Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Memory Piece by Lisa Ko - Available

Memory Piece

A Novel

by Lisa Ko
Eunice Wong
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available
NAMED A VOGUE BEST BOOK OF 2024
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY BOOKRIOT, THE MILLIONS, LITHUB AND MORE!
"A moving, strikingly evocative exploration of New York's art, tech, and activism scenes across the decades."–Vogue
The award-winning author of The Leavers offers a visionary novel of friendship, art, and ambition that asks: What is the value of a meaningful life?
In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity.
By the time they are adults, their dreams are murkier. As a performance artist, Giselle must navigate an elite social world she never conceived of. As a coder thrilled by the internet’s early egalitarian promise, Jackie must contend with its more sinister shift toward monetization and surveillance. And as a community activist, Ellen confronts the increasing gentrification and policing overwhelming her New York City neighborhood. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves. 
Moving from the predigital 1980s to the art and tech subcultures of the 1990s to a strikingly imagined portrait of the 2040s, Memory Piece is an innovative and audacious story of three lifelong friends as they strive to build satisfying lives in a world that turns out to be radically different from the one they were promised.
*Includes a downloadable PDF of images from the book

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 19, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593829028
      • File size: 277936 KB
      • Duration: 09:39:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 27, 2023
      Ko (The Leavers) spans past, present, and future with the astute story of three Chinese American women from the New York City tristate area over the course of their lives. As a teen in 1980s suburbia, Giselle Chin knows she wants to be an artist, and that her performance art will provide “a container for the uncertainty and overwhelm of the future.” At Chinese language school, she meets Jackie Ong, who’s drawn to computers and feels “more kinship to machines” than people. At a party, the two encounter Ellen Ng, who later gets involved in political activism and moves to a community squat in New York City called Sola. As Giselle gains fame in the art world, she wonders whether celebrity will compromise her true vision, and if so, which one she’ll have to abandon. Jackie, too, must decide what really matters to her as she attempts to balance integrity and success while creating an online social network just as the internet begins to take off, and Ellen worries Sola will be undone by gentrification. For much of the narrative, the women’s individual story lines feel a bit disjointed, but Ko brings them together in a satisfying final act in the 2040s, when America is an authoritarian police state. This is a worthy follow-up to Ko’s striking debut. Agent: Ayesha Pande, Pande Literary.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Multiple Earphones Award winner Eunice Wong performs this novel about a decades-long friendship between three Asian American women. Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng come of age in the '80s and '90s, trying to make their way in the world by creating art, starting a business, and becoming a neighborhood activist, respectively. As the narrative moves into the near future, we follow the three friends through life changes, but they always find a way back to each other. Wong's performance captures the friends' perspectives, giving each a unique narrative voice. In Wong's narration, one friend sounds brusque and efficient, while another's voice is laid-back and easygoing. Wong's outstanding performance is one of the must-listens of the year. K.D.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2024

      Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng grow up in the 1980s, friends connected through a common sense of alienation and rebellion. Giselle pursues a career in performance art, beginning by spending a year in a secret room in a New Jersey mall. Ellen is a coder, creating freeware to help build the fledgling internet and hoping it will live up to its democratic promise. Ellen becomes a community activist looking to provide housing, food, and justice for the people of New York. As the decades pass, each woman is confronted with societal changes and challenges, from monetization of the internet to gentrification of working-class neighborhoods. The dystopian future of the 2040s shows a world where anything is possible--but only for the rich. Ko (The Leavers) offers a view of life from the pre-digital age to the near future, with a stark warning about what the coming years may hold. Eunice Wong's well-modulated narration captures the intensity of teenage angst and adult disaffection, conveying the characters' struggles to survive in a world they did not anticipate. VERDICT An absorbing novel with elements of historical fiction and dystopia, perfect for fans of Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading