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Memento Mori

Jonathan Nolan

4.01 · Rating details · 851 ratings · 108 reviews

A man named Earl has anterograde amnesia. Because of his inability to remember things for more than a few minutes, he uses notes and tattoos to keep track of new information.

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ebook, Short story, 12 pages

Published June 28th 2001 by Esquire (first published 2001)

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Lists with This Book

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4.01 ·

Rating details

· 851 ratings · 108 reviews

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Dec 26, 2011 Nilesh Kashyap rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Martha, something that you can finally finish

Recommended to Nilesh by: Christopher Nolan

Shelves: short-story

You're fucked up as shit. But that is not the tragedy of your life. The worst joke that life has played on you is that you don't even remember that your life is a fucking wreck. You need a bell tied around your neck to keep you reminding everytime that, someone fucked you real bad. And now you can't do a thing about it, because in a few minutes time you'll be wiped clean as a new slate, thinking where are you and biggest question what you got to do next!

"A corpse. A vegetable who probably would

"A corpse. A vegetable who probably wouldn't remember to eat or take a shit if someone wasn't there to remind you.

You can't have a normal life anymore. You must know that. How can you have a girlfriend if you can't remember her name? Can't have kids, not unless you want them to grow up with a dad who doesn't recognize them. Sure as hell can't hold down a job. Not too many professions out there that value forgetfulness. Prostitution, maybe. Politics, of course.
No. Your life is over. You're a dead man."

No, No No No, I must stop quoting those lines from this short-story, because I don't want to end up writing the whole story in this review, because every line is so very quotable. And moreover I don't want to ruin your reading experience.

I want you to experience everything firsthand from the story itself. I want you to you to have goosebumps, like I had. Rub your hand, still thrilled, to smoothen your skin, from those goosebumps, like I did. I want to hear you say 'Motherf---er', even more thrilled and in the similar hushed voice, like I said.

Written by Jonathan Nolan, brother of Christopher Nolan, director of many excellent movies. His movie Memento, one of the most creative movie, started from this short story. Though both remain same at the core, they are very much different.

That is it. I don't have anything to say about the story except the fact that I abso-fucking-lutely love the story.

How does it feel to be free from the clutches of time, when time becomes you puppet? You will know in few minutes 'time'.
Read it. Read it Now. Read it here.
...more

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Dec 20, 2018 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: hey-shorty, review-projects-2018

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

boilerplate mission statement intro:

for the past two years, i’ve set december’s project aside to do my own version of a short story advent calendar. it’s not a true advent calendar since i choose all the stories myself, but what it lacks in the ‘element of surprise’ department it more than makes up for in hassle, as i try to cram even MORE reading into a life already overcrammed with impossible personal goals (live up to your potential! find meaningful work! learn to

...more

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Mar 26, 2017 Emer rated it it was ok

Recommended to Emer by: Rohisa

Shelves: read2017, reviewed, short-stories, 2stars

"Two brothers had an idea for a story. One brother turned it into a most original movie, Memento. The other wrote this short story."

Read it here and then go scratch your head a lot. I love this kind of short story. Nothing is as it seems and yet everything is as it seems.

Many thanks to lovely Rohisa for writing THIS REVIEW and drawing my attention to this short that is so interlinked with one of my all time favourite films. If you haven't seen Memento yet, honestly what are you waiting for?!?!?

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Dec 10, 2017 Simona Bartolotta rated it liked it

Shelves: short-stories-and-novellas, in-english, ebooks, mystery-and-thriller

“The only way out of this mess, of course, is to take steps to ensure that you control the idiots that you become.”

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Mar 11, 2012 Jonathan Terrington rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, university, gritty-reads, books-with-films

Memento Mori - remember your mortality.

The key topic of this short story - only twelve pages in fact - focuses around mortality. Because the main character is afflicted with a condition which causes random memory loss. Thus every action he performs could be forgotten from the funeral of his wife, to what he was doing in the hospital.

What Jonathan Nolan (yes the writer brother of Christopher Nolan who created the film Memento and so many other great clever films) conveys poignantly through a few ...more

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Sep 21, 2014 Sharad rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, books-into-movies

My first audiobook...amazing flow. Narrated by the Author himself.

Although I would say I was distracted while listening to it and will have to listen to it again. But its not going to be a problem because its a short story with a narration of just half an hour.

If anybody else wants to listen, the link is below:
https://soundcloud.com/mappingtheterr...

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Nov 02, 2012 Sunny rated it it was amazing

You've stumbled across this short story and think it sounds familiar.

Read it now.

Before you forget about it.

Read it now.

Before it's gone from your mind forever.

Read it now.

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Jul 15, 2018 Jesse Candido rated it really liked it

if you’re looking forward, you’re looking in the wrong direction

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Jan 04, 2015 Literary Ames {Against GR Censorship} rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015, free-read, online-story, stage-and-screen, short-story, crime-mystery-thriller, psychology, male-authors

Memento Mori is the free short story that inspired Nolan's brother, Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar) to make mind-bending film Memento starring Guy Pearce.

Earl is a permanent patient at a hospital since he was injured in the attack which saw Earl's wife raped and killed. His injury has caused permanent brain damage meaning he's unable to convert short-term into long-term memories. Earl remembers everything before the damage, but nothing after, so his memory is only ten minutes lon Memento Mori is the free short story that inspired Nolan's brother, Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar) to make mind-bending film Memento starring Guy Pearce.

Earl is a permanent patient at a hospital since he was injured in the attack which saw Earl's wife raped and killed. His injury has caused permanent brain damage meaning he's unable to convert short-term into long-term memories. Earl remembers everything before the damage, but nothing after, so his memory is only ten minutes long.

You can't have a normal life anymore. You must know that. How can you have a girlfriend if you can't remember her name? Can't have kids, not unless you want them to grow up with a dad who doesn't recognize them. Sure as hell can't hold down a job. Not too many professions out there that value forgetfulness. Prostitution, maybe. Politics, of course.

No. Your life is over. You're a dead man. The only thing the doctors are hoping to do is teach you to be less of a burden to the orderlies. And they'll probably never let you go home, wherever that would be.

So the question is not "to be or not to be," because you aren't. The question is whether you want to do something about it. Whether revenge matters to you.

It does to most people. For a few weeks, they plot, they scheme, they take measures to get even. But the passage of time is all it takes to erode that initial impulse. Time is theft, isn't that what they say? And time eventually convinces most of us that forgiveness is a virtue. Conveniently, cowardice and forgiveness look identical at a certain distance. Time steals your nerve.

No doubt Memento Mori is interesting and insightful. A man with no memory has nothing to lose. Punishment for taking revenge on his wife's killer is going to be meaningless to him, although I'm not sure it's realistic for Earl to actually achieve this goal with a ten-minute memory even with the notes tattooed on his body to remind him of what he needs to do.

Jonathan Nolan's narration of Memento Mori is also available for free on YouTube. ...more

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Nov 20, 2016 Ger rated it it was amazing

Shelves: digital-format, mystery, suspense

Memento Mori es una historia corta escrita por Jonathan Nolan y que sirvió de base para la película Memento que dirigió su hermano Cristopher. Comienza con Earl despertando en un hospital, sin ninguna idea de como llegó ahi, sufre una especie de amnesia que le impide grabar nuevos recuerdos por lo cual olvida lo que hace apenas minutos después. La forma que tiene de enfrentarse a este problema es dejándose mensajes a si mismo en notas post-it y tatuajes.

Si bien es breve, logra desarrollar adecua ...more

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Jul 14, 2015 Mohamad rated it really liked it

داستان فراموش نکن که خواهی مرد.فیلم یادآوری بر اساس این داستان ساخته شده.ایده مرکزی فیلم و داستان یکی هست ولی هر کدام راه خودشونو رفتن.قسمت های فرد داستان از زبان دوم شخص و قسمت های زوج توسط دانای کل روایت شده.با اینکه فیلم فوقالعاده هست اما اگر قرار باشه بین فیلم و داستان یکی رو انتخاب کنم بدون شک داستان رو انتخاب میکنم.به دلیل ویژگی شاخصی که داستان داره و اون اینه که قسمت های دوم شخص داستان در واقع از زبانِ ناخودآگاهِ قهرمانِ داستان هست که اونو به انتقام و یادآوری تحریک میکنه

و یک یادآوری دیگر ...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Mr. Noc rated it it was amazing

Scariest thing I have ever read.

Holy shit.

Just

Holy

Shit.

Nothing I have ever read or seen has touched me this deeply.

I think I may be scarred for life.
And if not,
Then I finally Understand what that means.

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Apr 25, 2016 Cassie R. (cassie-loves-reading) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-for-school

What on earth? We're doing an analysis of this short story and the movie counterpart in class today and I have a feeling it's gonna be a tough one.

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Oct 28, 2012 Cheryl rated it really liked it

Recommended to Cheryl by: Nilesh Kashyap

Shelves: short-stories, fiction

The short story that gave birth to the terrific movie Memento, made by the author's brother Christopher Nolan.

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May 30, 2016 Kelly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, adult, novellas, mental-health-and-illness, thriller

That was wild.

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Jul 22, 2012 Andreea Obreja rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-english, short-stories, ebooks, to-re-read

Would make a good (maybe great) action movie. Although I have the feeling I've already seen it/something like it.

I like the ideas too. Liking them doesn't mean believing them, though.

"But you’re not the man you used to be. Not even half. You’re a fraction; you’re the tenminute man."

"So how can you forgive if you can’t remember to forget?"

"You can’t have a normal life anymore. You must know that. How can you have a girlfriend if you can’t remember her name? Can’t have kids, not unless you want Would make a good (maybe great) action movie. Although I have the feeling I've already seen it/something like it.

I like the ideas too. Liking them doesn't mean believing them, though.

"But you’re not the man you used to be. Not even half. You’re a fraction; you’re the tenminute man."

"So how can you forgive if you can’t remember to forget?"

"You can’t have a normal life anymore. You must know that. How can you have a girlfriend if you can’t remember her name? Can’t have kids, not unless you want them to grow up with a dad who doesn’t recognize them. Sure as hell can’t hold down a job. Not too many professions out there that value forgetfulness. Prostitution, maybe. Politics, of course. No. Your life is over. You’re a dead man. The only thing the doctors are hoping to do is teach you to be less of a burden to the orderlies. And they’ll probably never let you go home, wherever that would be.

So the question is not “to be or not to be,” because you aren’t. The question is whether you want to do something about it. Whether revenge matters to you. It does to most people. For a few weeks, they plot, they scheme, they take measures to get even. But the passage of time is all it takes to erode that initial impulse. Time is theft, isn’t that what they say? And time eventually convinces most of us that forgiveness is a virtue. Conveniently, cowardice and forgiveness look identical at a certain distance. Time steals your nerve."

"You’d probably prefer to sit in your little room and cry. Live in your finite collection of memories, carefully polishing each one. Half a life set behind glass and pinned to cardboard like a collection of exotic insects. You’d like to live behind that glass, wouldn’t you? Preserved in aspic." I kinda would and that's scary...

Interesting: "Here’s the truth: People, even regular people, are never just any one person with one set of attributes. It’s not that simple. We’re all at the mercy of the limbic system, clouds of electricity drifting through the brain. Every man is broken into twenty-four-hour fractions, and then again within those twenty-four hours. It’s a daily pantomime, one man yielding control to the next: a backstage crowded with old hacks clamoring for their turn in the spotlight. Every week, every day. The angry man hands the baton over to the sulking man, and in turn to the sex addict, the introvert, the conversationalist. Every man is a mob, a chain gang of idiots. This is the tragedy of life. Because for a few minutes of every day, every man becomes a genius. Moments of clarity, insight, whatever you want to call them. The clouds part, the planets get in a neat little line, and everything becomes obvious. I should quit smoking, maybe, or here’s how I could make a fast million, or such and such is the key to eternal happiness. That’s the miserable truth. For a few moments, the secrets of the universe are opened to us. Life is a cheap parlor trick.

But then the genius, the savant, has to hand over the controls to the next guy down the pike, most likely the guy who just wants to eat potato chips, and insight and brilliance and salvation are all entrusted to a moron or a hedonist or a narcoleptic. The only way out of this mess, of course, is to take steps to ensure that you control the idiots that you become. To take your chain gang, hand in hand, and lead them. The best way to do this is with a list." I wonder... Maybe not 24 personalities per day, but maybe just a few...

"Everybody is waiting for the end to come, but what if it already passed us by? What if the final joke of Judgment Day was that it had already come and gone and we were none the wiser? Apocalypse arrives quietly; the chosen are herded off to heaven, and the rest of us, the ones who failed the test, just keep on going, oblivious. Dead already, wandering around long after the gods have stopped keeping score, still optimistic about the future. I guess if that’s true, then it doesn’t matter what you do. No expectations. If you can’t find him, then it doesn’t matter, because nothing matters. And if you do find him, then you can kill him without worrying about the consequences. Because there are no consequences." - never heard this version before. Not that I believe it...

"I just wanted you to know that I’m proud of you. No one who matters is left to say it. No one left is going to want to." - Him to himself in a note

"What the hell do you need a watch for, anyway? It was an antique. Deadweight tugging at your wrist. Symbol of the old you. The you that believed in time. No. Scratch that. It’s not so much that you’ve lost your faith in time as that time has lost its faith in you. And who needs it, anyway? Who wants to be one of those saps living in the safety of the future, in the safety of the moment after the moment in which they felt something powerful? Living in the next moment, in which they feel nothing. Crawling down the hands of the clock, away from the people who did unspeakable things to them. Believing the lie that time will heal all wounds – which is just a nice way of saying that time deadens us. But you’re different. You’re more perfect. Time is three things for most people, but for you, for us, just one. A singularity. One moment. This moment. Like you’re the center of the clock, the axis on which the hands turn. Time moves about you but never moves you. It has lost its ability to affect you. What is it they say? That time is theft? But not for you. Close your eyes and you can start all over again. Conjure up that necessary emotion, fresh as roses. Time is an absurdity. An abstraction. The only thing that matters is this moment. This moment a million times over. You have to trust me. If this moment is repeated enough, if you keep trying – and you have to keep trying – eventually you will come across the next item on your list." THE END ...more

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Jul 27, 2018 Mind the Book rated it it was ok

Shelves: short-stories, psychiatry, psychology, book-and-film

Fick för mig att äntligen läsa den här under en liten Christopher Nolan-filmvecka med Interstellar och Memento. Hade hört att brodern Jonathan Nolan en gång skrev den här novellen under eller efter en psykologikurs och innehållet liknar en kurs jag själv har varje vt, 'Psykologi 2a'. Fast för att fördjupa oss i anterograd amnesi läser vi Oliver Sacks fallbeskrivning The Last Hippie, som alla, inklusive Fröken, ÄLSKAR, inte minst feelgoodfilmversionen som följer, The Music Never Stopped.

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Sep 14, 2018 Tessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-reads, contemporary, short-story

I've seen Memento quite long ago and although it confused me so much, I absolutely loved it and I understood why it is considered a masterpiece. And now I've got to read the story behind it, written by Christopher Nolan's brother and I loved it as well!

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Jul 11, 2018 Nicole rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, short-stories

Really neat companion piece to the movie "Memento". You can see all the same elements here (which makes sense, since they were written from the same idea) but the short story format tells the concept in a slightly different way.

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Oct 12, 2017 Mimona masarwi rated it really liked it

I think this story even though its only 12 pages, talked about a lot of topics but the main thing was time and forgetting things...
I think one can interpret the events in the story in many ways, the notes that the Mc keep, the way that he knew about what will happen when the next morning he will wake up, things that he has forgotten and his own funeral if he was there on time or late just as his wife repeatedly told him!!

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Oct 29, 2012 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-story

To some extent, I imagined this as a prequel to Memento the movie. Having seen the movie, I can see the problem other reviewers have that the movie stood out as much better. Certainly the movie had more emotional impact because you met so many other people and saw the effect the main character had on them, especially the effects that he was not aware of. But the central concept is so mind-blowing, and the ramifications so chaotic and unpredictable, I can't really say the movie was *that* much be To some extent, I imagined this as a prequel to Memento the movie. Having seen the movie, I can see the problem other reviewers have that the movie stood out as much better. Certainly the movie had more emotional impact because you met so many other people and saw the effect the main character had on them, especially the effects that he was not aware of. But the central concept is so mind-blowing, and the ramifications so chaotic and unpredictable, I can't really say the movie was *that* much better. I just happened to see it first, so the mind-blowingness factor receded a bit when confronted by it in the form of a story.

In the end, this is an amazing little story. It is efficient and very little space is wasted on anything but conveying the main concept and one poignant aspect of its consequences. The right amount of vagueness is conveyed, with humor, and insight, and self-deprecation. The painful details seemed just the right amount. It made me ponder this character's situation all over again, even though I had already considered it at length after seeing the film. So it was very effective.

Book spoiler/movie spoiler: (view spoiler)

I give this story 4 stars, and the movie 5 stars. The movie did have more impact because of the relationships, and the device of running things backward was amazingly, eerily effective; so there was a slightly higher level of brilliance in the movie. ...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Lau rated it really liked it

Para quienes vimos (y nos costó entender) la película Memento, este cuento resulta más que interesante. Está escrito por Jonathan Nolan, el hermano del famoso director de cine Christopher Nolan, y fue este cuento el que originó la extrañísima película.

Son 11 pequeños capítulos donde se intercalan la historia actual de Earl que despierta en un hospital sin recordar nada, y una narración tipo monólogo de un hombre hablándole a Earl en un tono sarcástico y bastante malintencionado.
A esta voz en off ...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Paula rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Fans of Christopher Nolan films

Remember your mortality. Remember you will die. That you must die. Memento Mori.

The fervent tone of Memento Mori rushes both the reader and narrator through each moment in time. We feel a sense of bewilderment alongside the narrator every time he wakes up and transports to a new scene. There is a persistent underlying haste to move through each moment and accomplish something before it is forgotten, before it is gone. For good that is, because it can never be brought back, not even by memory. "T ...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Lars K Jensen rated it liked it

Maybe I'm under the influence of the fact that 'Memento' is such a great movie, that I really couldn't let that go and focus on the story behind the movie, 'Memento Mori' by Christopher Nolan's brother Jonathan.

It's a good short story, but I feel that it is little more than that. The skeleton in the story (a guy who can't make new memories and remembers two faces; that of his wife and the guy who killed her) makes for a great movie - as you no doubt know, if you have seen the movie.

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Mar 19, 2014 Glire rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-saw-the-movie, short-stories, favorites, quotable, releido, crossfit-cerebral, you-are-my-downfall-you-are-my-muse, this-is-thriller-thriller-night

Es realmente admirable como Jonathan Nolan logró escribir una historia tan compleja en tan pocas páginas,como logró con tan pocas palabras ser la base para la (genial) película que es Memento.

En cierta forma, la escritura me recordó un poco a la de Fight Club. Un estilo que no es para cualquiera, pero que a mi me encanta.

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Apr 04, 2017 Dennis rated it really liked it

Shelves: short-stories, mystery, freebies

If you don't know this Jonathan Nolan short story, you might possibly know the movie "Memento" by his brother Christopher Nolan.

You guessed it. It was based on this story.

4.5 stars

You can read it here.

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Nov 28, 2016 Mike Michaels rated it really liked it

Found a copy of this short story here:

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/...

A fascinating short story that does not follow the same plot as the film, but still explores the themes of identity, mortality, and the ability or inability to find mental clarity.

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Nov 26, 2015 Shahin Ghaeminejad rated it liked it

.به هرحال در دنیای پست مدرن داشتن «هارد» قوی تر مهمتر از داشتن «سی پی یو»ی قوی است

قهرمان داستان مشکل هارد دارد و نویسنده مشکل سی پی یو

:)))

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Aug 26, 2010 MaRia rated it really liked it

Shelves: filmed, read-in-2010

"Not too many professions out there that value forgetfulness. Prostitution, maybe. Politics, of course".

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May 16, 2015 Zohal rated it it was amazing

Damn. This was good. Especially since I haven't seen the film.

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About Jonathan Nolan

Jonathan Nolan

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Jonathan Nolan is a British-American author and screenwriter. His short story „Memento Mori“ (Latin for remember you will die) was used by his brother, director Christopher Nolan, as the basis for the screenplay for the critically acclaimed film Memento. He has also co-written the screenplays for The Prestige and The Dark Knight, with his brother. He recently created the CBS drama Person of Inte ...more

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Quotes from Memento Mori

“Time is an absurdity. An abstraction. The only thing that matters is this moment. This moment a million times over. You have to trust me. If this moment is repeated enough, if you keep trying — and you have to keep trying — eventually you will come across the next item on your list.” — 40 likes

“Believing the lie that time will heal all wounds is just a nice way of saying that time deadens us.” — 34 likes

More quotes…