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A review by nonabgo
Mem by Bethany C. Morrow
3.0
Had this novella been developed into a fully grown novel, it would have had potential to be remarkable. As it is, this book is a teenager who just discovered that there's a meaning to life, but cannot yet grasp what that meaning is. More or less like our ramblings during out high-school philosophy classes.
I liked the premise - the ability to extract people's traumatic memories as Mem's (copies, or clones, if you will, of the original "source", but who are merely shells, zombies, similar in body, but with only one memory in their minds - the extracted one), in order to live a better, more balanced life. But what are we without our traumas? Are we the same people, do we learn the same lessons, can we really become better versions of ourselves if we simply forget - extract - the unpleasantness from our lives? Or will we remain like children, incapable to interiorize any unpleasant event, innocent and emotionally immature?
This novella does not answer these questions, but rather tells a story and leaves the reader to decide what would be the desirable approach. Not even the characters of the story - the ones who have the most information, who know the consequences of such an "extraction" on the so-called source - know what the correct answer is, as it turns out.
The story follows one particular Mem, who is different from the others, not merely a mindless shell, but capable of rational thinking and of creating memories of her own. There are morality issues posed by the author through this text, besides the philosophical questions I spoke of above. She also touches on the discussion regarding the rights of these clones - are they individuals or are they property?
I found the plot intriguing and delightfully written. The setting (1920s Montreal) could have been explored in more depth - as it stands, the plot could have happened in any time period, there are very few (and mostly only fashion-related) references that would truly place the events in the Jazz Age. In fact, my main quibble about this book is that it was not explored enough, it felt rushed and unsatisfyingly illustrated.
I liked the premise - the ability to extract people's traumatic memories as Mem's (copies, or clones, if you will, of the original "source", but who are merely shells, zombies, similar in body, but with only one memory in their minds - the extracted one), in order to live a better, more balanced life. But what are we without our traumas? Are we the same people, do we learn the same lessons, can we really become better versions of ourselves if we simply forget - extract - the unpleasantness from our lives? Or will we remain like children, incapable to interiorize any unpleasant event, innocent and emotionally immature?
This novella does not answer these questions, but rather tells a story and leaves the reader to decide what would be the desirable approach. Not even the characters of the story - the ones who have the most information, who know the consequences of such an "extraction" on the so-called source - know what the correct answer is, as it turns out.
The story follows one particular Mem, who is different from the others, not merely a mindless shell, but capable of rational thinking and of creating memories of her own. There are morality issues posed by the author through this text, besides the philosophical questions I spoke of above. She also touches on the discussion regarding the rights of these clones - are they individuals or are they property?
I found the plot intriguing and delightfully written. The setting (1920s Montreal) could have been explored in more depth - as it stands, the plot could have happened in any time period, there are very few (and mostly only fashion-related) references that would truly place the events in the Jazz Age. In fact, my main quibble about this book is that it was not explored enough, it felt rushed and unsatisfyingly illustrated.