The devastating realization at the climax of is that these are not memories.
The story follows Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist hired by the military to communicate with aliens (Heptapods) who have landed on Earth. Unlike the movie, which adds geopolitical tension and military subplots, the story is intimate. It focuses entirely on the process of decoding the Heptapod language and how that process rewires the human brain. Historia De Tu Vida Ted Chiang.pdf