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The description of this novel sounds like the protagonist is a female Indiana Jones: a brilliant scholar determined to make an important archaeological discovery about the ancient Khmer civilization of Cambodia. I thought I was in for a fast paced adventure novel set in exotic locales but was disappointed that the plot was more focused on character development than action.
The story focuses on Irene Blum, who is invaluable to building the reputation of a museum in Seattle. However, it is 1925 and when a man is hired to take on the curatorship of her beloved museum over her, she is determined to be recognized for her skills regardless of the cost. She wants to get back at the people who overlooked her by finding the lost history of the Khmer empire and using the artifacts she finds as the centerpiece of a new museum that she would run.
A close family friend, the elderly and ailing Henry Simms becomes her benefactor, providing her with the diary of a reverend who supposedly discovered a hidden temple deep in the Cambodian jungle. In the temple, this man found 10 copper scrolls on which were carved the lost history of the Khmer.
Irene sets out to Shanghai to draft a woman named Simone Merlin into helping her. Simone is French but had been raised in Cambodia, which was under French occupation at the time the novel is set. Simone is difficult: a drug addict and abused wife who has her own ideas about what to do with the scrolls. She is determined to see the Cambodians free of French oppression even if it takes a bloody revolution to do so.
The two women head for Saigon first and then Cambodia, teaming up with Simone’s childhood sweetheart and a nightclub owner whose life is connected to Irene’s in surprising ways. The foursome head into the jungle in search of the temple, each with their own plan for the scrolls in mind. I’m not going to spoil whether or not they find what they are looking for. What matters more is how the journey changes each of their lives and reveals secrets about their pasts.
As I wrote earlier, this novel was more of a character study than an adventure. Because it wasn’t what I was expecting, I was a little bored. It was interesting to learn a little about European colonialism in Asia during the twentieth century, which I didn’t know much about. I also did not know a lot about Cambodian history so I enjoyed doing a little research about the Khmer Empire while reading. However, the pace of the book was pretty slow at times. It takes about half of the novel to get to the actual adventure in Cambodia.
Indiana Jones, this was not. That being said, the characters were engaging (if a bit predictable at times) and the story certainly picked up once they entered the jungle. There was some secret family history that united Irene and Simone which really was unnecessary to the plot and just thrown in toward the end. I felt that could have been dropped in favor of taking the ending a bit further.
The Map of Lost Memories was a solid read but I wish the description of the book had not been so misleading.