The Memory Police
On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten. When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past. A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
6mentions
5people
2022–2026years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Are you me??????
I read these exact three in the past six weeks. For a follow-up, I recommend "Earthlings" and "The Memory Police".
- I've been on a Japanese literature kick for a while now.
For me the characters are the main difference from American literature. The article mentions this briefly, but I find that in the novels I've read (admittedly translated), Japanese novel characters have much more depth. They're flawed people often with selfish motivations, and it's much more reflective of real life.
Plot structure is very different as well with most of these novels not having a true setting > rising action > climax > falling action style plot like American literature tends to have. The books often just end without much resolution at all.
Probably the biggest reason I've been reading them though is that I'm just tired of "young adult" books that have so much popularity here in America. It's like a tag you can throw on to shield your bad writing. It feels like everything popular here is written with 6th grade grammar. Maybe this phenomenon exists in Japan too, but we have the filter that translation provides. Presumably most translated novels are at least somewhat successful and well written, or else they wouldn't have been translated.
For reference, of the translated fiction I've read, I'd recommend -
Lady Joker by Takamura
Devotion of Suspect X by Higashino
Out by Kirino
Breasts and Eggs, Ms Ice Sandwich, and Heaven by Kawakami
Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings by Murata
The Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and Kafka By The Shore by Murakami
Snow Country by Kawabata
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Kawakami
No Longer Human by Nazai
I am a Cat by Netsuke
The Memory Police by Ogawa
- The #BookTok category in my library is my go-to for fresh reads. This year alone, I've already devoured:
* They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera
* Books #1-5 of Loise Penny's Gamache series (detective serial set in rural Montreal)
* Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
* When Women Were Dragons, Kelly Bar Hill
* Books #1-3 in Naomi Novik's Scholomance series
* Babel, R.F. Kiang
* The Cartographers, Peng Shepherd
* Books #1-2 in Olivie Blake's Atlas series
* Books #1-3 in Sylvain Neuval's Themis Files series
* The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa
* Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno Garcia
and the list keeps going. I haven't read this avidly since high school (20 years ago). The recommendations coming out of BookTok are unabashedly entertaining, fun, and quick reads. Perfect for unwinding in the evening, instead of vegging out in front of the tube.
Edit: fixed typos.
- I will need to retroactively edit the memories of a bunch of 40 and 50-somethings...
Where are the Memory Police when you need 'em? (Good book, btw)
- "The Memory Police", by Yoko Ogawa [1]. An island where things get disappeared by the Memory Police - physically from the world and from people's minds. A few people are immune to forgetting, so the Memory Police is on the case.
[1] - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37004370-the-memory-p...
- Wow! Nice coincidence. I've read "The Memory Police". I will add "Earthlings" to my queue. Thanks for the recommendation
