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Summary
Summary
A frightening dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind - a nightmarish mix of 1984 and Never Let Me Go
Sorrow is inefficient. It's also inescapable.
Lieutenant Dev Singh dutifully spends his days recording the memories of people who, struck with incurable depression, will soon have their minds erased in order to be more productive members of society. After all, the Bureau knows what's best for you.
At night though, hidden in the dark, Dev remembers and writes in his secret journal the special moments shared with him - the small laugh of a toddler, the stillness of a late afternoon. The first flutter of love. But when the Bureau finds out he's been recounting the memories - and that the depression is in him, too - he's sent to a sanatorium to heal.
A nightmarish descent from sadness to madness, THE COLLECTOR is a dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind.
Author Notes
Laura Kat Young , author of The Butcher , is a writer and teacher living in Chicago with her family. Her works blend genre and seek to explore a deeper understanding of human behavior. The 2019-2021 Writer-in-Residence at the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, her works have appeared in The Blood Pudding , Shoreline of Infinity , The Lindenwood Review and others. More can be found at www.laurakatyoung.com.
@writerlylaura
Reviews (1)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This depressing dystopian horror tale from Young (The Butcher) takes readers to a carefully manicured world where grief is outlawed. Precious memories of the dead are erased by the Bureau to keep citizens productive and happy. Lt. Dev Singh is one of the Bureau's best collectors of memories, but when his talent for listening to those "struck" with grief turns into a habit of writing down their recollections for himself and reliving them, he falls into exactly the kind of depression he was meant to prevent. When he is reported for being "struck" himself, Dev must face the horrific process of removing his sadness by any means necessary. Writing in spare prose, Young harkens to some of the dystopian greats, with a keeper of memories who seems right out of The Giver, and a horrific solstice celebration scene of public gore. Torture, brainwashing, and isolation add a satisfying bite of horror throughout. However, the dystopia itself is distant: two-thirds of the novel is set in an isolated sanatorium, with little access to the Orwellian world readers are promised. Still, this unsettling tragedy cuts deep. (Sept.)
