A review by innerweststreetlibrarian
The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I don’t think I’ve ever read a collection like this before, written by different people but set within the same “world”. I mostly enjoyed it but lost momentum at times, I think I needed a more cohesive thread between the stories to link them. Sometimes the world was a dystopian place, and sometimes it was a magical fantasy place, sometimes both. The ground shifted a bit too much for me to follow what was going on.
I also struggled with the “dirty computer” concept. I still don’t get why that particular phrase was used, it doesn’t make sense to me. The rest was pretty good dystopian fiction and I love the POC, trans, queer and non binary representation throughout the stories.