The Cleaners

Faraway collection

By: Ken Liu

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Touch the past or wash it away? Two sisters have a choice in this unforgettable short story of everyday magic and the power of memory by the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Ken Liu.

Gui is a professional cleaner at A Fresh Start, scrubbing away the unpleasant layers of memory that build up on the personal objects of his customers. Memory-blind himself, he can’t feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable. Until her sister, Beatrice, ultrasensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara’s mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches to the heart of their shared history.

The Cleaners is part of Faraway, a collection of retold fairy tales that take the happily-ever-after in daring new directions. Whether read or listened to in one sitting, prepare to be charmed, moved, enlightened, and frightened all over again.

©2020 Ken Liu (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

The Cleaners was Unique

This short story is very unique. It talks about the power of memories and how they affect different people. How people can distance themselves from others due to the emotions caused by the memories and how others can find strength in holding on to them.

Deserves a Whole Novel

I need more time in this universe to truly understand the way memory cleaning works, to get to know the characters more. And I really, really want too! Very intriguing and thought provoking

Excellent concept

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. The idea was novel and the story told in a believable way. With it split from three different people's point of view, it got a bit hard to follow at points, trying to remember whose point was being made, but overall a pleasant listen.

So much to contemplate that I listened twice

THE CLEANERS by Ken Liu has an amazing premise, and it was fascinating to think about it on a personal level: what memories would I have removed from my life and existence? Any? Many? The writing really stands out , with a bunch of quotable lines that really sink in and mean something bigger, beyond the story itself. Particularly interesting to me and what I really enjoy are the bookish references and the idea of what each reader brings with them to read the book. There is much to contemplate in this short story (a one-hour listen), so I listened to it twice in a row. Kate Rudd’s narration is excellent.

A touching story about family and memory

Giu is a cleaner, the owner of A Fresh Start, and he cleans away the unpleasant memories that have adhered to his customers' personal possessions. Giu has an unusual handicap in this world; he's memory-blind. He's not able to feel or read even his own memories on objects, and that created a challenge for his parents in teaching him their trade. Yet it also gives him certain advantages; he doesn't feel the pains of the bad memories he's scraping away.

Beatrice is hyper-sensitive, and makes a very good living doing forensic readings of memories attached to items involved in legal cases.

Clara has a fairly normal level of memory sensitivity, and after a bad breakup with her former boyfriend, wants to rid their shared items that he left behind of the painful memories. For this, she turns to Giu.

But Clara and Beatrice are sisters, and has an old, four-color pen that holds a memory that's at the heart of what binds them together.

When Beatrice invites Clara to lunch, and hands Clara that pen, Clara experiences that memory again, in full, and has something to think about that might change her mind.

It's an interesting, thoughtful, and touching story.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.