In Remember Me by Abraham Randall, Gabriel leaves Chicago for Bogotá to stay with Diego, a former partner whose invitation promises a distance from a life he can no longer inhabit. Once there, the past quickly tightens its grip as Diego’s authority and expectations resurface. Moving through the city alone, Gabriel drifts into Plaza Bolívar, where he repeatedly crosses paths with Mateo Alonso, a Venezuelan migrant selling fruit. Their brief exchanges begin to shape Gabriel’s days, drawing him deeper into the streets, markets, and hills of the city while Diego’s pull remains close and unresolved. Over a few charged days, Gabriel is forced to choose where he stands, who he trusts, and what kind of life he will step into next, as Bogotá becomes the setting for a decisive turning point.

Abraham Randall’s Remember Me is wonderful literary fiction, and breathes life into Bogotá while still carrying the smoke of Chicago. The story is loaded with both the heartening and the jarring, from a dawn text from Mateo after Gabriel wakes from a night terror, to Diego looking at the fruit seller’s world and making a crude comment—made worse by Gabriel's silence, which makes him feel complicit. Gabriel is really easy to root for but a little harder to like. His flaw is retreating into “I’m fine,” and always waiting for permission, but slowly we see him start making choices for himself. The settings are pure cinema, pulling us into the steep ascent of Monserrate, with the thinning air, burning legs, and the brilliant spread of Bogotá below, to Diego’s apartment, where the hills press at the windows and small objects feel staged for watching. Overall, this is an elegantly written novel and a great read. Very highly recommended.

Remember Me by Abraham Randall follows Gabriel, an American writer who travels to Bogotá, hoping to leave behind old emotional wounds and a complicated life he no longer understands. He thinks a change of place might help him see things more clearly. While there, he reconnects with Diego, an ex-boyfriend whose charm slowly stirs something in him again, even though their past is still complicated. During this tense reunion, Gabriel also meets Mateo, a young Venezuelan migrant selling items on the streets to get through each day. As Gabriel keeps spending time with him, he starts seeing how little he actually knows about the struggles migrants face daily. He wants to help Mateo, but every step forward seems to bring new challenges his way. As their lives overlap, Gabriel must think deeply about his decisions and the kind of person he wants to become.

Remember Me blends Gabriel's inner struggles with everything that is happening around him in a way that feels real. Abraham Randall keeps the writing captivating and easy to follow, even when the themes become very serious. The pacing helps the relationships among the characters unfold naturally. Gabriel's approach to helping Mateo is honest and unpretentious. The differences between Gabriel's and Mateo's lives stand out the most and help make the story more authentic. Bogotá is worked into the story naturally without taking any attention away from the characters. Remember Me is a story about genuine people attempting to make sense of the world around them. Very highly recommended.