The Memory Police

 Welcome to the book shop! The Memory Police is a Japanese book by Yoko Ogawa, written in 1994, and is apparently written in a similar style to Franz Kafka or George Orwell. It doesn’t quite fit the standards, or criteria I guess, of western genres but most would consider it a dystopia/science fiction novel. 

"The Memory Police" by Yoko Ogawa is set on an isolated island where objects mysteriously vanish, along with the memories and emotions associated with them. The Memory Police enforce these disappearances, and those who remember the lost objects are taken away for potential experimentation. The protagonist hides her editor, who remembers everything, to protect him from the Memory Police. The book explores the eerie relationship between memory and reality as things vanish from consciousness before disappearing physically.

My thoughts on the book are mixed. On one hand the writing style comes off as very dull, which may be because of the translation from Japanese to English, but on the other hand it plays into the overall theme of brain fog and memory loss throughout the book. This does add to how invested we are in the story and how well we understand what the main characters are going through. Sometimes. Most of the time I found myself very bored and struggling to find the motivation to keep reading. That being said, things did really pick up towards the end and I actually got quite invested.

My favorite parts of the book were the segments of the narrator's novel, which seemed to relate to the way different parts of her life and identity were gradually disappearing with no way to hold on to them. I go more in-depth about this in the episode, but beware of spoilers since I do go into detail about the events of some scenes. 

Final thoughts? This episode is a wild-ride from start to finish, even if that ride is going 15 mph in a 40 at times. I'd say Ogawa's strongest suit was the poetic writing styles and gorgeous metaphors surrounding memories and identity. For a more detailed breakdown of my thoughts and my rating of The Memory Police, head over to my podcast and check out Episode 1.

See you next time dear customer, and happy reading!