Review by Booklist Review
In five satisfyingly long short stories, singer Monáe and her five collaborators paint a picture of a technocapitalist dystopia ruled by an organization that monitors the memories of its populace. While the New Dawn erases the memories of "deviants" to create a standardized future, underground, gender-nonconforming rebels fight back by remembering, sharing, storytelling, and creating. A student tired of sprinting through life finds a pantry where time stands still; Director Librarian Seshet discovers that rebels are clogging memory collectors with impossible, made-up memories; a protective sister tries to figure out the best moment to use her father's pendant, which can supposedly turn back time--but only once. Monáe's tales, coauthored with Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, Eve L. Ewing, Yohanca Delgado, and Sheree Renée Thomas, are blistering, hopeful, and richly written. Knowledge of Monáe's 2018 album and short film Dirty Computer isn't required, but fans will enjoy finding familiar faces and Easter eggs throughout the book. All readers will finish the book craving more of these extremely queer, bold stories that battle gatekeeping and erasure, digging into both the worst potential of a surveillance state and the gritty glimmer of the rebellion that can defeat it. HIGH DEMAND BACKSTORY: Grammy-nominated Monáe captured fans' imaginations with her cyberpunk vision, and they and new readers will flock to this collection.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this moving, triumphant collection, singer Monáe returns to the dystopian world of her Dirty Computer concept album and short film. These five sci-fi shorts, each written with a different coauthor, explore the consequences of a totalitarian regime that, in pursuit of a pure society, monitors its citizens' identities, thoughts, and relationships and scrubs clean the memories and personhoods of those who are labeled deviant. In "Save Changes," written with Yohanca Delgado, a young woman has one chance to change the past and worries how to use it. "Timebox," written with Eve L. Ewing, sees a couple fight over how to use a pantry removed from time, while in "Timebox Altar(ed)," written with Sheree Renée Thomas, a gaggle of children get a glimpse into a solarpunk future. The longest entries are the standouts: the title story, written with Alaya Dawn Johnson, and "Nevermind," written with Danny Lore, are both odes to queer Afrofuturism, illuminating the importance of love, community, and human connection in the darkest of times. Though a special treat for Dirty Computer fans, readers won't need to be familiar with the album to marvel at the big ideas, riveting action, and hopeful message here. This is a knockout. Agents: Eve Atterman and Suzanne Gluck, WME. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Singer-songwriter Monáe narrates her anthology that expands on the universe she created in her Dirty Computer album. She collaborated with other science fiction writers--Yohanca Delgado, Eve L. Ewing, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, and Sheree Renée Thomas--to write the overarching story about the rise of the totalitarian regime, New Dawn, in its search for Dirty Computers, deviant thinkers in need of New Dawn's corrections. Monáe's narration paints a bleak yet vivid world, while Bahni Turpin voices the many who seek the strength to stand up to New Dawn and their ideals. This collection celebrates those Dirty Computers's fight for individuality in a world where memories can be adjusted, decimated, and used as capital. These bold, innovative stories use magical realism to tackle themes like the value of memories, the scarcity of time, and the celebration of differences, particularly as it pertains to the LGBTQ community. VERDICT This is no mere, dark reflection of the world. This audiobook offers the listener stories with the timely and timeless message that appears repeatedly in great science fiction: the world may seem dark now, but everyone can strive to make the future better.--James Gardner
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In her debut collection, musician and actress Monáe collaborates with a different writer for every story to explore a world defined by some people's resistance to a dangerous surveillance state in which memories are currency. An introduction, "Breaking Dawn," lays out the collection's guiding thought experiment: In a world with cameras everywhere, most people have accepted the idea that "an eye in the sky might protect us from...ourselves, our world"--and soon, not content with seeing the surface of things, the New Dawn found ways "past the encrypted walls of our minds," into people's thoughts and memories. This constant surveillance divides the nation into those who are safe and clean and those who are "deviant, complex"--the dirty computers. The title story, written with Alaya Dawn Johnson, explores the life of Seshet, the Director Librarian of Little Delta, the New Dawn's highest-ranking position. Interested in the contradictions of bureaucracy and the conflict within someone with the power to enforce rules who doesn't abide by them, Seshet investigates the curious background of her new lover. "Nevermind" is both a memory-enhancing drug and a story (written with Danny Lore) set in an off-grid community where women and nonbinary people can exist free from "people trying to force so much on [them]. Capitalism for one; monogamy for another." The theme of collective resistance continues in some of the other stories. In "Timebox," written with Eve L. Ewing, a couple discovers extra time hidden in their pantry, pushing them to grapple with inequities in the way time is distributed. The last story, "Timebox Alta(red)," written with Sheree Renée Thomas, has a group of children create an altar that transports them through time and space, showing that you can't build the future if you don't dream it first. Studded with references to Monáe's album Dirty Computer (2018), the book is a clever adaptation of music to a new form. Emotionally raw and with a wholehearted love for people, these stories will make readers long to forge deeper human connections by sharing and holding one another's memories. A celebration of queer and Afrofuturist science fiction saluting creativity in difference. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
