Reviews

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

astrofeldy's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

An intriguing premise and executed well - the things that annoy you about it, should, and are a central point to its success. Reading other reviews, particularly critiques of character styling, narration and dialogue, I see similarities to critiques of other Japanese-translated modern novels (such as Nakano Thrift Shop, Convenience Store Woman, etc) and become more convinced that some cultural experiences just don’t translate that well to English. If you’ve spent time in Japanese culture, then my feel is that you’re more likely to be forgiving of the awkwardness between the characters and their interactions with the world. 
Overall a compelling novel about memory, community and oppression in times of trauma, and the collective narratives that help us through them. 

halovian's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

bocker_enligt_angelica's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

electrosailor's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

slowa_w_filizance's review against another edition

4.0

Nie mówcie do mnie, bo płaczę

courtknoc's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

cartoonalien's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

lindsay_b85's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

ra3sreads's review against another edition

2.0

2.5 stars

ummmm you’d think from the premise this would be really good, idk how the author managed to make it boring… which is unfortunate because it was really intriguing. a lot of things happened but none of them were really impactful. there’s also a romance but it was kinda just told that it was happening, i had no idea it was even happening which is so funny. i almost dnf’d this with 15 pages left lmao

kriseldakat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0