Mem : a novel

by Bethany C. Morrow

Paper Book, 2018

Status

Available

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Los Angeles, CA : The Unnamed Press, 2018.

Description

MEM is a rare novel, a small book carrying very big ideas, the kind of story that stays with you long after you've finished reading it. Set in the glittering art deco world of a century ago, MEM makes one slight alteration to history: a scientist in Montreal discovers a method allowing people to have their memories extracted from their minds, whole and complete. The Mems exist as mirror-images of their source - zombie-like creatures destined to experience that singular memory over and over, until they expire in the cavernous Vault where they are kept. And then there is Dolores Extract #1, the first Mem capable of creating her own memories. An ageless beauty shrouded in mystery, she is allowed to live on her own, and create her own existence, until one day she is summoned back to the Vault. What happens next is a gorgeously rendered, heart-breaking novel in the vein of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Debut novelist Bethany Morrow has created an allegory for our own time, exploring profound questions of ownership, and how they relate to identity, memory and history, all in the shadows of Montreal's now forgotten slave trade.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce

The premise is that a scientist has devised a way to remove bad memories from people and then to continue to allow those memories to exist as a kind of person. Elsie is a unique mem in that she is able to live as a whole person with the ability to interact with the world and to make memories of her

own. Even after 18 years, though, she still remains the property of the woman from whom she was extracted. The problem examined is what makes a person a person as exemplified both by the owned property Elsie and by the people who have had memories extracted and how that makes them live their lives. I, unfortunately, read a review before reading the book that compared it to a book I love, so that colored how I was able to react to the book from the beginning. If a book is like another book I love discovering that, it detracts from the enjoyment to have the fact pointed out to me. I don't know if it was one of the best science fiction books of 2018 as the Washington Post dubbed it, but it is interesting.

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member KatyBee

Thoughtful speculative fiction novel set in the 1920's in Montreal. It's written in sort of an old-fashioned manner and is unusually solemn and a bit haunting for an alternate history story. The subject is about a procedure to extract memories from people, creating separate Mems that are repository

individuals - not really fully clones but retaining specific thoughts from their 'source' person. Good for fans of Ishiguro's writing style or readers interested in consciousness and memories.

Show Less

LibraryThing member greeniezona

I'd heard so many good things about this book that I had to finally pick it up. And it's no wonder that it's gotten so much praise. From such a unique alternate history set in 1920's Montreal, where a memory extraction technique has been created that results in a clone possessing only that

extracted memory, to the first self-aware Mem that becomes such a compelling protagonist. Like The Deep (by Rivers Solomon) -- this one has some good musings on both the pain and the function of memory, and who we become without it.

A quick read that is very atmospheric.

Show Less

Fewer