Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Memory Police

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

27 reviews

sassyshark's review

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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darbo's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

"I don't know. Maybe there's a place out there where people whose hearts aren't empty can go on living."

The book has a slow start, and it may feel slow all throughout for some due to its mundane, everyday tasks, but it picks up eventually and just leaves you baffled and shocked at every turn. Especially so the ending. I truly love this and wholeheartedly recommend this to any dystopia and Orwell fans out there.

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nila's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

My feelings on the book hasn't quite landed yet. On one hand, it's an original and interesting story, but on the other hand there's a vagueness to the plot that I'm not sure I like... The whole book is beautifully written as well, so it's still a joy to read it, but I just wanted more answers

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ilana_pop's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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? It's complicated

4.5

“On an unnamed island allsorts of things disappear [...]. The world is getting a little emptier and the memories of the inhabitants are showing bigger and bigger gaps. The few who continue to remember fear for their lives.”

A terrifying premise for what is in fact a simple, uncomplicated, subtle, modest novel. An easy to follow story, without complex twists or characters. This may seem boring and unchallenging after that poignant permise, but the simplicity is the strength of this novel. You need to keep your head in the story, because your imagination is invited to challenge itself. Think of this story as a meditation on memories, existence and the depths of memory and the mind.

The main character is a novelist and sometimes we get to read little bits of her script. The parallel between the real story and the script is very clear. How she takes inspiration from her reality, what she goes through and the symbolism hidden in the text… Reflection on decay of the body and mind takes up a lot of her thoughts. Both in her script and in her mind, it is often discussed. Like the question: “Is your body decaying, perishing, when in the end you forget everything?”

This is classified as dystopian fiction, but do not expect dizzying science fiction, dark motives or a grand apotheosis from this book. You’ll be very disappointed. This is for the readers who love magic realism, Murakami, Marquez and Ishiguro, for the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-enthusiast. Those readers will find this a highly rewarding story.

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