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bunntboy's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I feel like this book was really interesting, and very different from my expectations. They capture the feeling of hopelessness and loss so well throughout the course of the story, and the ending made me feel like I could understand how the characters felt
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality and Dementia
lilifane's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is probably the most depressing book I've ever read.
It's set on an island where things keep disappearing. But they don't disappear physically, the people living on this island just collectively forget about them. Things like birds, roses, boats. When people wake up and feel something is missing they try to get rid of those things physically as well. If they kept birds, they let them free, if they planted roses in their garden, they destroy them. It's easy for them because once the thing is disappearded, they don't have any emotional connection to it anymore. All memories connected to the thing disappear as well. However there are people who still remember, who try to keep those lost thing and this is where the Memory Police comes into play. They confiscate those things and arrest the people.
The protagonist is a writer whose mother was able to remember and was taken by the Memory Police. So when she discovers that her editor remembers as well, she tries to help him and hide him from the police.
I think the book depicts a totalitarian regime in a very believable way, I felt the fear, hopelessnes and resignation. There were a lot of parallels to Nazi Germany. It just goes one step further and creates a truly dystopian world.
On the other hand it is beautifully written and creates this melancholic, heavy atmosphere that you feel in your bones. The premise was interesting and I loves the setting, the characters but there were some things that bothered me. Some parts of the story the protagonist was writing were very weird and disturbing, as well as the relationship between the protagonist and her editor in the second half of the book. And the ending.... it was very abstract and therefore hard to grasp for me. I mean, you can get a lot of great discossions out of this book and think about how words, stories, memories shape our world. But the ending let me downa bit. It has this "Then what was the point of this?" feeling.
It's set on an island where things keep disappearing. But they don't disappear physically, the people living on this island just collectively forget about them. Things like birds, roses, boats. When people wake up and feel something is missing they try to get rid of those things physically as well. If they kept birds, they let them free, if they planted roses in their garden, they destroy them. It's easy for them because once the thing is disappearded, they don't have any emotional connection to it anymore. All memories connected to the thing disappear as well. However there are people who still remember, who try to keep those lost thing and this is where the Memory Police comes into play. They confiscate those things and arrest the people.
The protagonist is a writer whose mother was able to remember and was taken by the Memory Police. So when she discovers that her editor remembers as well, she tries to help him and hide him from the police.
I think the book depicts a totalitarian regime in a very believable way, I felt the fear, hopelessnes and resignation. There were a lot of parallels to Nazi Germany. It just goes one step further and creates a truly dystopian world.
On the other hand it is beautifully written and creates this melancholic, heavy atmosphere that you feel in your bones. The premise was interesting and I loves the setting, the characters but there were some things that bothered me. Some parts of the story the protagonist was writing were very weird and disturbing, as well as the relationship between the protagonist and her editor in the second half of the book. And the ending.... it was very abstract and therefore hard to grasp for me. I mean, you can get a lot of great discossions out of this book and think about how words, stories, memories shape our world. But the ending let me downa bit. It has this "Then what was the point of this?" feeling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Infidelity, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
bookmarkie's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Police brutality
Moderate: Dementia
kpharoah's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Dementia
Moderate: Toxic relationship