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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Robert Dyer’s A Small Memory is set in 1975 Ohio, where Mike arrives at Appleton College as a freshman basketball recruit and takes a live-in counselor job at a group home run through the HOPE Agency. Ted Dirksen, his best friend and roommate, already works there while studying to become a teacher. When Ray Moore, a new resident from Allenwood State Hospital, attacks Ted after an Appleton basketball game, Mike’s college life revolves around the hospital, the team, his girlfriend Karen, and the question of what he owes his injured friend. As Ted begins rehabilitation after a traumatic brain injury, Mike tries to stay beside him while Ted’s memory returns in fragments that connect their shared past to the night of the attack. Small Memories follows one friendship after a single violent choice changes both lives.
Robert Dyer’s A Small Memory is an extremely thoughtful novel with a lot going for it, and it has a really relatable view of first-year college life until Ted's entire life is turned upside down. I like Mike because he walks the walk, and his kindness and humanity show in practical daily choices. After Ted’s assault, he strikes a balance between continued studies and visiting his injured friend, then later asks Ted to stay with him again. The character I actually found most fascinating is Susan Charles, a supremely calm and open Appleton counselor, naming Mike’s guilt as grief after an outburst and testing whether living with Ted can be healthy. Dyer uses settings to elevate the story, from the closed program house that feels hollow in Ted’s untouched side of the room, to a duplex apartment and its morning light across secondhand furniture. Overall, this is a slow-burning, wonderful read.
