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

2.5

Janelle and Co I’m so sorry, this wasn’t my jam despite how much the album is my jam. New Dawn and the Dirty Computer are really cool concepts that I wish were fleshed out in one story or book series rather than shorts. It felt like they were trying to find a good balance between being too vague about the specifics of the New Dawn system and giving too much exposition (e.g. the end of Pynk Hotel), but never quite landed in that sweet spot. My favorite was probably Save Changes, mostly because it was easier to follow. Though take this with a grain of salt because I read the book in one sitting at the library so I could remove the holds on my account before closing time. I’d definitely still try out future works from Monáe, and I’ll always appreciate the inclusion of queer and non-binary characters.