Delighted to have received a copy; now it's been read, and here is my review of Sharon Guskin's 'The Forgetting Time'.
It's a well-presented book with an intriguing cover - almost, but not quite, evocative of horror. As a reader readily annoyed by poor style and clichéd writing, I did find it well-written. Guskin's style is sensitive, her voice authentic, with many moments of insight and originality; quite often I felt 'yes, I recognise that' (eg: of the breastfeeding Melissa on p. 150: 'her round breast popped into view, its large, pink nipple as unexpected as a spaceship'.) In common with a few other posters on this thread, I did however find the early one-night-stand-on-the-beach situation somewhat clichéd. I'd also have liked more development of the Jeff character who this involved: apart from providing the necessary paternity for Noah, was he actually a phoney/schizo? (as Janie could never subsequently trace him, and did wonder if Noah had inherited mental health issues from him). Rather than merely discarding Jeff, once he had done the deed, it would have been interesting to have found out more later about his character. The character of Dr Anderson was well-drawn - if not in depth - but this did not actually matter as he was there (a bit like Jeff) to fulfil a function. His ultimate suicide abroad rang true, and was quite moving.
Noah's mysterious distress was also well handled. As a mother of a special needs child myself, I could relate to the deep anxiety Janie felt. My heart went out to her as an older, single mother trying to keep her career going and make ends meet while being so committed to helping her difficult, smelly, beloved child. I sensed echoes of 'The Shack' by Wm Paul Young in the story of the missing Tommy Crawford. It was satisfying that little Noah helped to solve the terrible question about his fate and bring the perpetrator to justice in the end. I was relieved that he himself did not come to any further harm in doing so, and it was also good that he did, in fact, outgrow the nightmares and forget Tommy's life, in the fullness of time. Good also that this helped bring healing and closure to Denise, Henry and Charlie.
Guskin intersperses her developing story with excerpts from a real study, Jim Tucker's book 'Life Before Life: Children's Memories of Previous Lives', which added weight and authenticity to the central subject. Perhaps there were a few too many of these, but they still added objectivity and diminished the subjectivity and potential 'woo' factor. This book has made me wonder more about reincarnation which I had previously dismissed. Overall, I'd recommend this novel, and would read Guskin's next.