abookishtype 's review for:

These Memories Do Not Belong to Us by Yiming Ma

4.0

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I’ve never seen a story illustrate Orwell’s maxim from 1984 that “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past” as well as Yiming Ma’s haunting, troubling novel in stories, These Memories Do Not Belong to Us. This novel imagines a world dominated by a new version of China, a reborn Qin empire. And this empire has more than surveillance and informants to help it control its population. Most, if not all, Qin citizens have a Mindbank implanted in their brains. The original intent was to help people remember everything and to connect them to the Internet. What people didn’t know was that the government also had access to Mindbanks and, along with this access, the power to alter or censor memories...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.