In transitional justice and peacebuilding literature, the presentation of traumatic memory is thought to be predictably socially generative of healing, reconciliation, and justice. In rural Sierra Leone, however, the truth-telling performances of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission were commonly experienced as provocative and as providing "no good thing." This article explains this phenomenon by demonstrating how truth-telling in this case generated particular social expectations and perceptions of the self as victim among those who performed traumatic memory. However, because the process required no one to perform the reciprocal role of patron in this context, where reciprocal relationships of patron and client are the social norm, the process was unpredictably socially generative. The socially generative nature of performative memory led to dissatisfaction with the performance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Recognizing that performances of memory are also performative provides new purchase on the potentially negative implications of truth-telling in complex patrimonial systems.