MEM

The author takes an interesting concept and doesn't examine, explain, or exploit it. The setting could have been used for contrast, but instead was mostly scenery. This novella, though short on pages, felt long - a short story may have been a better venue.

This is the 19th book in a challenge to read new science fiction, fantasy and horror authors; this is the first book or story I have read by Ms. Morrow. I did enjoy some of the description, and the core of this is an interesting idea - a memory can be removed from your head, though it will live on externally for a time (as a "Mem"). Our main character uses this to question whether memories should be removed, how that affects us - good stuff there.

The setting is early 1900s Montreal - why? The main character has dark skin, and this could have been used to contrast "ownership" of the memories - if alive, they are akin to slaves, and can be mistreated or even killed by their owners. Other topics not explored include the effect on the host of having too many memories removed, whether memories can be returned, and the reuse of mems as targets for new memories. Later, the main character falls into a romance of sorts, but the results of that aren't explored either.

Perhaps your experience will be different than mine, but I can't recommend this book.