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A review by readingunderadesk
MEM by Bethany C. Morrow
5.0
Synopsis:
Dolores Extract #1 is a MEM: a memory extracted from the original Dolores, a point in time taken out and kept aside, locked inside themselves looking human but degrading over time with no actual consciousness or no free will.
Dolores Extract #1, or Elsie, was the first MEM extracted to have her own thoughts and wishes and the first to create her own memories outside of the Dolores that came before her, and in that very unique existence becomes a set dressing to a behind the scenes legal argument of what should be done with her? With MEMs? With those who have extracted so many of their memories, both good and bad, that they have become a disconnected sort of person?
Thoughts:
I picked this for a POPSUGAR prompt (palindrome title) and was enchanted by this little novella! I’m already big on robots with feelings, and while MEMs seem to be flesh and blood, Elsie’s self-musing on the differences between herself and Dorothy and the other MEMs was a gentle philosophy that was appealing. Additionally, I appreciated the author’s note in that although historically (MEM is set in the early 1900s) Elsie and Dolores would have experienced racism, that she chose not to make that part of her story.
Dolores Extract #1 is a MEM: a memory extracted from the original Dolores, a point in time taken out and kept aside, locked inside themselves looking human but degrading over time with no actual consciousness or no free will.
Dolores Extract #1, or Elsie, was the first MEM extracted to have her own thoughts and wishes and the first to create her own memories outside of the Dolores that came before her, and in that very unique existence becomes a set dressing to a behind the scenes legal argument of what should be done with her? With MEMs? With those who have extracted so many of their memories, both good and bad, that they have become a disconnected sort of person?
Thoughts:
I picked this for a POPSUGAR prompt (palindrome title) and was enchanted by this little novella! I’m already big on robots with feelings, and while MEMs seem to be flesh and blood, Elsie’s self-musing on the differences between herself and Dorothy and the other MEMs was a gentle philosophy that was appealing. Additionally, I appreciated the author’s note in that although historically (MEM is set in the early 1900s) Elsie and Dolores would have experienced racism, that she chose not to make that part of her story.