Great concept, but I didn't much care for the format. ( )

I'm as ambivalent about this brief story as I was about Liu's novel [b:The Three-Body Problem|20518872|The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past #1)|Liu Cixin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1415428227s/20518872.jpg|25696480], perhaps more so. While I thought it used the form well - focused, evocative, even poetic - it didn't really work for me as a tale. Perhaps it's because there were a couple of bits which annoyed me - in addition to the central premise of inherited memory, the use of the "majority of the brain" being unused is a trope that makes me roll my eyes ( I've still not been able to overcome this to watch Luc Besson's Lucy ). However, I am also annoyed at myself for being annoyed by these things; they are not used a "straight SF" way, but as pure metaphor, but this didn't stop my reaction. Perhaps there is just something in the style that doesn't work for me, possibly that it does not sit comfortably within SF, fantasy, or whatever, although that isn't usually something that bothers me if the writing is good enough. ( )

Disturbing. I didn't enjoy it but I can't say I'm not still thinking about it. ( )

In the novels I've read about Neanderthals, the authors seem attracted by the idea that they were able to access stores of inherited ancestral memories, a capability that has died out in modern humans. In this subtly disturbing story, neuroscientists in China discover that large 'fallow' parts of the human brain are host to these unactivated memories, which would allow a child to have access to all his or her parents' memories. The benefits would be huge, allowing the child immediately to speak and to develop at a speed exponentially greater than that of non-activated peers. Much of this subtly disturbing story focuses on a conversation between a pregnant mother, her attendant neuroscientist, and the fetus who is the first to be conceived with activated inherited memories. Although it's very short, it asks poignant questions about the merits of ignorance - or innocence - and about memory itself. Conceptually very impressive. ( )

I love how short stories can introduce and tackle deep ideas in a thorough way. The Weight of Memories is no different. Meaningful and impactful, this story is thought provoking, touching and moving. I was intrigued by the thought of an unborn child with memories, but was taken by surprise with the direction the story took. I highly recommend this very short story. ( )