old. In his eyes, I must be quite ancient.

That annoyance was minor compared to the main problem I have with this book. I completely understand the decisions that both Henry and Margot made due to their youth and the circumstances that they found themselves in at the time. What I don't understand are numerous comments made by each of the characters when they find each other again in their "old age". The past and the present just don't connect at all and left me quite taken back with surprise and irritation. I'd like to get into a discussion about this with someone who has read the book but a review isn't the time or place for spoilers so I'll just leave it with saying that I was baffled by the characters' present day reactions. Why would Henry feel like he did in the present when he knows so well what happened in the past? He should have understood Margot's decision based on the decision he himself had made and what he wrote to Margot. The last quarter of the book just doesn't work for me at all.

On the positive side, the book is beautifully written with a poetic flair. However, it's just not enough to save the book for me. This book has been compared to "The Notebook", which is actually a good comparison since I found the ending of "The Notebook" to be just as unbelievable as this one.

I won this book in a Goodreads contest.

I have been a fan of the romance genre for the past 20+ years. With the onset of maturity, I am liking the typical romance books less. One can only read so much about gorgeous young couples destroying each other to ultimately utter the 3 magic words to fall madly into each other's arms. This book is different. It examines unrequited love and having a second chance at it. The middle aged main characters are believable and the story is grabbing. Perhaps this is the next phase of my reading preference. I highly recommend this book.

Somewhat predictable, but an enjoyable read. Author is somewhat hung up on the subject of lost loves refound: He wrote another book with the same theme.

I never read this author before and felt like it was the story of a best friends story that evolved over the many years we were friends. As a reader I felt as if I knew each of the characters hearts and mind.