A review by smuds2
Voyager: Constellations of Memory by Nona Fernández

emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

3.0

I'm not totally sure how I feel in terms of like "rating" this book - because it's not really trying to be a story I don't think. Nona says fairly explicitly at the end that this is more or less their voyager, collections and thoughts that we can pick up on and interpret how we wish, hopefully to get a more accurate view of their life and world. It felt like a very well thought out and structured journal entry. How can you rate that?

The main theme that I found most compelling was their comparison of a black hole to memories forgotten to societal events that have been forcefully memory-holed. Huge things that we know are there, vaguely, that we can sense the impact of, but that we can't observe directly. I think that's a pretty good perspective to have.

Look at something like the Iraq War. I'm not super knowledgable about it, and that's the point. It shapes my life in more ways than I could possibly know. Every decision I make, it exerts some influence on it. It's a black hole.

What I found less interesting/compelling/handed on a silver platter, was their discussion of the agents that made black holes. For the personal, epilepsy. For the societal, power structures in general? Teachers influencing students, someone influencing teachers?

I think Nona was at their best when she was talking about generational story telling.