Z’s Reviews > These Memories Do Not Belong to Us > Status Update

-the “fight” MC claims, while he does admit the did not overthrow the systems they were so subtle that it was sometimes even passive actions
-wanted more to the message, nuanced but still present
-memories same even when referenced in other stories (altered? plot hole?)
-voices all the same
-all world-building was the in the book description (just don't advertise to not under-deliver)

2.5* round to 3 for prose

TLDR

+everyday stories that center diaspora
+great idea, desperately clinging to mundane memories in secret (a less dangerous act in our time but the most in theirs)
+short
+each story was easy to follow and the breadcrumbs of lore as well buttttttt
-with the quickness it jumped around, I struggled to connect with the characters or find a link above a whisper of subtlety between them

I think a short story anthology would be a better sell than the actual book description. Though the sci-fi universe was very much a minor character, I do think there is a beauty in the quotidian but these stories were too short for characters to gain traction or relatability to the point that I struggled bit in the middle to root myself in what was being said

I wanted a challenge, discover what was real vs altered, but they were mundane borderline boring, even in final story (I say final cuz it’s been millenia since virus) she recounts an armless swimmer, so was it not altered or we only heard the altered version from the get go. Unfortunately hearing altered at first go is less interesting. I would’ve like disparities when it was referenced vs when recounted

I expected something diff than vignettes but w them I then expected small acts of resistance littered throughout, i don’t think they were enough to b/c in a world that was the selling point of reading, it wasn’t shown all that much. There was such subtlety that even the keenest readers might find it tiresome to find a common theme, connect these stories, even the duration rendered me an observer not a participant

Final passage is the MC asking if we experienced the memories in the order he ordained. It’s an audiobook, my dude. Chill. This isn’t the reproach I would’ve liked, it's too literal and could've been more of a take on how we move about in our society...idk

If memories are censored how did MC’s mom acquire all of these throughout the years, as they don’t belong to her?

Man is Senior Censor, has trinkets that tie to each story we’ve read. He goes out running every night despite the pollution and his wife suspects infidelity, she watches his memorybank, he has memories of other men w white women as well as the other stories. She's appalled as she has been the perfect Qin wife. She decides to go outside and ends up seeing him running. She runs past him into the night vowing to not bow

his last session has him remembering finding the book w another boy present but the boy grabbed it and ran away, he doesn’t know that boy and wanted to report it and tho he didn’t read it he vaguely thought it was about twins and he has a subtle sense of loss

Man is being reincarnated and Angel AI is testing him before his reintegration into Qin society, it’s basically an interrogation that Angel compares his answers from each time asked; him and his twin brother read poetry of a foreign writer, eventually his twin was punished for it; she is quizzing him to check what memories remain so he can go back a model citizen w no bad feelings

Film was eventually outlawed b/c it showcased Qin sacrificed a few towns to prevent spread of the virus

Then the disabled swimmer was wiped from memory to not shine light on imperfections

The MC knows he will be jailed for owning these memories inherited from his mother

Mans gf is arrested for activism at a activist conference, despite not wanting her to go he reaches out to her group to speak for her safe return