A review by merricatct
Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal

3.0

An interesting little novella that touches on the interplay of technology and memory - if you're connected 24/7 and can review anything you've seen or said at the touch of a button, do you really have to remember anything? What happens when you're disconnected after a lifetime of never being alone? I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars for this one - I want to give it 4 for the premise and the questions it raises, but at the same time, that's like praising a chef for assembling gourmet ingredients in the kitchen before they've actually cooked anything. I really wish this was an actual novel - 85 pages is not long enough to develop the character or premise. And as proof of this, everyone seems to discuss the questions about memory, recollection, authenticity, etc., raised by this book; but the ACTUAL conflict

Spoiler

(some kind of eco/tech terrorism? Some shadowy AI or corporation that's infecting deer herds with some kind of spreadable/communicable internet-blocking "virus"? WTF?!) gets almost no mention. And it's because there's just no time for it in this book! This really needed to be longer.

But if you've got 45 minutes, I recommend reading this. It's certainly worth the minimal time investment.

If this author ever expands this into a novel, I'm on board!

2016 reading challenge: a book under 100 pages long