If you could erase a memory from your mind, would you? And would you be the same person without it? This is one of the central questions of Adam Silvera’s More Happy Than Not. Published in 2015, this queer YA novel envisions a distant future in which a company named Leteo offers medical procedures which erase particular memories from the mind.
Consider all the ways that life might be better with such an option. Crime victims would be free from their trauma. Bitter exes would have forgotten the infidelity and abuse that shattered their unions. Family secrets could actually be buried, not just repressed.
Aaron, the protagonist of this story, has reason to forget. His father has recently killed himself. His crush, Thomas, claims to be straight. Wouldn’t it just be nice to erase all this and get back to enjoying comic books and rooftop movies? His best friend, Genevieve, seems more than happy to date him.
Since Aaron is gay, the moral implications of the procedure are heavier. There are some eerie parallels to conversion therapy. What is the difference between memory and identity? Can you lose the second without the first?
The pleasure of this book comes from its construction. Although told more or less linearly, it is a mind bender. I had to stop myself twice from turning back to confirm earlier details because I felt confused. By messing around with the narrative, the author is powerfully suggesting a world in which queerness is erased. The effect is chilling. Forget it all? I think not.
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