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The Rememberer
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 1997
65 people want to read
About the author
Aimee Bender
81 books2,307 followers Aimee Bender is the author of the novel An Invisible Sign of My Own and of the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Willful Creatures. Her work has been widely anthologized and has been translated into ten languages. She lives in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 9, 2023
A woman's lover, Ben, a sad, thoughtful man, begins to devolve, "experiencing reverse evolution," becoming regressively an ape, a sea turtle, a salamander.
Story Review: "The Rememberer" is a very short story that seeks to open up the world, to provoke thoughts, ideas, wonder. Bender makes little effort to direct our understanding of the story, encouraging free ranging thoughts about it. Ben says, "We're all getting too smart ... there's too much thought and not enough heart ... we think far too much." It's true, humans were never meant to be this smart, no animal was meant to have so much effect on the world. We have created weapons that can make the world uninhabitable, we pollute the entire planet, we destroy ourselves even as we wipe out other species. The narrator goes to a college to consult an "old biology teacher," but science is not the answer, science has no answers, providing equally destructive remedies till it's just an inaccurate mess. We are not the crown of creation, but have "become death, the destroyer of worlds." Perhaps one answer to the sorrow this future causes, is to go in a different direction, become less human, to defect from the breed of destruction. But this devolution is also suicide (is "The Rememberer" a parable about sadness and suicide -- perhaps, but maybe not). As Ben becomes progressively less human, he is less Ben, less the being that the narrator has a connection to, until she has to just let him go (hmmm, back to the suicide parable ... ?). Although we are a horribly destructive race, with no end of massive crimes against humanity and the planet, it is also, unredeemable as we are, who we are and all we've got. Able to provoke thoughts and emotions. [5★]
Story Review: "The Rememberer" is a very short story that seeks to open up the world, to provoke thoughts, ideas, wonder. Bender makes little effort to direct our understanding of the story, encouraging free ranging thoughts about it. Ben says, "We're all getting too smart ... there's too much thought and not enough heart ... we think far too much." It's true, humans were never meant to be this smart, no animal was meant to have so much effect on the world. We have created weapons that can make the world uninhabitable, we pollute the entire planet, we destroy ourselves even as we wipe out other species. The narrator goes to a college to consult an "old biology teacher," but science is not the answer, science has no answers, providing equally destructive remedies till it's just an inaccurate mess. We are not the crown of creation, but have "become death, the destroyer of worlds." Perhaps one answer to the sorrow this future causes, is to go in a different direction, become less human, to defect from the breed of destruction. But this devolution is also suicide (is "The Rememberer" a parable about sadness and suicide -- perhaps, but maybe not). As Ben becomes progressively less human, he is less Ben, less the being that the narrator has a connection to, until she has to just let him go (hmmm, back to the suicide parable ... ?). Although we are a horribly destructive race, with no end of massive crimes against humanity and the planet, it is also, unredeemable as we are, who we are and all we've got. Able to provoke thoughts and emotions. [5★]
May 12, 2022
This story made me start crying in class. Like I had to leave the room because I was so emotional. Aimee is the best writer ever
April 16, 2024
“I cannot bear to look down into the water and not be able to find him at all, to search the tiny waves with a microscope lens and to locate my lover, the one-celled wonder, bloated and blind, brainless, benign, heading clear and small, like an eye-floater into nothingness.”
read this again and sobbed! because every other paragraph of this short story is just absolutely gut wrenching!
read this again and sobbed! because every other paragraph of this short story is just absolutely gut wrenching!
April 18, 2025
"He said he was just thinking too much."
এই এক লাইনে শুরু হয়ে যায় এক অবিশ্বাস্য রূপকথা, যেখানে প্রেমিক একদিন হঠাৎ devolve করতে করতে বানর, কচ্ছপ, মাছ... শেষে কোথায় যেন মিলিয়ে যায়। প্রেমিকা Annie তার devolving প্রেমিক Ben-এর সব রূপ ধারণে পাশে থাকে কিছুদিন, যতক্ষণ না সে আর মনে রাখতে পারে "মানুষ" হয়ে ওঠার স্মৃতি।
এই গল্প আসলে এক চেতনার রূপকথা, যেখানে Ben-এর devolve করা আসলে আমাদের প্রত্যেকেরই এক মানসিক journey–আধুনিক জটিলতা থেকে এক আদিম সরলতার দিকে ফিরে যাওয়া। Ben "too much thinking"-এর শাস্তি হিসেবে পশুত্বে নেমে যায়, আর Annie হয় “the rememberer”—সে প্রেম মনে রাখে, মানুষের রূপ মনে রাখে, অনুভবের ভাষা মনে রাখে।
প্রশ্ন জাগে মনে: আমরা কি আজকের যান্ত্রিক জীবনে এতটাই মগ্ন যে, প্রেমের সহজতাটুকু হারিয়ে ফেলছি?
যন্ত্রণা থেকে বাঁচতে যদি devolve করাও হয় একমাত্র পথ, তবে ভালবাসা কোথায় থাকবে?
Bender-এর ভাষা স্বপ্নদ্রষ্টার মতো—minimalistic, অথচ poetic। কোনো ব্যাখ্যা নেই, কেবল অনুভব। আর গল্পের শেষে সে এক দুঃসহ অনির্দেশ্য—তবুও Annie অপেক্ষা করে, কেননা সে ভালোবাসে। এবং ভালোবাসা মানেই কি নয়, কাউকে মনে রাখা?
শেষে এটুকুই বলবো, "The Rememberer" এমন এক গল্প, যেটা এক বসায় পড়ে ফেলা যায়, কিন্তু মন থেকে নামানো যায় না। এ যেন এক ফিসফিসে দর্শন: ভালোবাসা শুধু উপস্থিতি নয়, এক গভীর স্মৃতি, যা সময় আর রূপান্তরের ধার ধারে না।
এই এক লাইনে শুরু হয়ে যায় এক অবিশ্বাস্য রূপকথা, যেখানে প্রেমিক একদিন হঠাৎ devolve করতে করতে বানর, কচ্ছপ, মাছ... শেষে কোথায় যেন মিলিয়ে যায়। প্রেমিকা Annie তার devolving প্রেমিক Ben-এর সব রূপ ধারণে পাশে থাকে কিছুদিন, যতক্ষণ না সে আর মনে রাখতে পারে "মানুষ" হয়ে ওঠার স্মৃতি।
এই গল্প আসলে এক চেতনার রূপকথা, যেখানে Ben-এর devolve করা আসলে আমাদের প্রত্যেকেরই এক মানসিক journey–আধুনিক জটিলতা থেকে এক আদিম সরলতার দিকে ফিরে যাওয়া। Ben "too much thinking"-এর শাস্তি হিসেবে পশুত্বে নেমে যায়, আর Annie হয় “the rememberer”—সে প্রেম মনে রাখে, মানুষের রূপ মনে রাখে, অনুভবের ভাষা মনে রাখে।
প্রশ্ন জাগে মনে: আমরা কি আজকের যান্ত্রিক জীবনে এতটাই মগ্ন যে, প্রেমের সহজতাটুকু হারিয়ে ফেলছি?
যন্ত্রণা থেকে বাঁচতে যদি devolve করাও হয় একমাত্র পথ, তবে ভালবাসা কোথায় থাকবে?
Bender-এর ভাষা স্বপ্নদ্রষ্টার মতো—minimalistic, অথচ poetic। কোনো ব্যাখ্যা নেই, কেবল অনুভব। আর গল্পের শেষে সে এক দুঃসহ অনির্দেশ্য—তবুও Annie অপেক্ষা করে, কেননা সে ভালোবাসে। এবং ভালোবাসা মানেই কি নয়, কাউকে মনে রাখা?
শেষে এটুকুই বলবো, "The Rememberer" এমন এক গল্প, যেটা এক বসায় পড়ে ফেলা যায়, কিন্তু মন থেকে নামানো যায় না। এ যেন এক ফিসফিসে দর্শন: ভালোবাসা শুধু উপস্থিতি নয়, এক গভীর স্মৃতি, যা সময় আর রূপান্তরের ধার ধারে না।
January 28, 2025
"I sat down. I remembered how the first time we had sex, I left the lights on, kept my eyes wide open and concentrated really hard on letting go; then I noticed that his eyes were open too and in the middle of taking off my clothes we sat down on the floor and had an hour-long conversation about poetry. It was all very peculiar. It was all very familiar."
I read this in preparation for one of my classes today and have never felt so affected by the progression of a short story. The quote above captures what I believe to be the essence of this story and all it represents. Our desire to conquer everything through the pursuit of knowledge is effectively drying up our emotional capabilities and inhibiting our ability to connect to those around us. Only through our connections can we continue on whilst sustainably gathering knowledge at a pace that allows for replinishing.
I read this in preparation for one of my classes today and have never felt so affected by the progression of a short story. The quote above captures what I believe to be the essence of this story and all it represents. Our desire to conquer everything through the pursuit of knowledge is effectively drying up our emotional capabilities and inhibiting our ability to connect to those around us. Only through our connections can we continue on whilst sustainably gathering knowledge at a pace that allows for replinishing.
February 16, 2023
"Our brains are just getting bigger and bigger, and the world dries up and dies when there’s too much thought and not enough heart."
March 1, 2023
read this for my creative writing class and it made me so emotional what
January 28, 2024
This is why I love to read
February 1, 2024
oh god i wanna cry
April 3, 2024
cute!
January 10, 2025
shoutout to the true yearner!!!
February 24, 2025
3 pages 2/3
February 16, 2023
This is a 10 minute short story which is very poignantly written.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews