THE MEMORY MUSEUM

A collection of stories navigating connection, class, censorship, and immigration through the varied lives of modern Chinese people.

In the opening story, “Scenes From Childhood,” the elderly narrator, known to the reader only by her childhood pet name, Tiaotiao, recounts the memories that have begun swarming her consciousness as she nears death. She frequently thinks about her connection to the town where her ancestors once lived, how hearing a poem in the town’s distinctive dialect felt like “reliving the lyricism of an ancient time.” The following stories are linked only by a loose theme of connection, exploring how immigration, censorship, class, and the Covid-19 pandemic have affected relationships with oneself, with others, and with place. Each story offers a memory-like snippet of complicated lives: A group of thieves roams Kunshan, looking for their next meal; in Pittsburgh, a wealthy woman has an affair with her masseur; an international student journeys back to China to tell her parents she has a brain tumor. In “Magic, or Something Less Assuring,” Ting and Sibo take a preplanned trip to Morocco before finalizing their divorce. Their worldviews, which have shifted since they married more than a decade ago, often clash, and they argue about everything from China’s response to the Covid pandemic to their complicated feelings toward each other. Yet they find a moment of peace at the end of the story, gazing out over the Sahara desert: “The sun seemed so far and so close at once, so majestic but so intimate, performing only for the two of them, kissing the horizon, being subsumed with the steadiness and precision of a prima ballerina.” With beautiful prose and thoughtful character building, Lin makes each of her characters feel real.

A stunning debut, showcasing Lin’s masterful understanding of the beautiful and complex nature of human life.