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Nostalgia
In the indeterminate future in an unnamed western city, physical impediments to immortality have been overcome. The prospect of eternal life, however, presents a new rejuvenated bodies require rejuvenated identities. To make the transition, traces of a person’s past are erased and new, complete fictions are implanted in their stead. On occasion, though, cracks emerge, and reminders of discarded lives seep through, thoughts from a previous existence burrowing in the conscious mind.Doctor Frank Sina specializes in sealing these memory leaks. He is satisfied in his profession, more or less secure in the life he shares with his much younger lover, content with his own fiction. But one day, Presley Smith arrives in Frank's office. Persistent thoughts are torturing Presley, recurring images of another time and place. As Frank tries to save Presley from the onslaught of memory, cracks emerge in his own fiction, and the thoughts that sneak through suggest a connection between the two men that goes well beyond a doctor and his patient.
261 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2016
48 people are currently reading
1384 people want to read
About the author
M.G. Vassanji
29 books166 followersMoyez G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania. Before coming to Canada in 1978, he attended MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, where he specialized in theoretical nuclear physics. From 1978-1980 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Atomic Energy of Canada, and from 1980 to 1989 he was a research associate at the University of Toronto. During this period he developed a keen interest in medieval Indian literature and history, co-founded and edited a literary magazine (The Toronto South Asian Review, later renamed The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad), and began writing stories and a novel. In 1989, with the publication of his first novel, The Gunny Sack, he was invited to spend a season at the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. That year ended his active career in nuclear physics. His contributions there he considers modest, in algebraic models and high spin states. The fact that he was never tenured he considers a blessing for it freed him to pursue his literary career.
Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.
Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.
Vassanji is the author of six novels and two collections of short stories. His work has appeared in various countries and several languages. His most recent novel, The Assassin's Song, was short-listed for both the Giller Prize and the Governor-General's Prize for best novel in Canada. It has appeared in the US (Knopf) and India (Penguin) and is scheduled to appear in the UK (Canongate).
His wife, Nurjehan, was born in Tanzania. They have two sons, Anil, and Kabir. He lives in Toronto, and visits Africa and India often.
Awards: Giller Prize, twice; Harbourfront Festival Prize; Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa); Bressani Prize. Order of Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 264 reviews
April 27, 2017
This is one of those books you read when you're looking for something to challenge your brain a little bit and give you a break from story-driven novels. Something that as it progresses tends to wax philosophical while losing all semblance of following a three act structure and being character driven. Something that makes you feel a little smarter for a moment before making you wish there was something a little bit deeper there.
I wanted to read this book because:
1) sci-fi
2) Canadian author
3) there's a lion on the cover.
Evidently the lion is a metaphor, the sci-fi is more like speculative fiction, and yeah it's set in Canada I guess, but that doesn't contribute much.
Basically this is the future where the rich can afford to be given new lives. They are given new organs to replace failing ones, and their memories are wiped and replaced with fictionalized childhoods and interests. There are bureaus/clinics whose job is to do these procedures and come up with some of these new personalities.
I wanted more emphasis on the rejuvenation process and the scientific aspects, especially because the narrator is a doctor/therapist whose job is to ensure that his clients take well to their new fictional lives and story-lines they've been given. Instead, this is more about the cultural divide between the developed world who can mostly afford these things, and what I take to be the equivalent of today's third-world. There is also a dialogue between the elderly who have gone through this rejuvenation process, and the people on their first lives who can't get jobs due to the old people still working. Think baby-boomers and millennials.
So, not a lot of new concepts really, just the same issues our current society has been talking about, but in relation to fictional scientific developments. It's a really fast read though, and not a waste of time. As I said, it's just something good to break up the usual reading pattern.
I wanted to read this book because:
1) sci-fi
2) Canadian author
3) there's a lion on the cover.
Evidently the lion is a metaphor, the sci-fi is more like speculative fiction, and yeah it's set in Canada I guess, but that doesn't contribute much.
Basically this is the future where the rich can afford to be given new lives. They are given new organs to replace failing ones, and their memories are wiped and replaced with fictionalized childhoods and interests. There are bureaus/clinics whose job is to do these procedures and come up with some of these new personalities.
I wanted more emphasis on the rejuvenation process and the scientific aspects, especially because the narrator is a doctor/therapist whose job is to ensure that his clients take well to their new fictional lives and story-lines they've been given. Instead, this is more about the cultural divide between the developed world who can mostly afford these things, and what I take to be the equivalent of today's third-world. There is also a dialogue between the elderly who have gone through this rejuvenation process, and the people on their first lives who can't get jobs due to the old people still working. Think baby-boomers and millennials.
So, not a lot of new concepts really, just the same issues our current society has been talking about, but in relation to fictional scientific developments. It's a really fast read though, and not a waste of time. As I said, it's just something good to break up the usual reading pattern.
February 6, 2017
Set in the future, Nostalgia was creative, but the writing just didn't work for me. And I couldn't forgive these mistakes:
"Dr. Sina was born in Yellowknife, Yukon, Canada..." (pg. 28) Whaaaat???!
"Every night, summer or winter, with rare exceptions, he would go up to the attic where he housed his 20-inch telescope and from a specially constructed window watch the same region of sky..." (pg. 53-54) Seriously? Good luck with looking for stars in a northern Canadian summer sky!
These errors are absolutely shocking, given that this book has been short-listed for CBC Canada Reads 2017! Yikes!
"Dr. Sina was born in Yellowknife, Yukon, Canada..." (pg. 28) Whaaaat???!
"Every night, summer or winter, with rare exceptions, he would go up to the attic where he housed his 20-inch telescope and from a specially constructed window watch the same region of sky..." (pg. 53-54) Seriously? Good luck with looking for stars in a northern Canadian summer sky!
These errors are absolutely shocking, given that this book has been short-listed for CBC Canada Reads 2017! Yikes!
March 6, 2017
Nostalgia takes place in a future where mankind has seemingly discovered immortality. As humans live longer and longer, they take on more and more mental baggage. Rather than live for decades with painful memories, humans have parts of their minds erased and replaced with fictional, more pleasant histories. Doctor Frank Sina specializes in Leaked Memory Syndrome (also known as Nostalgia), an unfortunate side effect where repressed memories bleed into newly crafted ones thus confusing the subject.
When Presley Smith begins suffering from LMS, he seeks help from Frank. Shortly after his initial meetings with Frank, Presley disappears. As Frank begins to dig deeper into Presley’s past, he uncovers a link between Presley and the nuclear-ravaged world south of the equator. The seriousness of the situation increases when representatives from the Department of Internal Security take an interest in Presley’s case citing him as “one of their own”. Undeterred, Frank continues his independent investigation putting both himself, and Presley, in grave danger.
This was a hell of an interesting plot with an excellent setting. Unfortunately, I found it suffered from poor execution. The narrative jumped around more than I cared for leaving me without focus, generally apathetic and genuinely bored. Vassanji’s protagonist isn’t all that likeable either. I’m not saying that every main character needs to gel with me or my worldview, but I found him egotistical and uninteresting. Frank was a huge reason I found the novel to be a big let-down in what I felt was a very strong premise.
I think purely for its subject matter, Nostalgia belongs with the current crop of Canada Reads finalists, but I would certainly put this behind more timely reads like The Break and The Right to be Cold.
When Presley Smith begins suffering from LMS, he seeks help from Frank. Shortly after his initial meetings with Frank, Presley disappears. As Frank begins to dig deeper into Presley’s past, he uncovers a link between Presley and the nuclear-ravaged world south of the equator. The seriousness of the situation increases when representatives from the Department of Internal Security take an interest in Presley’s case citing him as “one of their own”. Undeterred, Frank continues his independent investigation putting both himself, and Presley, in grave danger.
This was a hell of an interesting plot with an excellent setting. Unfortunately, I found it suffered from poor execution. The narrative jumped around more than I cared for leaving me without focus, generally apathetic and genuinely bored. Vassanji’s protagonist isn’t all that likeable either. I’m not saying that every main character needs to gel with me or my worldview, but I found him egotistical and uninteresting. Frank was a huge reason I found the novel to be a big let-down in what I felt was a very strong premise.
I think purely for its subject matter, Nostalgia belongs with the current crop of Canada Reads finalists, but I would certainly put this behind more timely reads like The Break and The Right to be Cold.
March 1, 2023
Nostalgia is a thriller that is set in a futuristic world where people don't die...They just change identities
-----
In this world wherein the affluent can move ahead by erasing their identities and get new fiction in them, Dr Frank Sina is a Doctor that specialises in treating people with Leaked Memory Syndrome.
All hell breaks loose when he meets Presley Smith who has had an episode of Leaked Memory Syndrome - Nostalgia
Futuristic Idea
M.G. Vassanji's idea of rejuvenation is quite a nice and unique one which he has conveyed through Nostalgia. In his futuristic Toronto, when someone wishes to "die" or is fed up with his current life, they can "opt" to get themselves rejuvenated by allowing doctors to flush their memory and adding new fiction to them. Vassanji has aptly described this as "Old wine in a new bottle".
However, the way a body ages and cracks gradually over a period of time (not in Vassanji's world, the real world), the memory can develop holes and flaws and some of the "previous" life memories can come out which may/may not mess with an individuals brain. This leaked memory is referred to as Nostalgia. The concept is quite a novel one and the author has made complete justice in unravelling it for the readers.
The Plot
The book has multiple plots and agenda's running in the background that one may gradually notice. The main plot or rather mystery circles around Presley Smith and unfortunately it becomes quite obvious after spending some time in the book.
Vassanji heavily focuses on a warn-torn country - Maskinia which is in a constant state of conflict with the neighbouring countries. Holly Chu, a journalist happens to get kidnapped and supposedly killed in Maskinia which forms a sub-plot within the book that goes on at a parallel pace with Presley's plot.
The author cleverly talks about life after death, concepts of karma (Moksha), Gods, unequal distribution of wealth and repercussions of industrialisation (in developed nations) on under-developed nations. Majorly, the novel talks about discrimination between rich and poor, developed and under-developed nations, and young and elderly people.
Characters
Nostalgia has quite a handful of characters moving around however no character is capable of making a lasting impression on the reader. Dr Frank Sina, Presley Smith and Holly Chu take up the major chunk of the book. There’s a minor spiritual character as well which is smartly added in form of - Radha which I enjoyed reading.
Indian influence
M.G. Vassanji's love for India is quite evident in the book right from the start. He mentions Indian cities, cultures, traditions, Demi-gods and a couple of personalities in the book. The mention of Salman Khan in the book cracked me up, honestly. Some characters in the book are also of Indian origin.
It’s a fast-paced book with a unique concept however I wish it ended as strongly as it had started.
July 24, 2017
Round down to 3, or up to 4? I opted for the latter, ultimately, because as I neared the end of the book, I wasn't ready for it to end. I wanted it to go on longer, I wanted more, I didn't want that wrap up.
While this wasn't a warm read for me, it was one that incited questions and got my brain churning. If we call this sci-fi, then it was less hardcore than others I have read from this genre. It was close enough to Earth that I could relate to it, absorb its questions and ponder it still after I closed the covers. I appreciated the ideas and think that, in fact, the story (and its ethics) may not be all that far from reality, oddly, as we advance our use of artificial intelligence and brain-computer interface. (Go to ScienceDaily.com and query those topics for some further shocking reads.)
As a contender for Canada Reads this year, I think actually it may have a chance, depending on how good its defender is. I wish it luck, I really do.
(On a side note, I loved Vassanji's The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, and was so surprised at how entirely different this book was from that! I do admire that kind of variety in one author.)
While this wasn't a warm read for me, it was one that incited questions and got my brain churning. If we call this sci-fi, then it was less hardcore than others I have read from this genre. It was close enough to Earth that I could relate to it, absorb its questions and ponder it still after I closed the covers. I appreciated the ideas and think that, in fact, the story (and its ethics) may not be all that far from reality, oddly, as we advance our use of artificial intelligence and brain-computer interface. (Go to ScienceDaily.com and query those topics for some further shocking reads.)
As a contender for Canada Reads this year, I think actually it may have a chance, depending on how good its defender is. I wish it luck, I really do.
(On a side note, I loved Vassanji's The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, and was so surprised at how entirely different this book was from that! I do admire that kind of variety in one author.)
November 5, 2022
Four stars for the originality of the story, but two stars due to the lacklustre writing, bad grammar and sloppy research mistakes. So three stars overall.
The city of Yellowknife is not in the Yukon, for goodness sake.
The city of Yellowknife is not in the Yukon, for goodness sake.
March 18, 2017
https://ayearofbooksblog.com/2017/03/...
“In our bid to outpace age and defy death, we leap from one life into another, be it imperfectly, and hope fervently – in the manner of acknowledged sinners – that the past does not catch up with us. But sometimes it does…”
Canada Reads begins in 10 days and in preparation for the series of debates I have finished reading Nostalgia. Set in future Toronto, this book describes the human challenge of fighting aging and death by rejuvenating themselves. In this future setting, individuals take on a new identities after erasing their initial lives and starting fresh with a fictional history, memories and new life. It is a thought-provoking read but I would not vote for it being the “one book that Canadian’s need to read now”.
The main character is Dr. Frank Sina who is a memory specialist who helps individuals which experience ‘memory leaks’ from their previous lives. He meets a new patient, Presley Smith, who struggles with emerging memories and for some unknown reason the doctor becomes attached to this patient. As he ruminates on Presley’s memories, he begins to have flash backs of his own.
This book makes readers reflect on the human struggle to extend lives, cure diseases and fight death. It examines the challenges that might occur should humans live longer, continue working and live amongst the young. It discusses the discrepancy between different areas of the world and those who have and have not.
Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji is being defended by Jody Mitic, veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who stepped on a landmine and lost both of his legs below the knees. He later starred in The Amazing Race Canada and won a seat as a city councillor for Ottawa.
While I look forward to the debates, I struggled to stay focused on this book. It was slow moving although it did make me ponder. While Company Town describes a future life with controlling technology, Fifteen Dogs examines the lives of dogs with human-thought, The Right to Be Cold reviews the human impact on the Arctic and Nostalgia forms the tale of immortality. These books share a theme of life changing by invention and progress.
Although science fiction is not my ‘go-to’ genre, this book did make me reflect on our death denying culture. I can’t wait for the debates to begin and look forward to learning which book will become the one book all Canadian’s should read.
“In our bid to outpace age and defy death, we leap from one life into another, be it imperfectly, and hope fervently – in the manner of acknowledged sinners – that the past does not catch up with us. But sometimes it does…”
Canada Reads begins in 10 days and in preparation for the series of debates I have finished reading Nostalgia. Set in future Toronto, this book describes the human challenge of fighting aging and death by rejuvenating themselves. In this future setting, individuals take on a new identities after erasing their initial lives and starting fresh with a fictional history, memories and new life. It is a thought-provoking read but I would not vote for it being the “one book that Canadian’s need to read now”.
The main character is Dr. Frank Sina who is a memory specialist who helps individuals which experience ‘memory leaks’ from their previous lives. He meets a new patient, Presley Smith, who struggles with emerging memories and for some unknown reason the doctor becomes attached to this patient. As he ruminates on Presley’s memories, he begins to have flash backs of his own.
This book makes readers reflect on the human struggle to extend lives, cure diseases and fight death. It examines the challenges that might occur should humans live longer, continue working and live amongst the young. It discusses the discrepancy between different areas of the world and those who have and have not.
Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji is being defended by Jody Mitic, veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who stepped on a landmine and lost both of his legs below the knees. He later starred in The Amazing Race Canada and won a seat as a city councillor for Ottawa.
While I look forward to the debates, I struggled to stay focused on this book. It was slow moving although it did make me ponder. While Company Town describes a future life with controlling technology, Fifteen Dogs examines the lives of dogs with human-thought, The Right to Be Cold reviews the human impact on the Arctic and Nostalgia forms the tale of immortality. These books share a theme of life changing by invention and progress.
Although science fiction is not my ‘go-to’ genre, this book did make me reflect on our death denying culture. I can’t wait for the debates to begin and look forward to learning which book will become the one book all Canadian’s should read.
March 22, 2017
Nostalgia wants to be a literary Philip K Dick, but despite being a Canada Reads selection, it fails to delivery an interesting story or very good prose. Speculative fiction requires an author to bring a world different than our own alive as the story hinges on the differences. In Nostalgia, I never get a sense of what the world really looks like. Yes, there are a bunch of older people and strife over that, as well as huge economic divisions, but none of it felt very believable. People having kids doesn't make sense when life expectancy is so long, and poverty tourism seemed... a bit off. What I did get felt too artificial and constructed. I couldn't fall into the story and see these new Toronto streets. I couldn't grasp onto the social constructions.
Additionally, the characters were flat and trope-y. Our protagonist spends A LOT of time thinking about "ripe" young bodies. A good chunk of the narrative is devoted to musing on youth and beauty. Been there, done that, don't want to hear about women's bodies compared to fruit any longer. This was made worse by the fact that the female characters were barely characters. The book barely passes the Bechdel test. Joanie is around simply for Frank to lust and angst over. We understand few of her motivations other than the ones Frank feels guilt over. The religious lady that Frank begins to fall in love with exists just to lead Frank to the idea of death. Even Holly is meant to be a symbol of Frank's internal conflicts.
There is a core of an interesting idea in this book, though it is an exceedingly common idea in speculative fiction. But Nostalgia fails to really do much with the concept. Seriously, just read Philip K Dick. Vassanji's prose didn't blow me away (BLOODY RIPE BODIES), so pick up Dick instead.
Additionally, the characters were flat and trope-y. Our protagonist spends A LOT of time thinking about "ripe" young bodies. A good chunk of the narrative is devoted to musing on youth and beauty. Been there, done that, don't want to hear about women's bodies compared to fruit any longer. This was made worse by the fact that the female characters were barely characters. The book barely passes the Bechdel test. Joanie is around simply for Frank to lust and angst over. We understand few of her motivations other than the ones Frank feels guilt over. The religious lady that Frank begins to fall in love with exists just to lead Frank to the idea of death. Even Holly is meant to be a symbol of Frank's internal conflicts.
There is a core of an interesting idea in this book, though it is an exceedingly common idea in speculative fiction. But Nostalgia fails to really do much with the concept. Seriously, just read Philip K Dick. Vassanji's prose didn't blow me away (BLOODY RIPE BODIES), so pick up Dick instead.
February 6, 2017
Interesting book. I was fascinated by the author's interpretation of immortality. Is it really immortality to be given all new memories and an entirely new body? Though people given new lives occasionally suffer from "Nostalgia Syndrome" and pieces of their former lives seeps through the cracks of their minds, the complete erasure of a person's history, beliefs and lived experience makes me wonder whether it's the same person at all continuing on with the new life.
Nostalgia imagines a divided world with a long barrier built to separate the poor and conflict ridden parts of the world from the elite first world. The disparity is profound, and as you delve deeper into the story, it becomes clear that deliberate steps are taken to maintain the current political reality.
Reading this book during the opening days of the Trump administration gives me pause. Is this the type of world we are headed to? Is it the world we already live in?
Ultimately it is the themes in the book, more than the plot or characters, that drives my interest. A worthy book for pondering and provoking thought, even though other elements fall flat.
Nostalgia imagines a divided world with a long barrier built to separate the poor and conflict ridden parts of the world from the elite first world. The disparity is profound, and as you delve deeper into the story, it becomes clear that deliberate steps are taken to maintain the current political reality.
Reading this book during the opening days of the Trump administration gives me pause. Is this the type of world we are headed to? Is it the world we already live in?
Ultimately it is the themes in the book, more than the plot or characters, that drives my interest. A worthy book for pondering and provoking thought, even though other elements fall flat.
October 2, 2016
Refreshing read - recommend to anyone looking for a sci-fi/dystopian novel. Full review here!
September 20, 2016
New memories in new bodies. New lives. That's the ideal, though we are still far from it. The body may creak and wobble; memory develop a crack or hole. In the leaked memory syndrome, or Nostalgia, thoughts burrow from a previous life into the conscious mind, threatening to pull the sufferer into an internal abyss.
Nostalgia isn't a book that improves on reconsideration: when I finished it yesterday, I thought it had been pretty good – a nice and insightful bit of futurism that might serve as a warning about the direction we seem to be heading in – but the longer I've thought about it, the less impressive or original it feels. It was just all right. (And note: I'm quoting from an ARC here; passages might not be in their final form.)
In this imagined future, human bodies can be regenerated with new parts; essentially making people immortal. What can't be regenerated, however, are human brains, and as a result, memory remains finite and not large enough to store the events of several lifetimes. The fix is simple: whenever a person chooses to regenerate the body, the brain is wiped and only the childhood/adolescent memories remain; as a further upgrade, experts ensure these are happy and fulfilling memories; what difference does it make if they're probably nothing like the truth? Sometimes, however, a person will suffer from LMS (Leaked Memory Syndrome, known colloquially as Nostalgia) and the true memories that burble to the surface in drips can turn to a flood that leads to madness and death. Enter our protagonist, Dr. Frank Sina, an expert in plugging leaks. When a new patient seeks Sina's help – and he both takes root in the doctor's mind and attracts the attention of the supposedly benevolent Department – a mild mystery/thriller plot begins.
Onto this plot are grafted various scenes in which people discuss the advantages, but mostly the problems, of this society – there is an ever-growing class divide as only the rich can afford to regenerate, evangelicals become “pro-death” as they urge people to stop avoiding natural death and Judgment Day, how much power are we willing to give to a government that is in control of implanting memory – but the biggest divide is between those who have regenerated many times (known as GNs, for new-generation, like Dr Sina) and those who are on their first lives (known as G0s or BabyGens): if the older generation refuses to die and transfer their wealth and jobs, how are those on their first lives meant to survive?
While you, the elderly elite, find ways to prolong your existence with new organs and new lives and monopolize the world's resources, what about us young people? When do we get a chance? Youth unemployment is reaching thirty percent! I don't mind telling you that I cannot find a job – and the woman I love – a young woman, not a reconstituted senior citizen – lives with an elderly man – sells her services just to be able to survive! What gives people like you the right to more life than others? Why can't you just say, I've had enough! Let others live!
In another wrinkle (that takes way too long to finally reveal the details of what is going on behind the “Long Border” and why), the meltdown of four CANDU reactors some four decades in the past has made much of eastern Africa a radiation zone, incapable of growing food or providing fresh water for its people. While the rest of the world has begrudgingly airdropped supplies for all these years, they have also built and enforced a mostly impenetrable border across the north of Africa; allowing people from the north to visit the affected areas – gawking at the starving, mutated people as though they were animals in a zoo – while only allowing a small percentage of the Africans to escape to the north (and generously wiping their brains when they arrive in the free lands).
It is the source of our raw materials, you mean; and even though we can replicate climatic conditions at will almost, we still feel the need to visit there for the real experience, though at considerable risk. And we let a few of the Barbarians leak in through the Border every year, because we have to replenish our populations and gene balances and immune systems. And we need their organs.
It is a matter of disbelief and distress to Sina and his friends that those on the other side of the Long Border might form militias and plot terrorist attacks against the same generous folks who airdrop the food and water (that is mostly stolen by warlords). It is also unbelievable to the GNs that the G0s sympathise with the “Barbarians” and think it's time to remove the border and let everyone live anywhere they like; why don't the Babies understand that we need to protect what we have from those who have no right to it?
Other than the details of the plot, that's pretty much the book. And in hindsight, it doesn't have that much to say. And note: I am someone who does wonder and worry about what the world might look like if we develop the technology to keep our bodies alive indefinitely. I don't want that, but will I think differently when I'm old and facing natural death? (Probably.) There are a ton of philosophical and moral dilemmas surrounding this idea, and unfortunately, I think that M. G. Vassanji only scratched the surface here. Not a terrible read, but not my favourite either.
March 19, 2017
3.5⭐️ Excellent writing but the story was missing the magic sauce that makes speculative fiction sparkle. Looking forward to CBC's Canada Reads debates next week. Very interesting choices this year.
February 10, 2017
In the future, perhaps by the end of this century, people who can afford it will be able to live practically forever. You can have new body and even new memories enabling you to forget who you were, and creating a whole new past for you. But the brain is more complex and sometimes old memories leak through. This is called Leaking Memory Syndrome, aka Nostagia. It can kill you so you go to a specialist doctor like Dr. Frank Sina who will plug the memory leak. That's why Presley Smith came to Dr. Sina. He was troubled by a few random thoughts and assumed they were from his former life. In the end, he didn't want Frank's help and was determined to suppress the old memories himself. Frank becomes somewhat obsessed with helping Presley though he doesn't really know why this patient has affected him more than others. He's not even put off when it turns out the government is also interested in Presley's whereabouts and ordering Frank to leave it alone. Why is Frank determined to help Presley? Who is Presley? Who is Frank?
The people that live with the memories over and over are taking jobs and making the younger generations hungry and unemployed and there's a vast movement afoot to urge the regenerated people to let themselves die out. The world is divided and there's a vast difference between those that live in the western world to those that live beyond a wall designed to keep the poor and war torn areas separate. Meanwhile, a popular young reporter, Holly Chu, goes to the war torn area, is abducted and eventually she's won over to the cause of the militant rulers. She, Frank and Presley are all tied together somehow but neither we nor Frank know how. Frank only knows he feels invested in Holly's predicament.
The story is intriguing though not full of action. It's all subliminal. The theme of whether people should live forever and the ethics of it, the complications.
Nostalgia is one of the books on the shortlist for Canada Reads 2017.
The people that live with the memories over and over are taking jobs and making the younger generations hungry and unemployed and there's a vast movement afoot to urge the regenerated people to let themselves die out. The world is divided and there's a vast difference between those that live in the western world to those that live beyond a wall designed to keep the poor and war torn areas separate. Meanwhile, a popular young reporter, Holly Chu, goes to the war torn area, is abducted and eventually she's won over to the cause of the militant rulers. She, Frank and Presley are all tied together somehow but neither we nor Frank know how. Frank only knows he feels invested in Holly's predicament.
The story is intriguing though not full of action. It's all subliminal. The theme of whether people should live forever and the ethics of it, the complications.
Nostalgia is one of the books on the shortlist for Canada Reads 2017.
March 12, 2017
M.G. Vassanji's Nostalgia takes place in a future that doesn't feel too far off. In his world, human bodies don't die but, rather, are rejuvenated. Old memories are wiped away and replaced with new, exclusively happy, ones, and the body is refreshed. When life gets difficult and the baggage is too much, you can simply request that your new life begin.
Dr. Frank Sina specializes in Leaked Memory Syndrome (LMS), commonly known as Nostalgia. Sufferers of LMS will describe the emergence of past memories, fragments of their old lives seeping into their new ones; Dr. Sina helps to seal these memory leaks. When Presley Smith seeks Dr. Sina's care for his LMS, Frank is unusually drawn to him, but is unsure why he feels so strongly about helping Presley recover.
Naturally, not everyone is happy about these advances in human technology. There are a group of protestors who take a stand daily, with the threat of self-emolation, saying that people are meant to die. Further, people on their first lives, BabyGens, are frustrated by the people who have lived many lives, the GNs. How can the BabyGens find jobs and live fully when no one ever dies? Is a future like this really sustainable?
Meanwhile, in a place called Maskinia, residents are suffering through war and nuclear destruction. The border is protected, and immigrants often turn to dangerous methods to try to get across to safety. As Dr. Sina works to seal Presley's memory leaks, he starts to discover that he may have a connection to Maskinia from his earlier life. What is that connection, and why is Dr. Sina so invested in Presley's history?
There's a lot going on with this book, and it does get a bit convoluted at times. However, many of the questions it asks are extremely relevant, making it a thought provoking and compelling read.
Dr. Frank Sina specializes in Leaked Memory Syndrome (LMS), commonly known as Nostalgia. Sufferers of LMS will describe the emergence of past memories, fragments of their old lives seeping into their new ones; Dr. Sina helps to seal these memory leaks. When Presley Smith seeks Dr. Sina's care for his LMS, Frank is unusually drawn to him, but is unsure why he feels so strongly about helping Presley recover.
Naturally, not everyone is happy about these advances in human technology. There are a group of protestors who take a stand daily, with the threat of self-emolation, saying that people are meant to die. Further, people on their first lives, BabyGens, are frustrated by the people who have lived many lives, the GNs. How can the BabyGens find jobs and live fully when no one ever dies? Is a future like this really sustainable?
Meanwhile, in a place called Maskinia, residents are suffering through war and nuclear destruction. The border is protected, and immigrants often turn to dangerous methods to try to get across to safety. As Dr. Sina works to seal Presley's memory leaks, he starts to discover that he may have a connection to Maskinia from his earlier life. What is that connection, and why is Dr. Sina so invested in Presley's history?
There's a lot going on with this book, and it does get a bit convoluted at times. However, many of the questions it asks are extremely relevant, making it a thought provoking and compelling read.
June 16, 2017
When I think of how close I came to not bothering to read this brilliant, amazing, and provocative book, I must cringe.
pehaps I will write more later, but for now, just wow
pehaps I will write more later, but for now, just wow
February 6, 2017
Nostalgia was the fifth book I read out of the eight that I have chosen to look at from the CBC Canada Reads 2017 Longlist. It's interesting sometimes when I look back at the list to see why I picked something. I wrote that I thought it sounded interesting because "It deals with the problems of memory that we might face should we overcome the impediments to immortality."
Well, the book didn't really turn out to be about that. The main character, Dr Frank Sina, lives in a world in the future (the specific time was never really defined), where people can choose to abandon their lives and be given a new physical and psychological persona - a process called rejuvenation. It seemed to be something more for the privileged few, and in fact it has cause something of a rift between two distinct sectors of the world population - those who can and those who can't. [Read more…]
The first two-thirds of the book really drew me in. Frank is approached by a new, intriguing patient, Presley Smith. Presley is suffering from "nostalgia," a condition that happens to those who have been rejuvenated where memories from their past lives come leaking through. Frank feels mysteriously drawn to Presley and his case, and the leaking memories that Presley has seem to be linked to Frank in some intriguing way. This is where the dystopian thing comes in, and Frank is warned by the big-brother government agency to stay away. Of course, he doesn't and it feels like he is in grave danger.
I was really drawn in to that whole story, but unfortunately I felt my attention really start to waver in the last one-third of the book. I couldn't help but wonder about what happens to people's loved ones when they abandon their old lives to start fresh. And don't people whose loved ones have rejuvenated go around seeing their faces in every stranger? And what about the fake pasts that people are given when they rejuvenate? Don't they ever wonder what their past was really like? I don't know...this whole rejuvenation thing just didn't seem to add up with the way normal people would react and feel about things.
I think this book would be good for an advanced English class in high school, or even a philosophy course at university. But do I think it's a book that all of Canada needs to read right now? No. The speculative ideas about the dystopian world and the divide between those on each side of the Long Border were interesting, and resembled the divide between the western world and other countries. But I just think the whole concept was a little too "out there" for me to believe it needs to be read by everyone.
Well, the book didn't really turn out to be about that. The main character, Dr Frank Sina, lives in a world in the future (the specific time was never really defined), where people can choose to abandon their lives and be given a new physical and psychological persona - a process called rejuvenation. It seemed to be something more for the privileged few, and in fact it has cause something of a rift between two distinct sectors of the world population - those who can and those who can't. [Read more…]
The first two-thirds of the book really drew me in. Frank is approached by a new, intriguing patient, Presley Smith. Presley is suffering from "nostalgia," a condition that happens to those who have been rejuvenated where memories from their past lives come leaking through. Frank feels mysteriously drawn to Presley and his case, and the leaking memories that Presley has seem to be linked to Frank in some intriguing way. This is where the dystopian thing comes in, and Frank is warned by the big-brother government agency to stay away. Of course, he doesn't and it feels like he is in grave danger.
I was really drawn in to that whole story, but unfortunately I felt my attention really start to waver in the last one-third of the book. I couldn't help but wonder about what happens to people's loved ones when they abandon their old lives to start fresh. And don't people whose loved ones have rejuvenated go around seeing their faces in every stranger? And what about the fake pasts that people are given when they rejuvenate? Don't they ever wonder what their past was really like? I don't know...this whole rejuvenation thing just didn't seem to add up with the way normal people would react and feel about things.
I think this book would be good for an advanced English class in high school, or even a philosophy course at university. But do I think it's a book that all of Canada needs to read right now? No. The speculative ideas about the dystopian world and the divide between those on each side of the Long Border were interesting, and resembled the divide between the western world and other countries. But I just think the whole concept was a little too "out there" for me to believe it needs to be read by everyone.
February 15, 2017
There are some writers who can transcend genres, who can weave stories no matter what the premise or setting. Unfortunately M.G. Vassanji is not one of those writers.
The book starts with a wonderful premise, humanity has "cured" death. A topic that could be explored to no end. The possibilities for ethical dilemnas, for class strife, views on how we interact in our society today and in the future are all there, but the author takes just doesn't do anything with it.
The characters are boring, the future world poorly imagined - all in all so disappointing given the potential of the premise.
I'd give it a miss and instead read (or re-read) George Orwell's 1984 for your dystopian future and something more hard-hitting such as Yuval Harari's Homo Deus if you want to explore the "cure for death"
The book starts with a wonderful premise, humanity has "cured" death. A topic that could be explored to no end. The possibilities for ethical dilemnas, for class strife, views on how we interact in our society today and in the future are all there, but the author takes just doesn't do anything with it.
The characters are boring, the future world poorly imagined - all in all so disappointing given the potential of the premise.
I'd give it a miss and instead read (or re-read) George Orwell's 1984 for your dystopian future and something more hard-hitting such as Yuval Harari's Homo Deus if you want to explore the "cure for death"
dnf
October 5, 2016I thought this would be a sure thing because the concept is interesting and I really liked The In-Between World of Vikram Lall and Amriika by the same author. I read about a third of this before giving up - the main character was completely uninteresting, as was his love interest and all the other characters he encountered. I was vaguely intrigued by the fate of Holly, but not enough to persevere.
November 5, 2016
I received a copy of this book as a Goodreads giveaway. I enjoyed the ideas in it: in a future time, the rich will be able to regenerate themselves physically and wipe out their past memories and take on new identities. The young will resent them for not dying and leaving money and jobs to inherit. I found it easy to put down, perhaps because I didn't become fully invested in the characters, didn't care what happened to them. That may be simply because of the dystopian nature of the story. I think I expected more from Vassanji.
March 6, 2017
Beautifully written and conceived. Nostalgia is about what it would mean to be immortal, what it means to have a fractured class structure and continued segregation, the examination of generation comparability and our attempt to understand one another, faith in science, and the fictions we build into our past to shape who we want to be.
This is a fantastic science fiction world that is like an epic Twilight Zone examining the importance of a finite life span.
This is a fantastic science fiction world that is like an epic Twilight Zone examining the importance of a finite life span.
February 11, 2017
My first book from the Canada Reads shortlist and I really don't believe this is the book "Canada needs now." It's an okay story and I was definitely interested to see how it ended, but it's not a book I would support for the win or recommend to friends.
June 9, 2017
Quite possibly the most relevant book I've ever read.
March 20, 2017
An exercise in navel gazing. I had the distinct sense that the author was going through a mid-life crisis.
January 27, 2024
I read and reviewed my first M.G. Vassanji novel in 2009, when I was nineteen years old, making it among one of the earliest reviews I wrote, about a year into this project. It’s wild, going back and reading those old reviews. Kara of 2009 was so young, and self-deprecating: “I suspect that when I revisit this book as an older, more experienced person, I will see additional facets of the story that escaped me on a first reading.” Well, I don’t have the same feelings about Nostalgia. The only thing that escapes me about this book is how it managed to make its way to Canada Reads.
(Obligatory grumbling about not using quotation marks for dialogue. Moving on.)
Dr. Frank Sina is a specialist in Nostalgia, a condition that occurs when memories of one’s old life leak through into one’s new, fabricated life. You read that right: in this near-future story, medicine allows people to live much longer, extended lives. To accommodate this, society allows people to radically alter their appearance and then forget their previous lives; they have a new, fictitious persona, complete with childhood memories, that they then take on as real. Dr. Sina’s latest patient has a persistent, troubling memory of a lion. As Frank becomes more entangled with this patient, he starts to question his own reality.
Seeing this story through Frank’s eyes is … a time. He himself is a “GN,” someone who has lived more than one lifetime. He is dating Joan, a “G0,” someone still on her first lifetime. Frank is a boor and chauvinist: his comments about Joan are almost exclusively about her attractiveness and sex appeal in a leering, Humbert Humbert kind of way. He does this with every female character he comes across, and it’s uncomfy, to say the least. Was I just not paying attention to this in Vassanji’s other novels, or is this a deliberate characterization choice that falls flat for me because it’s, uh, too real?
The novum of Nostalgia—near-immortality coupled with memory replacement—has its intriguing moments, I admit. The conflict between Frank’s generation and Joan’s is pertinent. Vassanji juxtaposes it with a wider story of haves and have-nots in the world: Frank lives within a prestigious, wealthy nation (apparently contiguous with contemporary Toronto); in contrast, countries in Africa remain poor and militant. Frank watches a xenophobic pundit’s television show and obsesses over the disappearance of an attractive reporter when she is “behind the lines” in one such poor country, and this becomes a key subplot of the book.
It’s not that I don’t see what Vassanji is trying to do. The possibility for improvements to geriatrics and extended longevity are tantalizing and seemingly within reach in my lifetime—yet they also have the potential to sharpen inequality. If only wealthy countries built on white supremacy have access to such technology, how will that play out when it comes to narratives of race and racism? So these are worthwhile issues to explore.
Yet my overwhelming takeaway from this book is one that I had within the first chapter or two: science-fiction authors are much better at writing literary fiction than the other way around. Vassanji joins the ranks of authors like Margaret Atwood in that he is writing science fiction but trying to be “literary” or “elevated” about it—and it’s just not … good. The characters are flat, the dialogue insipid, and the allegory shallow and ultimately unfulfilling.
Nostalgia is an odd book, and so much about it did not work for me. Vassanji’s storytelling has impressed me in the past, but literally nothing about this story, aside from some of its basic ideas, has left any good impression on me.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
(Obligatory grumbling about not using quotation marks for dialogue. Moving on.)
Dr. Frank Sina is a specialist in Nostalgia, a condition that occurs when memories of one’s old life leak through into one’s new, fabricated life. You read that right: in this near-future story, medicine allows people to live much longer, extended lives. To accommodate this, society allows people to radically alter their appearance and then forget their previous lives; they have a new, fictitious persona, complete with childhood memories, that they then take on as real. Dr. Sina’s latest patient has a persistent, troubling memory of a lion. As Frank becomes more entangled with this patient, he starts to question his own reality.
Seeing this story through Frank’s eyes is … a time. He himself is a “GN,” someone who has lived more than one lifetime. He is dating Joan, a “G0,” someone still on her first lifetime. Frank is a boor and chauvinist: his comments about Joan are almost exclusively about her attractiveness and sex appeal in a leering, Humbert Humbert kind of way. He does this with every female character he comes across, and it’s uncomfy, to say the least. Was I just not paying attention to this in Vassanji’s other novels, or is this a deliberate characterization choice that falls flat for me because it’s, uh, too real?
The novum of Nostalgia—near-immortality coupled with memory replacement—has its intriguing moments, I admit. The conflict between Frank’s generation and Joan’s is pertinent. Vassanji juxtaposes it with a wider story of haves and have-nots in the world: Frank lives within a prestigious, wealthy nation (apparently contiguous with contemporary Toronto); in contrast, countries in Africa remain poor and militant. Frank watches a xenophobic pundit’s television show and obsesses over the disappearance of an attractive reporter when she is “behind the lines” in one such poor country, and this becomes a key subplot of the book.
It’s not that I don’t see what Vassanji is trying to do. The possibility for improvements to geriatrics and extended longevity are tantalizing and seemingly within reach in my lifetime—yet they also have the potential to sharpen inequality. If only wealthy countries built on white supremacy have access to such technology, how will that play out when it comes to narratives of race and racism? So these are worthwhile issues to explore.
Yet my overwhelming takeaway from this book is one that I had within the first chapter or two: science-fiction authors are much better at writing literary fiction than the other way around. Vassanji joins the ranks of authors like Margaret Atwood in that he is writing science fiction but trying to be “literary” or “elevated” about it—and it’s just not … good. The characters are flat, the dialogue insipid, and the allegory shallow and ultimately unfulfilling.
Nostalgia is an odd book, and so much about it did not work for me. Vassanji’s storytelling has impressed me in the past, but literally nothing about this story, aside from some of its basic ideas, has left any good impression on me.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
July 31, 2017
Nominated and represented in Canada Reads 2017, Nostaligia was quickly evicted from the competition (one can assume much to the dismay of speculative fiction lovers).
This novel is distinctly SPECULATIVE FICTION as is does not entirely fall into the genre of science fiction or dystopian. One may make an argument for some kind of contemporary fantasy, but I am not wont to do so. I would like to place this book alongside The Postmortal and The Girl in the Road and the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which one can draw a direct connection to) all of which speculate a futuristic (within our lifetime) modern society that is influenced in some way by technology and/or modern medicine. I think it is mentioned briefly that Nostaligia takes place sometime after 2032 (or 2038 -- I can't remember) which is very reasonable within most contemporary reader's lifetimes.
Nostaligia follows one Dr Frank Sina -- a neurologist specializing in rewriting ones identity. Basically, in this future, people have forsaken old age (they're immortal) and in living longer want to create new --often happier-- pasts for themselves and new physical identities to go with them. Essentially anyone can have these procedures done. They are physically choosing a new body and a new set of memories to go with it. The plot revolves specifically around Dr Sina's interactions with one of his patients Presley Smith, who is affected by 'intruding memories', aka Nostalgia syndrome. This is when one's wiped memories seem to peak back in to the current identity and wreak havoc on the person's psyche. I can only imagine it would feel like being a schizophrenic.
Additionally, this all takes place against the backdrop of a "missing" reporter and a world rife with class disparagement.
Vassanji uses these ideas of immortality and identity and the "New World" (the contemporary society within the text) to discuss political themes of class warfare, aging and "millennials"/"BabyGen" (what we see now where Baby Boomer generations are not leaving the work place and affecting the jobs and prospects of the younger), cultural identity, personal identity (tied to family; separate from a cultural identity), as well as religion (discussions pertaining to the soul and one's esoteric "LIFE").
While it is a short novel, it is quite complex in it's underlying discussions. Vassanji has written something that "takes place in the future" but is easy applied to our contemporary life. I personally thing this is why the date (above) isn't given until after half way into the book.
I can see why this book may not be well received; its character story lines appear to be almost secondary to the thematic discussions that underlie the novel and end up being rushed to their conclusion.
I did enjoy this book because I think it is relevant and thought provoking. However, if you want a SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL that has no political discussion, stay away. I think that is what a lot of people were expecting from this, which is why they were/are disappointed. Oh yah, and not to mention the obvious mistakes in some of the text (i.e. Yukon mishap). If you can get over these, I think you'll be okay.
This novel is distinctly SPECULATIVE FICTION as is does not entirely fall into the genre of science fiction or dystopian. One may make an argument for some kind of contemporary fantasy, but I am not wont to do so. I would like to place this book alongside The Postmortal and The Girl in the Road and the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which one can draw a direct connection to) all of which speculate a futuristic (within our lifetime) modern society that is influenced in some way by technology and/or modern medicine. I think it is mentioned briefly that Nostaligia takes place sometime after 2032 (or 2038 -- I can't remember) which is very reasonable within most contemporary reader's lifetimes.
Nostaligia follows one Dr Frank Sina -- a neurologist specializing in rewriting ones identity. Basically, in this future, people have forsaken old age (they're immortal) and in living longer want to create new --often happier-- pasts for themselves and new physical identities to go with them. Essentially anyone can have these procedures done. They are physically choosing a new body and a new set of memories to go with it. The plot revolves specifically around Dr Sina's interactions with one of his patients Presley Smith, who is affected by 'intruding memories', aka Nostalgia syndrome. This is when one's wiped memories seem to peak back in to the current identity and wreak havoc on the person's psyche. I can only imagine it would feel like being a schizophrenic.
Additionally, this all takes place against the backdrop of a "missing" reporter and a world rife with class disparagement.
Vassanji uses these ideas of immortality and identity and the "New World" (the contemporary society within the text) to discuss political themes of class warfare, aging and "millennials"/"BabyGen" (what we see now where Baby Boomer generations are not leaving the work place and affecting the jobs and prospects of the younger), cultural identity, personal identity (tied to family; separate from a cultural identity), as well as religion (discussions pertaining to the soul and one's esoteric "LIFE").
While it is a short novel, it is quite complex in it's underlying discussions. Vassanji has written something that "takes place in the future" but is easy applied to our contemporary life. I personally thing this is why the date (above) isn't given until after half way into the book.
I can see why this book may not be well received; its character story lines appear to be almost secondary to the thematic discussions that underlie the novel and end up being rushed to their conclusion.
I did enjoy this book because I think it is relevant and thought provoking. However, if you want a SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL that has no political discussion, stay away. I think that is what a lot of people were expecting from this, which is why they were/are disappointed. Oh yah, and not to mention the obvious mistakes in some of the text (i.e. Yukon mishap). If you can get over these, I think you'll be okay.
August 18, 2017
What a fabulous story! I'll be thinking about this for days and weeks (years ?) to come. Even though a dystopian story set in a future Toronto, it resonates with our present day issues on so many levels: the elders making room for underemployed and wasted youth; the division between rich and poor; racism; friction between the have and have not nations; science versus faith, just to list a few. I recommend this book.
March 11, 2017
Lots of insight and a fascinating premise. It was heavily reminiscent of things like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, but didn't quite reach those levels of expertise and execution. I enjoyed it, but I think the characters suffered a little bit and could have been much more fleshed out, given their histories and backgrounds. Loved the concept of Nostalgia as an ailment.
June 9, 2017
Hmm. Another CBC Canada Reads List book where the concept behind the story is very interesting but the story itself was pretty boring. The idea is that technology eventually advances enough to allow for eternal life, "rejuvenating" into a new body and life when your body is getting too old. The catch is that you lose all your old memories and you start new with a new fake backstory and a new body. The characters in this story bored me so I'll just speak to the concept of the book.
Two problems here. The first was slightly addressed in the book, the fact that we will now have way too many people on earth. All new babies are still born, while all elderly dying people are preserved in new bodies. The book highlights the fact that all those "rejuvenated" seniors have taken all the jobs and that employment rates are too low for the baby generation. Let alone natural resources to feed this exponential population growth.
My second problem is why bother extending your life if you can't remember it? The sole reason people want to live longer is to spend more time with the ones they love, finish things they want to do with their life. If you start over with a new life and new memories then you fail on both of those, and you live a lonely life with no real memories and no real family to touch and see. This kind of rejuvenation is an interesting theory, but a lonely and depressing one...
Two problems here. The first was slightly addressed in the book, the fact that we will now have way too many people on earth. All new babies are still born, while all elderly dying people are preserved in new bodies. The book highlights the fact that all those "rejuvenated" seniors have taken all the jobs and that employment rates are too low for the baby generation. Let alone natural resources to feed this exponential population growth.
My second problem is why bother extending your life if you can't remember it? The sole reason people want to live longer is to spend more time with the ones they love, finish things they want to do with their life. If you start over with a new life and new memories then you fail on both of those, and you live a lonely life with no real memories and no real family to touch and see. This kind of rejuvenation is an interesting theory, but a lonely and depressing one...
July 23, 2016
Read as ARC. 3 and a half really.
Vassanji has created a future for us that mirrors our own a little too closely (some of the allergories are just too in your face), but with some thought provoking and debate worthy topics.
I was more interested in the examination of memory at the beginning and feel that it could have been explored more. In Vassanji's future affluent people are able to get new memories and lives, occasionally things go sideways and leaks of memory occur(Nostalgia), causing issues. This story alone brings up many issues of how we age/die, privilege vs charity, science vs faith and even how much memory influences you as a person.
The story splinters into an examination of war torn countries and how have countries deal with them and while it contributed to the overall story I didn't find this vein of the story necessary given all that could have been developed further in the memory line.
It is all tied up in the end, with a premise so divisive I would have preferred a more ambiguous ending.
I do love the cover.
Vassanji has created a future for us that mirrors our own a little too closely (some of the allergories are just too in your face), but with some thought provoking and debate worthy topics.
I was more interested in the examination of memory at the beginning and feel that it could have been explored more. In Vassanji's future affluent people are able to get new memories and lives, occasionally things go sideways and leaks of memory occur(Nostalgia), causing issues. This story alone brings up many issues of how we age/die, privilege vs charity, science vs faith and even how much memory influences you as a person.
The story splinters into an examination of war torn countries and how have countries deal with them and while it contributed to the overall story I didn't find this vein of the story necessary given all that could have been developed further in the memory line.
It is all tied up in the end, with a premise so divisive I would have preferred a more ambiguous ending.
I do love the cover.
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