The Memory Book Critique

The experiment here is clear but vague simultaneously. Readers understand the gist but are left out of the particulars. The language is excellent and so much is said in so few words. The repetition serves to bolster the idea of memory, but I found it unnecessary, especially the mention of her being “old” when such a vivid image was painted for readers just prior to that statement. The woman sees “The Memory Book” and her zest for life is renewed, but we are unsure what exactly she sees, besides a photo of her father. I wonder if perhaps the photo could be left even more ambiguous, so that the readers fills in the gaps with their own experiences, a mention of something both wonderful and horrible, but a change in the ending might be necessary. At the end she sees her father, which then brings a lot of questions She is old, so presumably he is even older or merely a figment of her imagination. Was her vigor removed because of a happy memory or the memory of what she survived? She falls out of a window, startling since it wasn’t previously mentioned that she was even on a story higher than the first. There is also a conflict with how the mouse seems to enter so casually “from outside” when she is on a floor higher than the first. But I did like how the mouse leads to the rest of the story.