By nature, anthology collections, with the ink of so many different pens on them, can feel incohesive and messy. It is a credit to the editors and Monáe’s strong vision that the collection does not fall at that first hurdle. If anything, the varied voices play into the book’s concept, dipping in and out of different characters and worldviews to paint a larger picture ... The Afrofuturist collection feeds both Monáe’s fan base, who will be hungry to delve deeper into her work, and sci-fi fans looking for another book in the burgeoning Black speculative fiction genre. One point to note is that some stories are given more focus than others.
In her best work, these sci-fi flourishes blend seamlessly into her fusionist music, flavoring her 'neon gumbo' but not defining it. The Memory Librarian, an anthology that adapts the themes of Monáe’s 2018 album, Dirty Computer, into literature, lacks that proportion, its flimsy tales drenched in sci-fi tropes but thin on compelling storytelling ... Unfortunately, the body politic implied by these corporeal terms (sinews, blemishes, flesh) never manifests in the storytelling. Monáe’s outcasts rebel against a curiously hollow core. Although two of the stories are novella-length, across the collection it never becomes clear whether New Dawn is the government, a company or a religious group. Nor does the public sentiment for New Dawn’s methods ever get meaningfully articulated ... Science fiction has historically — and often unfairly — been mocked for investing more brainpower into explaining elaborate systems than fleshing out the people who live within them, but The Memory Librarian fumbles both pursuits. There’s so little explanation of the basic mechanisms of New Dawn’s rule that the downtrodden main characters are deprived of agency and nuance. Their domestic and internal struggles, though rendered with meticulous attention to queer experiences and concerns, have no meaningful connection to their material circumstances ... the worlds of science fiction don’t have to be grandiose, epic or futuristic to be rich.
In five satisfyingly long short stories, singer Monáe and her five collaborators paint a picture of a technocapitalist dystopia ruled by an organization that monitors the memories of its populace ... blistering, hopeful, and richly written ... All readers will finish the book craving more of these extremely queer, bold stories that battle gatekeeping and erasure, digging into both the worst potential of a surveillance state and the gritty glimmer of the rebellion that can defeat it.
Through the stories and characters introduced in The Memory Librarian, Monáe and contributing authors Alaya Dawn Johnson, Yohanca Delgado, Eve L. Ewing, Danny Lore and Sheree Renée Thomas offer a poignant commentary on the power of technology, the preservation of queer identity and the commodification of time ... By reframing aspects of social life and identity, which can often feel convoluted and heavy, in a heightened, dystopian context, Monáe reveals the simplicity of our shared humanity. The Memory Librarian shows us the future can be an unnerving reflection of our unexamined vices, but we can also plant the seeds for a brighter tomorrow.
By nature, anthology collections, with the ink of so many different pens on them, can feel incohesive and messy. It is a credit to the editors and Monáe’s strong vision that the collection does not fall at that first hurdle. If anything, the varied voices play into the book’s concept, dipping in and out of different characters and worldviews to paint a larger picture of the effect of the all-seeing authoritarian state, New Dawn ... The Afrofuturist collection feeds both Monáe’s fan base, which will be hungry to delve deeper into her work, and sci-fi fans looking for another book in the burgeoning Black speculative fiction genre. One point to note is that some stories are given more focus than others. Just as you’re getting into Timebox or Save Changes, the section ends abruptly. Although another 100 pages would not have been possible, I would have enjoyed delving deeper into the premise, the lives and the dreams of our main characters. If anything, because showing the many ways that dreaming equals liberation for marginalized people is a key takeaway from the anthology. Dreaming helps characters find themselves and envision new ways of being, so they can proudly declare, as Monáe sings in her song Crazy, Classic, Life, 'I am not America’s nightmare, I am the American dream.'
In this moving, triumphant collection, singer Monáe returns to the dystopian world of her Dirty Computer concept album and short film ... Though a special treat for Dirty Computer fans, readers won’t need to be familiar with the album to marvel at the big ideas, riveting action, and hopeful message here. This is a knockout.
Monáe’s collection speaks to both the sf tradition of mind-control tyranny and the way that the powerful marginalize individuals in order to control the whole. Highly recommended for readers of conspiracy and thought-control sf or of Afrofuturist works by the likes of Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, and Nnedi Okorafor.
Monáe collaborates with a different writer for every story to explore a world defined by some people's resistance to a dangerous surveillance state in which memories are currency ... Studded with references to Monáe's album Dirty Computer (2018), the book is a clever adaptation of music to a new form. Emotionally raw and with a wholehearted love for people, these stories will make readers long to forge deeper human connections by sharing and holding one another's memories. A celebration of queer and Afrofuturist science fiction saluting creativity in difference.
