Karen Memory

I struggle between four and five on this. As a reader, I really don't like first person stories, and I don't like reading a lot of dialect... and Karen Memory is a first person narrative written in dialect. Those two aspects predispose me against any story, but I still think this is a very worthwhile read for the most part. Even in the face of my prejudices for the chosen form, the narrator's dialect adds useful flavor and is still navigable enough that it didn't hinder my experience, which strikes me as a noteworthy achievement in itself.

The characters are brilliantly rendered, each seeming worthy of leading the novel themselves. Karen Memory's character and perspective are rich and engaging, and her coterie of fellow 'seamstresses' and allied tradespeople are a beautiful tapestry of distinct personalities. That is the reason to read the book, and I daresay reason enough to enjoy it. I am also an enormous fan of the wild west lawman Bass Reeves, and was delighted to discover he not only features prominently in the narrative, but that he also felt very true-to-life.

I feel poorly listing reservations with such a well-written book, but there were two issues that somewhat muted what was otherwise a delightful read. With so much art displayed in creating Karen Memory's social sphere, that brilliance frequently cut against the experience as well, because sometimes I felt the narrator we were tied to was the least interesting person in a scene, often feeling like the story's Doctor Watson rather than its title character. For most of the book, she is merely there for the ride, and while that left events feeling more realistically biographical, the requirements of that verisimilitude detract somewhat from the drama.

The second issue also stems from that narrative style - Karen Memory understands her world, and so she wastes little effort in describing it to us. Apparently she lives in a world of air ships, and rocket-packs, and sewing-machine-mecha. Mesmerism is a thing, but other magic and mysticism's practicality is unclear. It's in America, but in a fictional America, and just how close it sits to the real world is never made abundantly clear by the narrative. As a result, some of the big plot points are obfuscated by euphemisms the reader simply had no way to access, and the world never resolves into as sharp a focus as I would prefer.

Which feels silly to list. Perhaps it is best to say that the book is good enough that I feel I have to defend a less than perfect score.

This book is worth reading because Karen Memory and her friends are worth knowing. Seeing what bits of her world she sees, and experiencing what she experiences are worth doing.

"Set in the late 19th century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable's high-quality bordello. Through Karen's eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, begging sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone's mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered."



Oh my God, I loved this book.  Loved it as in I started it Tuesday at 8 PM, finished it Wednesday at 3:30 PM, and am posting this review on Thursday.

It grabbed me from the first page where it explains that prostitutes are taxed as seamstresses. They even have sewing machines -- a regular one and one that you get inside and use your body to control.  I don't understand how that would work but I want it!

The story is told from Karen's point of view. She has a great voice.  She is an uneducated sixteen year old who grew up with her father training horses.  After his death she ended up working as a "seamstress" in an upscale house.  The girls of the house are a family and protect and love each other in spite of their differences.  They are from many different races.  There is a trans woman. There are disabled women.  Some are lesbians who only serve male clients because it's their job.  Karen accepts this all but sometimes still falls into the casual prejudices of white women in that time.  Sometimes she gets called out on it.  Sometimes she needs to learn her lessons a harder way.

The women of Karen's house protect a prostitute escaping from a more disreputable house.  This fans the flames of a simmering rivalry into out and out war.  Karen gets grabbed by a thug at the market.



Don't worry though.  She hits him the face with a bag of onions.  She holds her own until the fight is stopped by the appearance of a U.S. Marshal.  He's chasing a murderer who was in Indian Territory previously.  When dead prostitutes start showing up, the Marshal enlists Karen and her friends to help his Comanche deputy and him find the bad guy.



This is a great read for any one who likes a fast moving adventure tale full of steam punk technology and daring ladies.  Karen is a great lesbian heroine who sees the world in her own unique way.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

Okay, so the eponymous Karen has several problems: someone is killing sex workers, and sheltering Priya, a woman who has escaped the gross human-trafficker mob boss is causing problems with Karen's boss. Also someone has a compulsion machine, and is using it to help the mob boss get elected. And Karen's stupid-infatuated, and maybe falling for Priya, who keeps trying to run off and get herself killed rescuing her sister who's still captive.

The whole book is a fairly atmospheric steampunk, told by Karen herself in the first person. (Karen Memery, not memory. Why then, is it 'memory' in the title? Is there some clever point being made that I'm missing?) Karen's voice is very distinctive, and the details of the world draw from history.

I honestly think this is the first genre book I've read where the protagonist is unapologetically a sex-worker. It's not about that, it's just her job, and her feelings about it are the same as most peoples' feelings about their jobs. I've read a lot of genre books where the protagonist is a former sex-worker, or worked in a brothel, but carefully makes sure you know she didn't do, you know, that, or is menaced with sex work as a horrible possibility. Karen just, you know, does sex work, since it's a way to make money that she doesn't hate more than any other available.

(Sidebar: Karen is a 'seamstress,' and her brothel pays a 'sewing machine tax' to stay in business. Is this a Pratchett joke, or is this an actual historical thing?)

Okay, so um. A problem I had reading this book is that Karen, as the narrator, tends to compare people to horses. She has horse-related issues, and horses are symbolically very important to her, but. A lot of the people she's meeting for the first time in this book are not-white people, which, obviously, is great! Sheriff Bass Reeves is a fairly major player! But it made me uncomfortable that she kept on comparing people of colour to an animal, even though I could see where it came from.