Sam Taylor is an academic writer with creative ambition. In his American debut, THE AMNESIAC, is the elusive story of a man who is lost in life, due in part to a loss of memory. After James Purdew, the main character of the novel, breaks his leg, looses his girlfriend, and can't land a job, it seems that nothing else could go wrong. As in fiction, things always get worse. James drifts around Amsterdam from pub to pub filled with time to think, think, and, then, think some more. The tedious nature of James as a character is evident from the first page. He's the sort of guy that is alienated by nature of his reclusive and critical gaze at the world, much like an academic or a psycho- path. James manages to land a job at a strangely familiar house where he finds the remnants of a 19th century murder manuscript. Don't get too excited that the plot fires up. It doesn't. This book is like watching a Michael Snow video at the Guggenheim. It's a great experience if you're up for it. If you're not, then you're going to want to escape immediately. The influence of different literary genres are explored by Taylor as he writes a very long story in which nothing much seems to happen to his central character. That's trouble for a character-driven novel. I'll admit the first fifty pages of the novel were brilliant. I loved Taylor's style, but by page two hundred and fifty I felt like I was being punished by the narration. I felt like I was reading a Clockwork Orange and a Robbe-Grillet novel at the same time. Don't get me wrong. Sam Taylor is a fine writer that will jolt you with philosophical thoughts about the nature of memory, though most of the philosophy is coming from the cannon of western thought, not his own. My chief complaint is that the novel is emotional disconnecting and that has made me a candidate to forget it. This novel is great for those who are up for an academic spin on memory and patience.