{"id":5214,"date":"2025-12-22T13:14:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5214"},"modified":"2025-12-22T13:14:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:14:00","slug":"memory-memory-go-away-by-christopher-william-selna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5214","title":{"rendered":"Memory Memory Go Away by Christopher William Selna"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Memory Memory Go Away<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Christopher W. Selna<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Sci-Fi & Fantasy \/ Cyberpunk<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798993607627<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 474 pages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Eric Mayrhofer<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>Christopher Selna explores the power, trauma, and the cost of mental health in the thought-provoking gothic cyberpunk novel Memory, Memory, Go Away<\/em>.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

What if you could change your life by erasing your memories? You could ease heartache, as in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind<\/em>. You could control nations, as in The Memory Police<\/em>. Or you could wield it like a drug that promises to make life better, even if all it does is numb and crack the mind. Christopher Selna explores all those takes in Memory, Memory, Go Away<\/em>, a gothic cyberpunk novel with big ideas, sprawling worldbuilding, and tons of promise.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say the book follows any one character. It could follow Malcolm, a journalist interviewing Addison Cain, the reclusive oddball founder of Memory, Memory, Go Away, a company that can \u201cheal\u2026mental oppression without resorting pills or wasting\u2026time with prayers.\u201d<\/strong> The book could also be a circuitous character study of Addison himself, examining how his own trauma led him to create a company that manipulates memories to heal by way of anecdotes from the downtrodden who come to idolize him\u2014even as his pursuits start to crush him.<\/p>\n

At large, though, Selna\u2019s book is a curious reflection of the United States in a fractured, sci-fi mirror. In this version, where mega-corporations (and the Church, in league with them) vie against Cain\u2019s innovation to stop it from \u201cstealing their business and faith,\u201d<\/strong> where these superpowers thrive because \u201cmental illness, or worse, suicide, had increased substantially when pharmaceutical drugs became the norm for anyone experiencing the slightest episode of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other ailments of the mind.\u201d<\/strong> Out of context, it sounds like the kind of statement connected to a hastily torn news clipping via red string on someone\u2019s cork board. Taken as a whole, the book chronicles why something like Cain\u2019s memory wiper would be so tempting in the here and now where, to some, poverty, violence, and their associated traumas can feel endemic.<\/p>\n

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A lofty bildungsroman meets mighty speculative allegory with hefty worldbuilding in Memory, Memory, Go Away<\/em>. The book spends pages laying out how corporations are truly the de facto leaders of a reorganized America: which businesses are feuding, how they control and shape infrastructure, and how all that trickles down to the way ordinary citizens move through everyday life. Every detail of this grim future world plays a role in immersing and enthralling its readers.<\/p>\n

The same is not always true of the characterization. Malcolm, for instance, begins the book as almost pathologically happy. He himself describes it as \u201cMy blistering happiness\u201d<\/strong> and says, \u201cI don\u2019t remember a time in all of my life when I wasn\u2019t happy.\u201d<\/strong> Those elements are great; they immediately signal that something isn\u2019t right, and that Malcolm is destined for a journey leading to disillusionment (if not somewhere worse). The pasted-on-smile tone is also great because it makes readers wonder if Malcolm really is alright, and whether he himself knows the answer to that question.<\/p>\n

However, when faced with crowds of protesters early on (even before any of Cain\u2019s major revelations come forth), Malcolm says, \u201cMy task at hand became daunting,\u201d<\/strong> and, \u201cMy panic returned.\u201d<\/strong> These are small contradictions, but for readers who will enjoy this book\u2014those who love dense worlds and dark sci-fi that asks hard questions\u2014a more subtle and immersive approach that juxtaposes the daunting surroundings with Malcom\u2019s initial, unbeatable optimism, might paint a more evocative picture that something literally isn\u2019t right in his head.<\/p>\n

While that type of issue pops up throughout the novel, it doesn\u2019t stop Memory, Memory, Go Away<\/em> from being a truly unique read or make its questions and commentary any less potent. Selna\u2019s book does what any good sci-fi must. It makes audiences ponder how its futuristic philosophies exist in the world we occupy now, and for creative debate alone, readers should check it out.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Eric Mayrhofer\u2019s book review of Memory Memory Go Away <\/em>by Christopher W. Selna! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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Memory Memory Go Away by Christopher W. Selna Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy \/ Cyberpunk ISBN: 9798993607627 Print Length: 474 pages Amazon Reviewed by Eric Mayrhofer Christopher Selna explores the power, trauma, and the cost of mental health in the thought-provoking gothic cyberpunk novel Memory, Memory, Go Away. What if you could change your life by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}