Cracking open The Membranes by Chi Ta-Wei is like stepping into a lucid dream—immediately strange, unsettling, and utterly transformative. At just over 100 pages, this novella packs a breathtaking amount of critique into a story that can easily be devoured in a single sitting. It’s astonishing to consider that this prescient work, grappling with themes of climate collapse, capitalism, queerness, and the ethics of technology, was written in 1996. The future it imagines, however, feels disturbingly close.

At the heart of the story is Momo, a dermal care technician living in an underwater dystopia called T City. Momo’s life is defined by layers—of skin, of identity, of memory—all of which are called into question as her 30th birthday approaches. From her fraught relationship with her mother to the revelations about her existence, Momo’s journey is as much about peeling back the literal and metaphorical membranes that confine her as it is about reconciling with the world’s horrors.

I loved The Membranes's refusal to tether itself to traditional apocalyptic narratives. There’s no glorification of heterosexual reproduction or insistence on humanity’s survival as the ultimate goal. Instead, Chi Ta-Wei offers an unflinching critique of the human race, which continues to destroy itself even in the face of its own extinction. The novel’s queer futurism is radically defiant, challenging assumptions about identity, intimacy, and what it means to be human.

Momo is a fascinating protagonist, isolated both physically and emotionally. Her longing for connection is palpable, whether she’s tending to clients or reflecting on her lost childhood friendship with Andy, an android designed to save her life. But as the plot twists reveal, Momo’s reality is mediated by corporate control, reducing her to a literal piece of intellectual property. The implications of this are chilling, a stark reminder of how capitalism commodifies even the most intimate aspects of our existence.

Saying I “loved” this book feels inadequate. It’s a fever dream of a story—dense, disorienting, and deeply affecting. While not everything is fully explained, the novella’s speculative brilliance lies in its ability to provoke more questions than answers. I picked this up on a whim, and the impact it had on me was massive. I can’t recommend this enough to fans of translated, speculative, or science fiction books. 

📖 Recommended For:  Fans of speculative sci-fi, queer futurism, and thought-provoking storytelling; anyone intrigued by critiques of capitalism and climate dystopias. 

🔑 Key Themes: Queer Futurism, Climate Collapse, Capitalism and Corporatization, Identity and Memory, Technology and Intimacy, Autonomy and Connection.