Book Review: “The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer” by Janelle Monáe
Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, by Janelle Monáe.
This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free summary and my thoughts on the various stories. In the second part, I give my personal rating and share my thoughts on this collection of short stories. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.
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Spoiler-Free Summary
New Dawn is a society that prioritizes keeping its citizens “clean” through rigid definitions of gender identity and expression reinforced by aggressive memory manipulation, among other methods. If a person simply does not remember who they were, then they can be “cleaned” to meet New Dawn’s heteronormative standards dictating who people should be and how they should live their lives, right? With contributions from other authors, Janelle Monáe’s The Memory Librarian features five tales of cyberpunk Afrofuturism addressing institutional racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia.
In The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe and Alaya Dawn Johnson, Seshet becomes the first Black woman to achieve the position of Memory Librarian within New Dawn. But it comes at a price: Seshet was subject to memory deletion in order to become the lead enforcer of New Dawn’s aggressive policies of memory manipulation on its own citizens. She is also forced to hide an authentic aspect of herself as a queer woman, or what the homophobic New Dawn society labels a “dirty computer.”
In Nevermind by Janelle Monáe and Danny Lore, Jane 57821 has escaped New Dawn and sought refuge in the Pynk Hotel, a sanctuary for women and women-aligned individuals who could no longer live under New Dawn’s oppressive norms. But not everyone residing at the Pynk Hotel shares the belief that identifying and living as a woman is what makes you a woman. And a traitor among the refugees leads New Dawn’s “blush hounds” right to their doors.
In Timebox by Janelle Monáe and Eve L. Ewing, Raven and Akilah have just moved into a new apartment together. Raven—a nursing student from a humble background who is always in a rush to work or school or elsewhere—is a realist. Akilah—an artist/activist from a neighborhood where adults left the doors unlocked and kids played in the streets without supervision—is an idealist. The young Black couple love each other but are at odds about priorities highlighting their differences. These differences are only further underscored when they discover something unbelievable in their new shared space.
In Save Changes by Janelle Monáe and Yohanca Delgado, sisters Amber and Larry are the caretakers of their mother Diana, who was left mentally disabled after subjugation to New Dawn’s experimental mind manipulation. Before their father’s death, he gifted Amber a rare larimar stone that may be able to reverse time. But it may only be used once, and there is no guarantee of how much time will be reversed or if it will reverse time at all. After attending an illegal party, Larry is arrested by New Dawn authorities for being a “dirty computer.” Will activating the larimar stone give Amber enough time to help her sister, save her mother, or give her more time with her father?
In Timebox Altar(ed) by Janelle Monáe and Sharee Renée Thomas, seven-year old Bug lives in the nearly abandoned town of Freewheel, located in the periphery of New Dawn’s authority. Bug has been effectively orphaned due to New Dawn policies determining that people like their parents—those who are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender—are “dirty computers” that must be detained and “cleaned.” While playing with friends among the town’s debris, a stranger named Mx. Tangee appears and offers Bug and the other children an opportunity they cannot refuse.
My Thoughts on The Memory Librarian: 5 stars!
It was 2018. I was preparing to graduate university and move to a new city when I heard a certain song play on the radio: Pynk by Janelle Monáe. I was utterly entranced by her voice. I had never heard of Janelle Monáe before—being in graduate school effectively meant I was living under a rock—and I had to hear more from her. I spent the following weeks on YouTube listening to her entire discography. As I did, I became deeply interested in the science fiction story unfolding throughout the tracks of her albums. I just had to know more about what was going on.
The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer was the first fiction book whose release I greatly anticipated after completing graduate school. In diving into these tales of Afrofuturism, one quickly sees how the cyberpunk totalitarian society of New Dawn holds a mirror to the real world horrors observed today. The experiences of the individual characters reflect the terrifying social reality of a nightmare built on foundations of racism, misogyny, and intense homophobia malevolently aimed at queer citizens, Black citizens, and especially those whose identity lies within any intersection of queerness and Blackness more than any other demographic.
The depth of worldbuilding throughout The Memory Librarian is further reflected in the diversity of protagonists in each story. From a middle-aged woman holding a highly coveted government position to refugees escaping New Dawn and parent-less children in the periphery of the sick society’s boundaries, the reader is given intimate glimpses into the varied experiences of an entire living world. I was left thinking about the different series of events occurring simultaneously on any given day within New Dawn.
To put it lightly, each set of protagonists in The Memory Librarian are negatively effected by the systemic racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia of New Dawn. Every story takes shared themes from the real lived experiences within intersectionalities of Blackness and queerness, puts them under a microscope, and paints a picture of a world based on a horrifying premise: What sort of society would be created if the structure and majority continue to normalize or justify homophobia and anti-Blackness? The answer is New Dawn. And the fact that I am thoroughly disgusted by the social reality of New Dawn while loving the storytelling throughout The Memory Librarian is a testament to its powerful composition.
The incredible writing of Janelle Monáe and the other authors translates to incredibly easy listening. I had only started listening to audiobooks less than six months before this book was released. I was not read to as a child, so I was still getting used to the habit of someone else reading a book to me. There were multiple audiobooks that I had started and left unfinished due to how unpleasant the experience was of listening to them being read to me. This was absolutely not the case with Janelle Monáe’s reading of The Memory Librarian. Performed by Janelle Monáe herself, the audiobook is an incredible continuation of the science-fiction story that unfolds throughout her discography. Her performance gently pulls the reader into the vivid worldbuilding and unsettling themes of New Dawn.
My overall rating for The Memory Librarian is 5 out of 5 stars! I cannot get enough of well-written short stories. In this collection, the short form of storytelling that Janell Monáe composes in her music expands with the collaboration of Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, Eve L. Ewing, Yohanca Delgado, and Sharee Renée Thomas to further explore how institutionally perpetuated prejudices effect the lives of individuals and destroy entire communities. I highly recommend The Memory Librarian to fans of science fiction (and horror) looking for stories that center these devastating themes.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, by Janelle Monáe.
Rating Cheat Sheet
4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.
Post Date: 20 January 2025
Published: 14 April 2022
Publisher: Voyager
Audiobook Publisher: HarperAudio
Performed by Janelle Monáe
