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A review by bergha1998
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is not an easy book to get into, imho. But once you do it is a poignant indictment of western culture’s thefts from other cultures. At least that was my take away. 
“Imagining what they might do and not actually having to do it.”
“Everything she had ever wanted when she was fifteen. Right here. She thought it should probably have made her feel happy, instead of abruptly unreal. Disconnected—depersonalized. Like she was happening to someone else.”
“Poetry is for the desperate, and for people who have grown old enough to have something to say.”
“I will always be measuring the distance between myself and a person who remained in the heart of the world; between the person I would have been had I stayed and the person I have become.”
“Imagining what they might do and not actually having to do it.”
“Everything she had ever wanted when she was fifteen. Right here. She thought it should probably have made her feel happy, instead of abruptly unreal. Disconnected—depersonalized. Like she was happening to someone else.”
“Poetry is for the desperate, and for people who have grown old enough to have something to say.”
“I will always be measuring the distance between myself and a person who remained in the heart of the world; between the person I would have been had I stayed and the person I have become.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Xenophobia, War, Colonisation, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Alcohol