A review by dillarhonda
MEM by Bethany C. Morrow

What if you had complete control over your memories? Not in the sense that you could remember everything, but that unpleasant memories could be siphoned off into oblivion. This is the conceit at the core of Bethany C. Morrow's Mem. When a young black girl witnesses a car accident in 1920s Montreal, she seals off the memory in her own Mem. As it turns out, her Mem has a consciousness of her own and is determined to be a person in her own right. While an intriguing set-up, MEM fails to dig as deep as it could into questions of class status, race, and who controls the latest technological advance. Despite Morrow's note at the end of the book, I don't understand why she chose to limit her world and her writing when her chosen topic is so expansive.