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cozmicdotcom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Police brutality
Minor: Animal cruelty
clarksamanthab's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault
theliteratewalrus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Death of parent and Dysphoria
Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape
knunderb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Minor: Death of parent
a2n's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
bouebooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Death of parent
raoulalexander's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Blood
samuelh2020's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
plantbasedbride's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Originally published in Japanese in 1994, this recent translation by Stephen Snyder feels just as fresh, provocative, and topical as a new release.
Not only did I find this novel compulsively readable and deeply thought-provoking, but the disquieting tension left behind in pockets of amnesia as the disappearances increased in frequency and severity left me with a creeping sense of terror.
If you don’t enjoy anxiety-inducing dreamlike novels with an open ending, The Memory Police likely isn’t for you. But, if you, like me, live for an ever-present hazily oppressive quality clinging to each page like a memory just out of reach, I would recommend you pick this one up!
With themes including identity, loss, police brutality, control, and the creation of art as resistance against authoritarianism, The Memory Police is in no way light fare. The anxiety, isolation, fear, and emptiness these characters experience feel deeply relevant a year into the pandemic, speaking to this current chapter of history in a way Ogawa couldn’t have imagined 25 years ago.
Despite the heavy themes and gradual horror of the story within the story, The Memory Police contains its fair share of hope:
“My memories don’t feel as though they’ve been pulled up by the root. Even if they fade, something remains. Like tiny seeds that might germinate again if the rain falls. And even if a memory disappears completely, the heart retains something. A slight tremor or pain, some bit of joy, a tear.”
Not all is lost in this world of forgotten treasures and abandoned professions. There is love. There is art. There is a quiet, determined strength.
There are simple joys:
“His soul is too dense. If he comes out, he’ll dissolve into pieces, like a deep-sea fish pulled to the surface too quickly. I suppose my job is to go on holding him here at the bottom of the sea.”
I was deeply moved by this story and have been unable to stop thinking about it since my eyes scanned the bottom of the final page. It plays on my memory like a music box melody, forever repeating even after the lid has been closed.
The Memory Police is absolutely worth your time.
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Police brutality
mostlymusings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.5
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Grief